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06/03/2004: "Rome"
Arrived Tuesday around noon and checked in. Since we had the afternoon and had been advised to do the Colosseum in the morning, we headed off to St.Peter's Basillica and the Vatican. St.Peters is HUGE.
St.Peter's (photo)
Now we know where all the marble stripped from the colosseum etc is located. Toured the vatican museum where all itineraries end at the Sistine chapel. The Raphael rooms are very interesting, especially the 'School of Athens' in which Raphael depicted Greek philosophers with portraits of Rennaissance artists. The Sistine chapel has been restored and looks good. There is suppose to be silence in there but all you hear are the guards kibitzing among themselves, then shooshing the crowd, then on loud speakers, announcements in several languages telling everyone to be silent. We walked back to the hotel from the Vatican, stopping at the Spanish steps.
Wednesday June 2 was a National Holiday. We headed to the Colosseum but could not get there due to blocked roads for a parade. So we went to the Domus Aurea to look at the restored palatial home of Nero (mostly underground). Then we went to the Pantheon (during which we saw 2 fly overs by Italian jets with the red-white-green contrails). We stopped for a great porchetta sandwich before seeing the Pantheon. We then meandered around Rome and saw the Piazza Navona and Trevi Fountain, stopping for excellent espressos and Rome's best gelatos.
Piazza Navona (photo)
Gelatos (photo)
After we toured the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill (home of the Emperor).
Forum (photo)
That evening we had a great roman supper at Hostaria Nerone - tagliatelle funghi, cannelloni, pollo romagna con peperoni, saltimbocca alla romana, limoncello on the house, and espressos. Then we strolled to look at the colosseum lit by flood lights and we saw the nearly full moon rising through the arches along the north wall.
Today we toured the inside of the colosseum and then revisited some of the forum.
Colosseum (photo)
Then we headed to see the Circus Maximus and the Terme di Caracalla (where the 3 tenors performed their original concert). As we left the Terme we could see a big storm approaching. We took the CROWDED metro back to St. Peter's to climb the cuppola (if there is something to climb in Italy, we climb it). Enroute we missed most of the only daytime rain we've had on the trip. We climbed the cuppola and viewed the panorama of Rome and the Vatican grounds.
Above St. Peter's Square (photo)
Next up, Sorrento and the Amalfi coast.