Rome part 2
Wednesday 17th March 2010:
Left one the first train from Florence today – 9.13am back to Rome.
We arrived into Rome at about 1.30 and went to the hostel to drop our bags off. We were unable to check-in until 3.30pm so from the hostel we walked back over to the Termini building and to the tourist office to see about getting a RomaPass – however with what we are looking at doing, we may yet decide not to get one and as such postponed the purchase until later. From the tourist office we wandered down to the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, then made our way to the Santa Maria Maggiore before heading back to the hostel to check-in finally.
Back at the hostel we met our new room-mate for the next few days and got chatting to him (he’s a chef from Toronto doing his European taste sensation tour). Anyway from that we then headed back out to wander the city once again and found our way first to the Repubblica and Santa Maria degil Angeli (where the was a Galileo exhibition on), then onwards we walked to the San Cario Quattro Fontane, Fontana dei Tritone, trinita dei Monti and Villa Medici. Ater the Villa Medici we walked down the Spanish steps into the more high-class shopping area and Grace found her way into the LV store.
After her little excursion in the LV store we started to head back to the hostel, called into a gelato place for me to get my dose for the day and then on towards a long walk to the Porta Pia (looked like a monument to soldiers or something similar and has a museum located in it. Grace got her usual dose of being a tourist out the way by asking a friendly army guard nearby what the building behind him was (top secret building), and then got a photo take with him.
We followed that little side path with a walk back to the hostel and dinner (stopped at a local cafe for a Panini (not that great a purchase) then back up to the hostel for the rest of the night.
Thursday 18th March 2010:
Today was the 1st full day again in Rome, and most of the day was spent in and around the Vatican City. We started in the St Peter Basilica, and then from there joined a tour of the Vatican museum (personally I would have preferred to have just done the museum on my own without a guide, but the guide was quite good and we were able to enter straight in without having to line up again with the masses to get a ticket. We saw a multitude of stuff in the museum, although not nearly enough to justify the tour price (we only had 2.5 hours in the museum, whereas I would have easily spent 4-5 hours in there. We ended the Vatican museum tour by visiting the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo’s famous fresco roof painting.
After the tour Grace and I joined a much reduced St Peters Basilica dome line to climb the steps and see the dome of St Peter’s Basilica – about 552 steps in all, all the way up to the top. Nearing the top the passageway got extremely narrow and you wouldn’t want to be too big going up, otherwise you’d probably strike some trouble.
After visiting the Vatican city, we then went for a stroll down to the Tevere river and into the Castel Sant’ Angelo. Not a bad castle, but a castle non-the-less and as such not that overly impressive considering all the castles I have seen now. Out the front of the castle however there was an Italian film crew filming some scenes for an up and coming Italian movie about the pope (apparently due for release in around September and being directed by a famous Italian director (I had no idea who it was, but apparently there are the Woody Allen of Italy).
Across the Ponte (bridge) Sant’ Angelo and for a walk along the other side before crossing the river again at the Ponte Umberto I and a photo opportunity at the Corte di Cassazione (the justice/law courts building), then onto the Metro to head back to the hostel.
We were back by about 6.20 and I was almost asleep at 7 before Andy (the Canadian fella from our room the night before) was back at the hostel and we went out for dinner at a local family run restaurant – great food. After that we went back to the hostel and joined a group of other guests drinking wine and having a good time until about midnight when we all got kicked out – so bed time).
Friday 19th March 2010:
Woke up this morning a bit later than normal (about 9amish). As we were getting ready to leave I noticed that Andy and the American fella from the night before were also up and getting ready to leave. The American fella was looking at going down to the Coliseum aswell, so I suggested we all go together down there. So off we went for a walk down to the Coliseum (about 20 minutes from the hostel). We got there and had to wait about 40 minutes or so in the queue for a ticket and then spent roughly the same amount of time inside the Coliseum. After our time inside we met up with Andy again and decided to go into the
Palatine hill as it was included in the price, as such we said goodbye to Andy and went to the next place. This was quite interesting and a lot of ruins to take in and towards the end of our time in the Palatine hill and Roman Forums we were all getting a little disillusioned by all the ruins and history contained in such a small area. Grace and I said goodbye to our American traveller (who had to catch a train) and continued on for a little bit longer in the ruins before leaving and going to see the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II.
From the monument we continued our trek to see the Colonna Traiana, Mercati Traianei, Foro Traiano and Foro di Augusto (a bunch more ruins). Then onto the Domus Aurea which is mainly closed for “Work in Progress”, then we took the long way around to get to the Saint Pietro in Vincoli (St Peter in Chains) where Michelangelo’s statue of Moses is located.
From the we walked down past the Coliseum to the Arco di Donabella, Villa Celimontana then the Santi Giovanni e Paolo (where the priests were waiting for St Gabrielle to arrive with the remains of a young saint), then to the Santi Gregorio Magno church which was closed. Finally we made our way back to the metro and onto the hostel.
Back at the hostel we met our new roomie (an Aussie over here for a few weeks holiday who is also competing in the Rome Marathon on Sunday). We all went out for dinner at another local family run pizzeria, which was again with really nice food that was quite inexpensive. After dinner we went back to the hostel for the rest of the night.
Saturday 20th March 2010:
This morning was a slower morning than normal. We headed out for a long walking day. We started by walking towards the Plazza dello Repubblica then down the Via Nazionale, before detouring towards the Fontana di Trevi, Palazzi Chigi then down towards the Pantheon, which I have to say is nothing compared to the Paris Pantheon.
We then headed into the Palazza Novona which is under constructive work on the fountain and other areas and saw a lady feeding the pigeons next to the wall and they were flying all around her. Next we headed over to the Area Sacra (more ruins), then on to the Campo de Fiori where we got a nice Panini (one of the better ones of the holiday).
From there we headed down to the Sinagoga then over Isola island then on to a walk through the Trastevere area and up to the Monumento a Garibaldi and Faro al Gianicolo. After that we walked along the Tevere river towards the Mausoleo Augusto and Ara Pacis then over to the Piazza del Popolo. We headed back to the Spanish Steps where all the expensive shops like LV, D&G etc.
After a look around the area we headed back to the hostel for a rest. While there we met our new roomie who was heading out to a Roma v Udinese Football (soccer) match. We ended up joining him and having to get a ticket at the stadium. We then ended up getting tickets of a scalper and paid 20Euro for a 12Euro ticket. Until we got in to the stadium it was ok, until we found out that all tickets have a name on them, but luckily for us because we were tourists we were allowed in.
We eventually made it back to the hostel about midnight via a bus and metro.
Sunday 21st March 2010:
Today was a very laidback and slow day for us. We started quite late and only left the hostel around 11am. We were joined by Tess (one of our current roomies who is from Holland but lives in Brussels) for breakfast. Tess was down in Rome to support and watch 2 of her friends run the 16th Roman Marathon. After breakfast Grace and I parted ways with Tess and made our way to view the Pyramid (second time for me, 1st time for Grace), we visited the cemetery that is located next to the pyramid.
From there I took Grace to see the Basilica of St Paul, and we sat in on some of the mass and sermon (all done in Italian) before leaving and heading down to the EUR area. The EUR (definition I don’t know how to say) is an area created by Mussolini as a show piece to the world of his ideas. The main attractions include the square coliseum and the manmade lake (both of which I showed Grace), the coliseum I hadn’t seen the first time I went down there.
From the EUR we headed back to the Circo Massimo stop to see the St Maria in Cosmedin church where the fae in concrete (believed to have been a drainage cover) is located. Many people will remember this from the movie Roman Holiday, where myth tells that if you stick your hand in the open mouth and lie then your fingers/hand will be cut off. There was a bit of a line and in all honesty while I got a photo of the drainage cover I really wasn’t up for standing in a line to stick my hand in the mouth and so we just went through the other entrance to just see the church. Which unlike many of the other churches in Rome was quite minimalistic in appearance and decoration.
After our visit in the St Maria church we headed along the marathon route, stopped into another church and had a look at the basement ruins of what use to be there. Then followed the marathon route some more (in the opposite direction to the runners) and came across a semi-festival of dancing and singing from performers from around Europe and South America (at least). We stumbled upon the event just as the Greeks were doing their dancing and stayed there for another 1.5hrs or so until after some Cuban salsa an d other performances.
After watching the dancers for a while we then headed off to catch the metro back to the hostel for a rest until dinner time. At dinner we headed out to a local (recommended) Italian cafe/restaurant where unbeknown to us it was Cuban night for dinner, although the chef/cook said that he would cook up paste if we wanted it (but not pizza). I ended up sharing a ravioli entre/started with Tess and then having to wait for a while (as they forgot to cook my main meal) for my stewed meat with rice, potato and plantain? (cooking banana).
After dinner we headed back to the hostel eventually and got some gelato on the way back. While at dinner we all shared a really good time and a lot of laughter was shared and happened.
Monday 22nd March 2010:
Grace left early in the morning (train at 5.30am for her flight back to Vancouver). I stayed in bed, mainly because I was falling asleep as she was getting ready to leave, otherwise I would have walked with her over to the train station to send her on her way and say goodbye.
I eventually got up and out of bed around 8amish to have my morning showed, go down to the internet cafe, check-in online for my Ryanair flight from Pisa back to Birmingham and print the boarding pass off, and then over to the cafe for my free breakfast.
After breakfast I purchased my train ticket to Pisa (I thought I would have to go back up through Florence and then over to Pisa, but it turns out that there is a slow direct train to Pisa that I can catch and so caught that instead). Boarded the train and have been reading and listening to music (while having a couple of gypsies coming around and either playing the piana-accordian and asking for money, or just leaving a note on the window table and asking for money. I have also been writing this and updating my entries for the blog while on the train as well, which will get updated once I get to Pisa and get wifi-connection.
Left one the first train from Florence today – 9.13am back to Rome.
We arrived into Rome at about 1.30 and went to the hostel to drop our bags off. We were unable to check-in until 3.30pm so from the hostel we walked back over to the Termini building and to the tourist office to see about getting a RomaPass – however with what we are looking at doing, we may yet decide not to get one and as such postponed the purchase until later. From the tourist office we wandered down to the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, then made our way to the Santa Maria Maggiore before heading back to the hostel to check-in finally.
Back at the hostel we met our new room-mate for the next few days and got chatting to him (he’s a chef from Toronto doing his European taste sensation tour). Anyway from that we then headed back out to wander the city once again and found our way first to the Repubblica and Santa Maria degil Angeli (where the was a Galileo exhibition on), then onwards we walked to the San Cario Quattro Fontane, Fontana dei Tritone, trinita dei Monti and Villa Medici. Ater the Villa Medici we walked down the Spanish steps into the more high-class shopping area and Grace found her way into the LV store.
After her little excursion in the LV store we started to head back to the hostel, called into a gelato place for me to get my dose for the day and then on towards a long walk to the Porta Pia (looked like a monument to soldiers or something similar and has a museum located in it. Grace got her usual dose of being a tourist out the way by asking a friendly army guard nearby what the building behind him was (top secret building), and then got a photo take with him.
We followed that little side path with a walk back to the hostel and dinner (stopped at a local cafe for a Panini (not that great a purchase) then back up to the hostel for the rest of the night.
Thursday 18th March 2010:
Today was the 1st full day again in Rome, and most of the day was spent in and around the Vatican City. We started in the St Peter Basilica, and then from there joined a tour of the Vatican museum (personally I would have preferred to have just done the museum on my own without a guide, but the guide was quite good and we were able to enter straight in without having to line up again with the masses to get a ticket. We saw a multitude of stuff in the museum, although not nearly enough to justify the tour price (we only had 2.5 hours in the museum, whereas I would have easily spent 4-5 hours in there. We ended the Vatican museum tour by visiting the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo’s famous fresco roof painting.
After the tour Grace and I joined a much reduced St Peters Basilica dome line to climb the steps and see the dome of St Peter’s Basilica – about 552 steps in all, all the way up to the top. Nearing the top the passageway got extremely narrow and you wouldn’t want to be too big going up, otherwise you’d probably strike some trouble.
After visiting the Vatican city, we then went for a stroll down to the Tevere river and into the Castel Sant’ Angelo. Not a bad castle, but a castle non-the-less and as such not that overly impressive considering all the castles I have seen now. Out the front of the castle however there was an Italian film crew filming some scenes for an up and coming Italian movie about the pope (apparently due for release in around September and being directed by a famous Italian director (I had no idea who it was, but apparently there are the Woody Allen of Italy).
Across the Ponte (bridge) Sant’ Angelo and for a walk along the other side before crossing the river again at the Ponte Umberto I and a photo opportunity at the Corte di Cassazione (the justice/law courts building), then onto the Metro to head back to the hostel.
We were back by about 6.20 and I was almost asleep at 7 before Andy (the Canadian fella from our room the night before) was back at the hostel and we went out for dinner at a local family run restaurant – great food. After that we went back to the hostel and joined a group of other guests drinking wine and having a good time until about midnight when we all got kicked out – so bed time).
Friday 19th March 2010:
Woke up this morning a bit later than normal (about 9amish). As we were getting ready to leave I noticed that Andy and the American fella from the night before were also up and getting ready to leave. The American fella was looking at going down to the Coliseum aswell, so I suggested we all go together down there. So off we went for a walk down to the Coliseum (about 20 minutes from the hostel). We got there and had to wait about 40 minutes or so in the queue for a ticket and then spent roughly the same amount of time inside the Coliseum. After our time inside we met up with Andy again and decided to go into the
Palatine hill as it was included in the price, as such we said goodbye to Andy and went to the next place. This was quite interesting and a lot of ruins to take in and towards the end of our time in the Palatine hill and Roman Forums we were all getting a little disillusioned by all the ruins and history contained in such a small area. Grace and I said goodbye to our American traveller (who had to catch a train) and continued on for a little bit longer in the ruins before leaving and going to see the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II.
From the monument we continued our trek to see the Colonna Traiana, Mercati Traianei, Foro Traiano and Foro di Augusto (a bunch more ruins). Then onto the Domus Aurea which is mainly closed for “Work in Progress”, then we took the long way around to get to the Saint Pietro in Vincoli (St Peter in Chains) where Michelangelo’s statue of Moses is located.
From the we walked down past the Coliseum to the Arco di Donabella, Villa Celimontana then the Santi Giovanni e Paolo (where the priests were waiting for St Gabrielle to arrive with the remains of a young saint), then to the Santi Gregorio Magno church which was closed. Finally we made our way back to the metro and onto the hostel.
Back at the hostel we met our new roomie (an Aussie over here for a few weeks holiday who is also competing in the Rome Marathon on Sunday). We all went out for dinner at another local family run pizzeria, which was again with really nice food that was quite inexpensive. After dinner we went back to the hostel for the rest of the night.
Saturday 20th March 2010:
This morning was a slower morning than normal. We headed out for a long walking day. We started by walking towards the Plazza dello Repubblica then down the Via Nazionale, before detouring towards the Fontana di Trevi, Palazzi Chigi then down towards the Pantheon, which I have to say is nothing compared to the Paris Pantheon.
We then headed into the Palazza Novona which is under constructive work on the fountain and other areas and saw a lady feeding the pigeons next to the wall and they were flying all around her. Next we headed over to the Area Sacra (more ruins), then on to the Campo de Fiori where we got a nice Panini (one of the better ones of the holiday).
From there we headed down to the Sinagoga then over Isola island then on to a walk through the Trastevere area and up to the Monumento a Garibaldi and Faro al Gianicolo. After that we walked along the Tevere river towards the Mausoleo Augusto and Ara Pacis then over to the Piazza del Popolo. We headed back to the Spanish Steps where all the expensive shops like LV, D&G etc.
After a look around the area we headed back to the hostel for a rest. While there we met our new roomie who was heading out to a Roma v Udinese Football (soccer) match. We ended up joining him and having to get a ticket at the stadium. We then ended up getting tickets of a scalper and paid 20Euro for a 12Euro ticket. Until we got in to the stadium it was ok, until we found out that all tickets have a name on them, but luckily for us because we were tourists we were allowed in.
We eventually made it back to the hostel about midnight via a bus and metro.
Sunday 21st March 2010:
Today was a very laidback and slow day for us. We started quite late and only left the hostel around 11am. We were joined by Tess (one of our current roomies who is from Holland but lives in Brussels) for breakfast. Tess was down in Rome to support and watch 2 of her friends run the 16th Roman Marathon. After breakfast Grace and I parted ways with Tess and made our way to view the Pyramid (second time for me, 1st time for Grace), we visited the cemetery that is located next to the pyramid.
From there I took Grace to see the Basilica of St Paul, and we sat in on some of the mass and sermon (all done in Italian) before leaving and heading down to the EUR area. The EUR (definition I don’t know how to say) is an area created by Mussolini as a show piece to the world of his ideas. The main attractions include the square coliseum and the manmade lake (both of which I showed Grace), the coliseum I hadn’t seen the first time I went down there.
From the EUR we headed back to the Circo Massimo stop to see the St Maria in Cosmedin church where the fae in concrete (believed to have been a drainage cover) is located. Many people will remember this from the movie Roman Holiday, where myth tells that if you stick your hand in the open mouth and lie then your fingers/hand will be cut off. There was a bit of a line and in all honesty while I got a photo of the drainage cover I really wasn’t up for standing in a line to stick my hand in the mouth and so we just went through the other entrance to just see the church. Which unlike many of the other churches in Rome was quite minimalistic in appearance and decoration.
After our visit in the St Maria church we headed along the marathon route, stopped into another church and had a look at the basement ruins of what use to be there. Then followed the marathon route some more (in the opposite direction to the runners) and came across a semi-festival of dancing and singing from performers from around Europe and South America (at least). We stumbled upon the event just as the Greeks were doing their dancing and stayed there for another 1.5hrs or so until after some Cuban salsa an d other performances.
After watching the dancers for a while we then headed off to catch the metro back to the hostel for a rest until dinner time. At dinner we headed out to a local (recommended) Italian cafe/restaurant where unbeknown to us it was Cuban night for dinner, although the chef/cook said that he would cook up paste if we wanted it (but not pizza). I ended up sharing a ravioli entre/started with Tess and then having to wait for a while (as they forgot to cook my main meal) for my stewed meat with rice, potato and plantain? (cooking banana).
After dinner we headed back to the hostel eventually and got some gelato on the way back. While at dinner we all shared a really good time and a lot of laughter was shared and happened.
Monday 22nd March 2010:
Grace left early in the morning (train at 5.30am for her flight back to Vancouver). I stayed in bed, mainly because I was falling asleep as she was getting ready to leave, otherwise I would have walked with her over to the train station to send her on her way and say goodbye.
I eventually got up and out of bed around 8amish to have my morning showed, go down to the internet cafe, check-in online for my Ryanair flight from Pisa back to Birmingham and print the boarding pass off, and then over to the cafe for my free breakfast.
After breakfast I purchased my train ticket to Pisa (I thought I would have to go back up through Florence and then over to Pisa, but it turns out that there is a slow direct train to Pisa that I can catch and so caught that instead). Boarded the train and have been reading and listening to music (while having a couple of gypsies coming around and either playing the piana-accordian and asking for money, or just leaving a note on the window table and asking for money. I have also been writing this and updating my entries for the blog while on the train as well, which will get updated once I get to Pisa and get wifi-connection.
posted by Matt at Monday, March 22, 2010
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