Papa's place

We're up early today, having breakfast at 7.  The breakfast was good again.  Unfortunately, it was raining hard.  Today we're visiting St. Peter's and the Vatican Museum.  Papa - Pope Francis - is much beloved here in Rome, and even the cab drivers will tell you so.  We decided to take taxis to the Vatican to meet Ioanna for another tour today.  The taxi got through the city traffic in good order, so we had plenty of time before our 9 o'clock tour.  Luckily, the rain had stopped by then.

Just like yesterday, Ioanna gave us lots of Vatican history, and stories of the masterpieces in the basilica and the museum.  By the time we got to the Sistine Chapel, we all agreed that what we had learned from using a guide helped us enjoy our visit so much more.   And because we were with a guide, we could duck out of the back door and cut through to St. Peter's without going through the huge security line there.
We stopped at the cafe in the museum for a coffee.  There was a sign at the checkout saying that since it was Friday (during Lent, I imagine) there was no meat on the menu.  

Laurie and Emmett at St. Peter's

St. Peter's is so overwhelming in size that we could never really see it all, but we saw lots in the hour or so that we were there. 

Huge security lines to get into St. Peter's

We said goodbye to Ioanna, (Ioanna Nicolaou at ioanna.n@hotmail.com) and all felt the money spent on two tours was worth it.  Since we only had two days in Rome, cutting through two long lines allowed us more time for seeing the actual sites.  

The weather had improved as the day went on, and we decided to walk back to the hotel so we could see the Pantheon, one of the big attractions in the city.  I shouldn't say we decided to walk, because we first checked at the taxi stand to see if we could catch a cab and save several hundred steps.  For a 5 minute cab ride, they wanted to charge us 30 or 36 euros.  No way.  On the other hand, it's understandable that the cabbie wouldn't want to give up his spot in line for a small fare.

Lunch was nothing special, but pizza gave us the energy to continue.   

Our walk took us through a nice neighborhood of shops and restaurants, through Piazza Navona - hopping busy on a Friday afternoon - and over to the crowded square in front of the Pantheon.  We avoided the guys and gals dressed as Roman Centurions, hustling for money when you take a photo with them.

The Pantheon is an amazing building, built 2,000 years ago as a pagan temple.  I can't believe they had concrete that long ago, and could engineer a dome that has stood the test of time.  I love the open top of the dome that lets the rain come in and the drain holes on the floor to let it out.  We wished we'd been able to see it earlier today when it was pouring.

The Pantheon in Rome

Inside the Pantheon

Since we were walking near the Trevi Fountain on our way back to the hotel, we stopped to see it again, and give Laurie and Cate a chance to throw their coins in.  They had both missed the visit on our first night in the city.

Back at the hotel we had happy hour in one of our rooms again.  We'd be going out to dinner at an appropriately late hour.  We got another restaurant recommendation from our hotel, and ventured out.

This time we ate at Ristorante al Boschetto, a place that was crowded with locals.  We haven't had any trouble getting our group of 8 into any of the restaurants so far.

Some of the group had the 2-course menu, which turned out to be too much food, but we're trying lots of different things, at least.  I think we're still operating under budget.

To bed late, but excited about our early morning adventure tomorrow.  

Stoned in Rome

Oops, I meant STONES in Rome, not STONED in Rome.  Just wanted to get your attention.
We were all up for breakfast early.  Breakfast at our hotel was very nice.  Good coffee, of course.  Caffe lattes or cappuccinos made to order, great pastries, yogurt, cereal.  We couldn't have asked for much more.

We walked over to the Colosseum to meet our guide, Ioanna Nicolaou (e-mail her for rates and info at ioanna.n@hotmail.com), at about 9.  The skies were overcast, but no rain.  Ioanna filled us in on the history of Rome, and the purpose and politics of the events at the Colosseum.  The shows were free to the citizens, as a way to placate the masses, and probably to scare them into behaving. It sounds like all of the entertainment ended with death for the participants - or at least most of them.  The Colosseum held 50,000 people, and could be emptied in 17 minutes.  Ioanna really made Ancient Rome come alive.

The Colosseum

Our great guide in Rome, Ioanna Nicolaou

Becky and John at the Forum

After the Colosseum, we walked over to the Forum.  There's not much standing after many centuries of "recycling" the stones from many of the buildings.  Wouldn't you love to have a piece of the Forum as a cornerstone for your house?

Overcast skies at the Forum

We had lunch at Bibo, a few blocks away from the Colosseum, and ate outside in the sunshine.  It had good pizza and spaghetti.

Since we'd walked by the Victor Emmanuel Monument, we decided to backtrack after lunch to see it. The walk up the steps gave us a nice view of the surrounding city.

The Victor Emmanuel memorial

We're getting more familiar with the walking route to and from our hotel, meaning we don't get lost every time we venture out.  Good thing, because our "dogs are barking" at the end of each day anyway.

After happy hour in one of our rooms, we checked with the front desk and got another good restaurant recommendation in the neighborhood.  We ate at Al Viminale, a nice, small place that seemed to be serving lots of locals, and a group from the local police station.  Simple food, and we felt really safe.

When we tried to pay the bill with a credit card, the owner, who didn't speak English, said something we didn't understand.  Emmett, thinking we were getting some kind of discount because the hotel had sent us over, got up and gave the owner a big hug.  We laughed about this for days.  The owner was really trying to tell us there was a cash machine around the corner.  He did hug all of us on our way out though, after we'd figured out that we needed to pay our bill!

We stopped by the Irish pub in the neighborhood (Guinness fans) and spent as much on one drink each as we'd spent on lunch that day.  Sheesh.  I'm really trying to keep us under budget.

To bed late, even though we need to be up early tomorrow.

Bella Roma

I know I'm way behind on the blog, but I need to tell you about our time in Rome.  Just don't let me forget to tell you about "meat of moo" in Tuscany.

So, going back to the beginning, the group all arrived in Rome in good order.  We came in on three different flights; two couples arriving in the morning, and two couples in the evening.  It worked well, and was more economical, for us to take cabs (2 couples sharing the ride) right to the hotel from the airport.   We already knew, thanks to Rick Steves, that the cabs registered in Rome can only charge 48 euros for the ride.  Beware of companies saying they'll charge that same rate, but will also need to add 10 or 12 euros for the luggage.

Our little hotel, the Hotel Dorica, is located in the Termini neighborhood - that's the area around the train station.  It seems convenient to the sites of the city, but may not be the most charming part of town.  The rooms are small, but clean and comfortable.  The staff is friendly and helpful.  We paid about 120 euros a night - a good value in such a big city.

Dinner the first night was at Antica Boheme, a trattoria recommended by the hotel.  It was just around the corner, and we had a good meal.  Rick and I shared some rabbit (my apologies to my friend involved in Rabbit Rescue, back in the states), with a plate of cacio e pepe - a simple Roman dish with pecorino and spaghetti, seasoned with, you guessed it, pepper (pepe).  Mark and Laurie had a scampi pasta, that had skimpy scampi needing to be peeled.  No wonder dinner takes two hours!  Becky had minestrone soup.  Emmett had spaghetti with clams.  John had ravioli.  Our bodies were still on Pacific time, so we were essentially having dinner at 10:00 a.m., our time.  Some of the group finished off the meal with a glass of grappa.  Rick and Mark were already familiar with this lighter-fluid-like beverage.  Rick loves to order it in Italy, since it costs about 3 euros a glass here, and several times that in the U.S.

It was a nice evening, so we thought we'd walk to the Trevi Fountain from our hotel.  It wasn't very far away, and jam-packed with visitors when we got there.  Becky said she'd read that the best time to visit was after midnight, but good luck getting a group of middle-aged tourists to stay up that late on our first night there.

Trevi Fountain

The friendly crowd at the fountain

There must be a million coins in this fountain!

Rick and Kathy plan to be back someday

We had an early appointment with a tour guide the next day, so were off to bed at a reasonable hour - except Becky, John and Emmett, who checked out the beer in our hotel bar.