Day 3 - Sun, April 21 - Exploring Rome

Buona Pasqua!! Happy Easter to all!

Our plan to get 8 full hours of deep sleep got scuttled at 12:30 a.m. by what I considered to be firecrackers and what Doug considered to be gunshots - seeing all those police in the lobby last night must have influenced his thinking. It took both of us a long time to resettle, so we were both a bit groggy when the alarm sounded at 7:30 a.m.

Breakfast is included in our stay here. The buffet was very extensive and nicely presented. The strong Italian coffee was palatable once I added lots of milk. We reported to the lobby about 9:30 a.m. and had the lady at the desk call a taxi for us. They have a cool system - the desk person issues the customer a call receipt with the vehicle number of the taxi responding. No squabbling over whose taxi is whose. We got to St. Patrick's Church in good time, so we walked around the neighbourhood for a few minutes. We noticed that the buildings are a maximum of six storeys. I just Googled that - no building in the historic central part of Rome can exceed the height of dome of St. Peter's Basilica which is 136 meters. We also noticed that beautiful wrought iron is used on almost all buildings. It's an art form unto itself.

Mass began at 10:30 a.m. Music was provided by the St. Patrick's Choristers, a group of 10 singers, many of whom are probably professional singers. They were glorious. The mass was said by Fr. Greg Apparcel; he was assisted by Fr. Tre Dong who was visiting from New York City. They are both Paulist priests. My uncle, Fr. Wilfrid (Bill) Dewan is a Paulist - he recently moved from NYC to Toronto. We talked to Fr. Greg and Fr. Tre after mass and Fr. Greg does indeed know Fr. Bill and sent his warm regards. What a delightful bit of travel serendipity!

Next destination - Piazza del Popolo. The temperature was about 20 deg. C and a bit overcast - perfect for walking and gawking. We headed there via Piazza di Spagna, one of the most famous squares in Rome. Piazza di Spagna, at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, is one of the most famous squares in Rome (Italy). It owes its name to the Palazzo di Spagna, seat of the Embassy of Spain among the Holy See. The square is a riot of people milling around the fountain, mostly looking at the hundreds of people perched on the stairs. (Apparently, the stairs are a site of great canoodling by young and old alike in the evenings!)

The Spanish Steps are a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top.

The monumental stairway of 174 steps was built with French diplomat Étienne Gueffier’s bequeathed funds of 20,000 scudi, in 1723–1725 to link the Bourbon Spanish Embassy, and the Trinità dei Monti church that was under the patronage of the Bourbon kings of France, both located above — to the Holy See in Palazzo Monaldeschi located below. The stairway was designed by architects Francesco de Sanctis and Alessandro Specchi.

From there, we walked to Piazza del Popolo, a large urban square in Rome. The name in modern Italian literally means "People's Square", but historically it derives from the poplars (populus in Latin, pioppo in Italian) after which the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in the northeast corner of the piazza, takes its name.

The piazza lies inside the northern gate in the Aurelian Walls, once the Porta Flaminia of ancient Rome, and now called the Porta del Popolo. This was the starting point of the Via Flaminia, the road to Ariminum (modern-day Rimini) and the most important route to the north. At the same time, before the age of railroads, it was the traveller's first view of Rome upon arrival. Since it was our first time at the Piazza, we celebrated by having gelato for lunch.

The centre of the square is dominated by a 10-storey obelisk that once graced the temple of Ramses II in Egypt and the Roman Circus Maximus racetrack. (We learned about Ramses II last year when we visited Egypt.) The obelisk was brought to Rome by Augustus after he conquered Egypt, and then moved from the racetrack to this location in 1589 as one of the square's beautification projects. In medieval times, this area was just inside Rome's main entry as evidenced by the thick iron-studded gates nearby.

There are three churches, all dedicated to Mary in the square - one on the north side and two on the south side. Two large fountains, dedicated to Neptune (on the west) and Roma (on the east), grace the sides of the square.

From there, we started heading south down the Via Del Corso, doing what Rick Steves, my favourite travel writer, calls "The Dolce Vita Stroll." (Keeping the street vehicle-free are soldiers armed with machine guns. Do not attempt to take a picture of them.) All along the street we saw shoppers, people watchers (ourselves included), incredibly expensive/high-end stores, Took a moment to duck into the Ferrari store and the Fendi shoe store. Such self-control. We detoured around the Mausoleum of Augustus. It's a massive, round, brick structure, overgrown with cypress trees. It honours Rome's first emperor. The sited is slated for restoration soon.

We eventually found ourselves at the Victor Emmanuel Monument. This enormous monument to Italy's first king, built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the country's unification in 1861, was part of Italy's push to create a national identity. The place is simply over-the-top: 200 feet high, 500 feet wide. The 43-foot-long statue of the king on his horse is one of the biggest horse statues in the world. Italy's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is at the base of the statue.

It began to spit rain a bit, so we hunkered down on a bench and consult the map for the 100th time of the day. See observation #7 below. The rain stopped so we headed west,. Along the way, we decided it was time for an early dinner. We found a little restaurant with good prices and split a pizza and a salad and then had tiramisu for dessert. Had to pay for water again. Sigh.....

We found Piazza Navona. It's a long, oblong square full of fountains, outdoor cafés, churches and throngs of tourists. This piazza began as a racetrack, part of the training grounds built here by Emperor Domitian around A.D. 80. The Colosseum opened that years also - Rome was at its peak. Around 1600, the piazza got a major renovation as a result of beautification projects offered by scandalized popes as peace offerings to the public.

On Easter Sunday night, commerce was alive well in the piazza with street vendors selling paintings and knock off merchandise (Michael Kors purses stacked on the curb). There were street performers (mimes, Bubbleman, magicians), portrait sketchers, spray paint artists and musicians. What a riot of sights and sounds and smells!

We finally admitted that we were touristed out for the day. We got a taxi and came home. One of us tackled her homework; the other is reading an e-book - the internet speed is too slow for streaming videos. Good thing I got those downloads done on Friday.

A few observations from today:

1. "When in Rome, do as the Romans." That means cross on a red light or you will waste half your precious time in Rome at a standstill. So far, so good with that bit of dangerous living.
2. Scooters (the Vespa type) and motorcycles in Rome are not the life-threatening machines to pedestrians that they are in Nice, France. Maybe weekday traffic will see that change.
3. Legal taxis in Rome are white with blue lettering and a maroon medallion on the driver's side door. Good to know.
4. Not all things get translated cleanly here. The sign on the window in our room claims, "The window opening breakdown the air condition working." Pretty sure that means, "Keep the window closed during the warm weather."
5. You need to know your Roman numerals to decipher signs on monuments, buildings and gates. We are whizzes at this little game because we are almost as ancient as Rome and so had to study the Roman numeral system in school.
6. Look for a foot pedal when there is no apparent way to get water to come out of a tap.
7. When traveling with your spouse, consult the map often, really often. This will save your marriage.

It's been a full day. Our plan for tomorrow: head back to the city. The hotel runs a shuttle bus that will drop us close to the Vatican. There is a "Heart of Rome Walk" in my Rick Steves' book. We will take a taxi home so we won't have to lock ourselves into the shuttle time schedule.

Because I'm restricted to 10 photos per footprint, today will have several footprints.

Hope you can continue to travel along with us!Read more