Rome

Vatican.  Colosseum.  Gelato.

We braved the heat and headed to Rome last weekend, along with tens of thousands of other tourists. (I think the tourists out-numbered the locals, seriously).  Upon check-in, the hotel’s receptionist gave us a map with suggested walking routes, sight-seeing tips, and the top gelato spots, which was really helpful (she was a young ex-pat from the east coast).  It was late, so we went straight to bed to rest up for our whirlwind weekend.

Since it was peak tourist season, we knew we’d have to be patient and wait in lines (ugh), so we started bright and early on Saturday and went straight to Vatican City to hit the Museums when the doors opened.  It was definitely crowded, but the vast collection of paintings, sculptures and tapestries was impressive.  If we had more time, we would’ve taken a tour to learn more about the stuff we were looking at.  Next time.  I was excited to  see the Sistine Chapel, and boy was it crowded. The guards kept yelling Shhhhh! and Silence Please! which was kinda funny.  

We departed the chapel with a tour group so we could take a short-cut to St. Peter’s (otherwise, the non-tour groups have to walk all the way around the perimeter and go through security again).  Good thinking Matt!  We also went up the dome/cupola at St. Peter’s, and the climb smelled like a sweaty locker room, with no air, but the view from the top was gorgeous – we lucked out with a sunny, clear day (hence the hot, hot weather).

We spent about 3 hours at the Vatican museums, church, and square – it’s a lot to take in!  Sadly, there were no Pope sightings, just the colorful Swiss Guards in their puffy attire.

Then we headed over to Piazza Navona, passing the Castel Sant’Angelo and crossing the Tiber along the way.  I’d love to take a tour of the Pope’s private, underground tunnel from the Vatican to Castel Sant’Angelo, how fun would that be!?

 

Although the weather was stifling, it was so nice to be able to fill up our water bottles at the many, beautiful fountains throughout the city.  I mean, we’re drinking from the same fountain as the residents who lived here 2,000 years ago, which is just mind-boggling!

 

After stopping for lunch near Piazza Navona, we went on an epic walk, hitting the Pantheon, Campo de’ Fiori, Jewish ghetto, Trastevere neighborhood, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and the shopping district.  I wish we brought the GPS watch to see how far we walked!  After being on our feet all day in the blazing sun, we were definitely ready for a drink, but it was actually hard to find a decent place.  There was nothing near the Spanish Steps, which surprised me.  We ended up at a small pub near our hotel, and the owner, from New Zealand, even made the comment to Matt, “boy, you really take her to the nice places!”  Yeah it was total pub, but we sat outside in the shade and enjoyed our cold beer.

  

 We also found Matt's piazza!

For dinner we ate at a wine bar in Piazza Pasquino that had good reviews.  The piazza actually had several restaurants surrounding the little square and they all seem more or less “same same” to me, but the place I had read about was crowded and we waited about ½ hour to sit outside.  The weather at night was great, and sitting outside was very pleasant.  We enjoyed some Italian white wine and Matt had the local meatballs (which were more like “patties”), and very yummy.  We stumbled upon an old-school gelato place after dinner, so we enjoyed a sweet treat on our walk back to the hotel.   The Trevi fountain was also nearby, and it was even busier at nighttime!

 

Our second day was reserved for Rome’s ruins – mainly the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palantine Hill.  We hit the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill first, and although we didn’t always know what we were looking at, the structures were pretty extraordinary.  I didn’t realize the Palantino was so vast and well-preserved.  At the Colosseum, we took a guided tour in English, which was really interesting and put a lot of the myths and embellishments from the movies to rest.

 

 

There’s a crypt we read about that’s made of monk’s bones (Capuchin Crypt), which sounded morbid yet interesting.  Underneath the Santa Maria Immacolata Concezione, there are five chambers that were filled between 1528 and 1870 with decorative mosaics made from over 4,000 cappuccini (monks).  It was a little more “artistic” than we expected, and definitely unusual.  Creepy?

We spent the afternoon making our way over to Villa Borghese park and Piazza del Popolo, stopping for a quick bite at the top of the Spanish Steps.  I guess all the cute places to get a drink are hidden at the top of the steps, which we just looked at but didn’t go up on Saturday.  We’ll remember that for next time….

 

For Sunday's dinner we researched a few restaurants near the Campo de’ Fiori that sounded promising.  The first place had good reviews and said you needed reservations, but we decided to drop in and chance it.  Well, the place looked more like a gourmet food store and wasn’t even open, so after confusion and some expletives we headed to another one I had written down.  It was a family-run place on a cute little piazza in a more residential area, but the hostess said without reservations we could only sit inside, so we decided against it.  Who knew it would be so hard to find a place to eat?  We ended up walking through the piazza where we had dinner on our first night, but I didn’t even realize it until Matt pointed it out.  Luckily, we found a cozy place called The Library, which looked like grandma’s living room, fitted with a piano, tables covered in doilies, china cabinet, and lots of candles – it was so charming!  They started us off with some prosecco (gratis) and an amuse bouche of some sort of mashed potatoes with leeks.  Yum.  Both our pasta entrees were delicious as well, and when we paid they offered us grappa or limoncello (Matt tried the limoncello, which was strong!).  I must say, our night may’ve started out a bit chaotic, but it ended on a really high note, and we lucked out with The Library.

On our last morning we had a few hours before our flight, so we went on another long walk, passing by the Trevi fountain yet again, and this time the fountain was drained and workers were sweeping up all the coins tossed in by passersby from the previous day.  I read in the LP that the city collects an average of €3,000 each day!  Now that’s a lot of coinage.  We walked to several piazzas, saw more ruins, and the Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli, where the chains worn by St. Peter before his crucifixion are on display.  Our trip to the Eternal City was hot and crowded, yet delightful.  Ciao ciao, until next time!