Day 2

Thursday, July 11, 2013
Rome, Lazio, Italy
12:18 After an early night to catch up some sleep we woke at 9 and got up and out on the bus again for our bus tour. I perhaps take back thinking the 110 open tour is good value- although its the cheapest tour bus and runs very late, it barely stops anywhere which means you need to plan your walking and pick up points. So perhaps dependent on how much getting on and off you might want to do vs how much you spend. I think perhaps the yellow cristano Roma 3 day bus which incorporates metro transport also, might be the one to get for a 3 day tour of Rome, although more expensive that the 110 it does include the public transport and many more stops en route. It's sweltering again so we get off on tritone street to head down to the Trevi and toward the pantheon to look at some more churches
13:11 Well that's great- sightseeing with mum can turn into parting with money in a shoe shop when walking down a street I hear "oooh!! I like that bag" I get diverted into a handbag/shoe shop and see a pair of shoes I like. 15 mins later I've parted with €90 for a pair of brown leather boots. When I go travelling on my own I rarely get tempted by other shops and come home without any expensive purchases.
13:29 Popped into sant ignazio di'loyala to see the trompe l'oeil dome painted on a flat ceiling. It's quite effective until you get directly under it. You can see from the photos the before and after look. One thing that's also nice is that the church is really cool, unlike outside! I've noticed that churches, well this one lacks windows but is richly painted with beautiful frescos and gold gilding everywhere.
14:04 And now I've bought a belt!
16:21 We went into the pantheon today, and given that the oculus at the top is the only 'window' the whole building has, it lets in a hell of a lot of light! a quick photo of Raphaels tomb and then out for a drink once again by the pantheon and a chat with a canadian woman on the table next to us. We followed up with an ice cream from della gelato and then walked down to get the bus up to the Vatican where we joined a very long queue to try and get in. The sky looks threatening again with unusual bobbly looking clouds overhead which make us think it might rain and thunder like it did yesterday, but fortunately standing out in St. Peter's square without the full sun on us is a bit of a relief, as long as it doesn't rain!
We join the queue at 16.10 just over the centreline when looking at the basilica
17:09 Nearly at the metal detector!
17:55 It's not yet 6, the way up to the roof closes at 6, we are not allowed up to the roof. Unbelievable, this means our hour queue was in vain!! Argh!!! This also means I have to come back to Rome.

We, ok, I decided I go into the St. Peter's Basillica first to have a look round and cool off a bit before tackling the stairs! It was incredible inside, very high ceilings, gold everywhere, incredible statues, the Pieta sculpture, a huge wooden awning over the alter in the centre made of 4 columns or pillars, which are basically huge tree trunks about 3 foot wood and 20 foot tall, supporting a huge flat top, all highly decorated of course. It's such a huge and rich looking place, you can't help but feel struck by the beauty and awe of it. When we went in there seemed to be a service going on up front and some lovely singing which really added to the ambience. We also saw the statue of St Peter who has very worn feet as you touch his foot for luck. Our luck hasn't really changed however as of course on exiting we were not allowed up to the dome. Not a good start from the lucky foot, maybe it takes half an hour to kick in, pardon the pun. The only downside of the place was it did smell a bit of hot bodies.

We returned to wait for the bus which took a good 40 mins to arrive and 3 arrived at once! They're supposed to come every 15mins so we were all very hot and bothered by the one it arrived. We got of at Tritone again and walked down the Corso to collect our purchases and have some dinner on a side street. We shared some wine and both ordered spaghetti carbonara and shared a side salad, it was really delicious. Although the clouds had looked threatening earlier it didn't rain and so we sat outside although unfortunately the side steer seemed to be a bit of a rat run for cars and bikes so we seemed to be permanently sitting next to a running engine. The same place did snacks so we picked up some pizza, pasta and croissants as a picnic for our trip out to the countryside tomorrow.

With full tums we walked back to get the last bus and set off back to our place around 9ish. Having never seen angels and demons before we sat down to watch it on the iPad with some fruit tea.

Best thing today: the Trevi Fountain, which I absolutely adore, and going into the holy o holys (I'm not religious but you can feel the immense 'power') St. Peter's Basillica

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2025-02-11

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