It's always good to have a backup plan. With snow in Friday's forecast, even the single centimeter predicted, Hizonner, the mayor, still smarting from last week's surprise snow, virtually closed Rome. "Chiuso" as they say for schools, government offices, even the post office. And not just for Friday but Saturday and Sunday as well. We suspect it has as much to do with Italy's austerity measures as the weather. Half an inch of snow would hardly be recorded in Colorado, but in Rome....
Christ Bearing the Cross
The metro comes in handy, especially when the weather turns foul. We've become pretty proficient "strap-hangers" and have hardly ever been on the right line in the wrong direction, or vice versa. Tickets are one euro, four euros for all day. But the metro can take you only so far, then you have to walk. It's slippery and when great chunks of snow explode from the rooftops we all jump, then laugh sheepishly at our silliness.
Cleanliness Next to Godliness, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva
Connie was forced to revise her plans, and we all know how much she loves to do that! With the main tourist sites all "chiusoed," we toured churches and piazzas, seeking out works of art and fountains and places we could view from the outside. We were the only people at Santa Maria sopra Minerva, except for a praying woman and the janitor mopping the marble floor, just the four of us and Michelangelo's statue "Christ Bearing the Cross." We had to share the Tomb of Julius II by Michelangelo with a half dozen others, us and his Moses, Rachel and Leah. Likewise for the three great Carravaggio paintings at the Church of Luigi dei Francesi. So much great art, so few admirers.
B-R-R-R!
Even the snow-clad Trevi Fountain of "La Dolce Vita" fame, was deserted. This is the place where if you throw in a coin you are certain to return to Rome. I'm not sure that is a great idea! The nearby Pantheon and Piazza Navona began to show signs of life. This is a great place to walk on a summer's eve, but today we all stood in the sun and admired Bernini's "Four Rivers Fountain" with its river gods of the Danube, Ganges, Nile and Rio de la Plata.
Towards noon more people were out and about, slip-sliding around Trajan's Column (the real one,) the Roman Forum and Capital Hill, taking the closures in stride and enjoying a day off. While we couldn't visit the Forum today, we got a rare view of it blanketed in white.
The Forum
Stomachs growling, we followed a number of boisterous chaps from the UK in town for the big rugby match - we didn't know about it either! - into a pub-ish place for lunch. When we came out it was raining again and it soon changed to more wet snow so, discretion being the better part of something-or-other, we metro-ed back home.
