4 July – 6 July 2010
Had the most pleasant flight from Australia with Malaysian Airlines – would thoroughly recommend them to anybody – most definitely on a par to Singapore. The food was very, very good – the best airline food either of us have had the good fortune to have eaten. The landing in Rome was almost perfect, with the slightest shudder as we touched down. Perhaps we were just lucky to cop a good pilot....
However, the flight was nearly ¾ hour early because of good tail winds, which meant we were in Rome at 5.20 am – and you can imagine what was open at that time of day. Eventually found an ATM that was actually working and then wandered off to find a coffee, which was no mean feat at that hour of the morning.
Arrived at the hotel at 9am and was not able to access our room – so we compromised by changing into fresh clothes in the hotel toilet, and with a blast of deodorant under the arms, we set off exploring this wonderful city. For those who are interested, the hotel was just 40 yards from Piazza Farnese and about 100 yards from Piazza Campo dei Fiori – Jayne & Gerard will recall this as the market where we did all our shopping.
Gloria managed to break her sunglasses so we found a vendor and purchased a pair of genuine Italian sunglasses for 20 Euros. Later we discovered on the arm of the glasses, in very small print, the words ‘Made in PRC’ – Peoples Republic of China. Ripped off again – they can see a mug coming from a mile off.......
Spent the next 3 days doing nothing but walking around and gazing at the amazing buildings, drinking coffee, eating pasta and pizzas and drinking cheap Italian wine – heaven indeed !
Of course, we did the usual staple sites – The Vatican, Castello Sant Angelo, Ponte San Angelo, Piazza Navona, Monumento Nationale a Vittoria Emmanuele, Mouth of Truth, Circo Massimo, Arco di Tito, Colosseo, Fontana dei Tritoni, Fontana di Trevi, Spanish Steps and Basilica San Giovanni in Laterno. For something slightly different, we also wandered about the tree filled parklands of Villa Borghese, which provided welcome relief from the sun.
Melanie will be pleased to read that the Pantheon also received two visits, as well as a close examination of the exterior of the entire building. It is amazing that the place is a couple of thousands of years old. In fact, the building is just amazing.......
Of course, Rome is filled with literally dozens of sites worth a visit, one would need to spend weeks here to see them all.
The only negative from our visits to these sites was that Italy seems to be on somewhat of a restoration phase at the moment – many sites were shrouded in canvas to contain the dust and debris as the workers cleaned and repaired walls and columns. Unfortunately, the restoration works marred the photos somewhat.
However, there is always a down side. We will never venture into Italy at this time of year again, because it is hot – accentuated by the fact that we were in constant motion lugging a backpack filled with cameras, maps and water everywhere we went. As one would expect, walking many miles also results in the inevitable sore feet and blisters
It doesn’t matter though – we love the place........
