Rome

Thursday Oct 9

Today we walked our buns off (don’t we wish!) through medieval (which surrounds our “home”) and Renaissance Rome. Campo dei Fiori, with its morning vegetable and flower market, is just across the river and a few blocks in, so that was first on our itinerary. From there it was on to Piazza Navonna, Via Condotti, and the Spanish Steps.

We had reservations (easily made by phone or online) at the Galleria Borghese, in the Villa Borghese park, so we did not hang around the Steps, but continued to this final destination. The museum houses a wonderful collection of paintings and sculpture gathered in various (and often nefarious) methods mainly by a member of the family who was a cardinal, as well as a nephew of the Pope in the 1600’s. Many of the antiquities in the original collection were later “secured” by Napoleon, and, since he did provide some small payment for them, the French would not return them and they now reside in the Louvre. But what Napoleon did not take is still quite impressive.

From there we headed back to our place here in Trastevere, walking through the streets of Rome, past both ancient and contemporary landmarks, on a bright sunny day with temperatures in the high 70’s. Hard to beat for Roma-philes!

Tomorrow it will be Ancient Rome, and the weather looks just as good!

But, not before we venture out to find some gelato, savor the evening, and try to find a place to post this two-day entry to our blog.

A joint effort today by,
Mariellena e Tommaso

Siena to Rome

Wednesday 8 October

Today was one of those pretty good ones, especially with the final result. We dropped our car in Siena and, in order to make up for the stock market losses, took the bus down to Rome rather than the train. We have had some unhappy experience with the Italian train system and the bus was cheaper and faster. Then from the bus depot to our apartment we splurged on a taxi. Having driven in the cities we have been to and getting used to the “rules” of driving here, I still was astonished by the new set of rules they use in Rome. Anyway, we were pretty amazed at the way our taxi driver got us to our apartment here, which is on a street in Trastevere (across the Tiber from the main part of Rome). Our place is on the first floor of a small building on a street that would be a narrow alley anywhere else, but here is a two way street.

We had some time to walk around Trastevere, which is an amazing community. We are about a block from one of the main squares and three blocks from the river. Almost every street has small food shops, two or three restaurants and churches, and then you get to a Piazza with four more of each! Lots of people are out on the streets, tourists befuddled by the street layout (which is indescribable), and residents talking with one another or on cell phones, which seem to get no reception indoors. We would also be among the befuddled if it were not for our GPS to get us back to the apartment.

Tonight, we set out to sample the night-time scene in Trastevere, which proved to be even more lively than we’d encountered this afternoon. The streets are full of strollers of all ages, restaurants line the small byways with tables and every piazza seems to be party central – and all of this on a Wednesday! We stopped into the church of St. Bartholomew, on the tiny Isola Tiburina in the Tiber. The church was lit up and open, so we wandered in. It was quiet and lovely and then, as we were about to leave, at 8:30, the bells began to ring and scores of mostly young people began to stream in. Every evening, there is a prayer service open to all who value a time of silence in the midst of the city living. It was very moving, mostly sung by a small group of strong voices, with responses by the congregation. At the conclusion, almost no one left the church; people gathered to talk with friends, even to greet visitors like us. We made the moment last by walking along the quiet side of the Tiber for a while before returning to the perpetual party in Trastevere.

Though our apartment is on the ground floor, we have a key to the rooftop terrace, which is a delightful place for our happy hour, writing blog entries, and planning the next day’s itinerary, as we listen to nearby church bells. Did we mention that there are lots of churches here?!?

We do not have Internet access a nostra casa, so our plan is to continue writing each day and use a thumb drive to upload periodically when we stop at Internet cafes during the week. Of course, we’ll also be hoping to read lots of your messages during those stops, as well!

Ciao for now!
(Begun by)Tom and (edited and perfected by) Mel