17Oct12 Rome
We caught the mini metro down to the train station then only had a short wait for the train. We hopped on but there was no destination on the platform board. The cleaner came through the carriages, took a brief look at the toilet, probably found it beyond a spray and wipe so moved on, emptied every third bin on the way and exited the trsin. The reason for no destination is to give the cleaners a chance to do their job without passengers in the way. We were on the correct train.
The trip was quite interesting as the older hill towns were quite distinct from the modern township and there were some interesting churches located on mountain tops. The 2.5 hr trip seemed to take very little time by the time we arrived at Roma Termini. Well not quite as the train stopped well short of the station so we had quite a walk. Then it was just a matter of catching the metro a couple of stations to our hotel near st peters basilica. It must have been a 400m walk up and down stairs to get to metro A platform! I though we might as well have walked from the station to our hotel.
We got off the metro and arrived at the street and started walking in the wrong direction (Editor:yet again)before realising that the street name had changed. Then we got on track and located our hotel. The only problem was that we had to check-in elsewhere at the parent hotel. A bit odd but we have run across it previously. I had no intention of walking the extra distance with our packs so we dropped the off at the reception and found the check in. We were a little surprised to find that we would be moving rooms the next day but found that the room was better than expected. It was a modern quite oasis with a courtyard in the chaos of rome. Very nice. Vanessa did a great job.
We went for a walk to st Peters basilica and found that the queue for entry was almost at the basilica exit so decided it was not worth the effort.(Edotor:probably 2+ hrs wait) Today was a wednesday which is a pope blessing day which probably accounted for the numbers. Our plan tomorrow will start with an early morning visit just after opening and expect no queue.
We walked down to the tiber and were standing on a bridge overlooking the castel sant angelo, took a couple of images, then found watching a water rat finding a meal in the reeds much more interesting for some reason. Continued walking down to piazza navora which was vaguely familiar. The art was quite good for a look. Too many people so we moved on again and headed to piazza del papola. Both areas are amazing and we found worth the visit.
Back to the hotel and pizza for dinner again...
18Oct12 Rome
Big walking day.
St Peters basilica. Got up at 7am, a quick toilet break, dressed and raced off to st peters basilica which was about 400m down the road from the hotel. Along the way a percieved competitor overtook us and we sped up and took the lead again. We arrived and she kept on walking past. We were surpised to find a small queue of people so early but it only took a couple of minutes to gain entry. There were masses in almost all chappels of the basilica being led by red cloaked clergy. We had a bit of a quiet laugh at a junior attendant with one of the red cloaked clergy who clearly would rather have been in bed as he was yawning and looking around rather than paying attention. Human nature. We performed a couple of laps of the internals of st peters before heading back to the hotel for breakfast and a shower.
The real focus of our day was to visit the Borghese Gallery in the afternoon. We missed it on our last trip to rome as we were unable to get tickets in the available time but this time armed with the knowledge of our previous attempt we planned ahead.
We walked from the hotel to the panthenon onto the trevi fountain to make a wish onto the roman forum area up to piazza del papola and onto the Borghese Gallery. We entered churches along the way. Absolutely amazing art within them.
Borghese Gallery. This is a fixed 2 hr entry so Vanessa and I arrived early to collect our tickets. Here is a tip. Once you have your ticket you also have access to the toilet. We had lunch in the gardens at a fountain under the trees watching squirrels and being visited by distracted dogs on their afternoon walks.
We queued up first to maximise our time. Straight up to the picture gallery. Wow! I did not expect to find a botacelli. Looked for the raphael paintings before the masses arrived and then looked through the rooms more slowly. The palace was a work of art without the artwork! We went down to the statue area and actually found then more interesting and moving. The bernini statues were outstanding and I really liked the roman gladiator mosaics. Too much art to appreciate in one afternoon. We finished with 15 minutes to spare after I viewed the botacelli painting again. Superb.
We were glad to get back to the hotel after walking for much of the day.
Holiday finished apart from the travelling. Tomorrow we fly back to Australia via Bangkok.
