More from the Italian archive...

I had another dream last night about Italy (probably brought about by speaking with a friend about his upcoming trip - I offered to do research for him [yes, I'm that insane]).  So, to again try to put the happy notion of my getting back to Italy soon, here is day two of my Rome trip report, circa November 2007...


TRIP REPORT - ROME, DAY 2


It was raining our second morning in Rome, but we went to the Forum anyway.  When you only have two days to see all of Ancient Rome, you suck it up and get out of the apartment.  :)  As we walked across our beloved St. Peter’s Square to get to the metro, the heavens opened and it POURED!  But the downpour only lasted a minute.  It was fun to stand around with so many locals, monks included, waiting for the rain to pass.  A couple of us did have to buy an umbrella, though.  (you'll see some of the lovely Roman umbrellas in later photo essays)  By the time we got to the Forum, it had lightened to a sprinkle.    First, we made a stop at Circus Maximus, to get some photos.  Then we took a backwards route to the Forum.  I just loved wandering around Rome.  Even having a destination in mind, it was great to meander and look at whatever beautiful thing was around the next corner.

When we finally made it to the Forum, it was sprinkling off and on. The rain just made the ruins that much more interesting!  It heightened the desolation of the stones and also emphasized the little color that was around.  It was really gorgeous.  We spent so much time wandering around the Forum, though, that we forgot to get our Colosseum tickets 90 minutes before sundown.  So we didn’t get to explore inside the Colosseum or Palatine Hill, which was disappointing.  But I guess you always need to save something for the next trip. 

We stopped in a terrific wine/coffee bar for a little something something before making the trek to Trastevere.  I don’t have the name of it on me, but it was really good.  I had a wonderful herbal infusion and they gave me complimentary cookies, both sweet and savory, to go with it.  My friends got the tuscan bean soup, which smelled delicious.  One gal got the hot chocolate, which looked like hot chocolate pudding!  So rich and delicious!  I probably wouldn’t have been able to drink a whole cup of it, but it was nice to have a taste.

We took another sort of roundabout way to the Ponte Paletino (where we would cross into Trastevere), but again, there’s so much to look at, it didn’t matter!  I got some great photos of lots of ‘minor ruins’ (as described by some dumb guidebook author) and we stumbled upon the Mouth of Truth (yeah, “Roman Holiday”).  It was closed, but it was still fun to see it, even through gates.  After crossing the bridge, we sort of did one of the guidebook’s walking tours of Trastevere.  Well, we just hit a few of the highlights. 

The Piazza Mercanti was so gorgeous, I can hardly describe it!  Lit torches everywhere--amazing.  We then walked through Santa Cecilia Church, which was beautiful.  We just loved how every church we entered was gorgeous in totally different ways.  Some ornate, some simple, all beautiful.  I could probably wander into churches for an entire vacation and be happy.  But we were starting to get hungry, so we just wandered around and got happily lost in Trastevere until we found a restaurant that appealed to us. 

We ate at Vin Allegro, which was lovely.  We sat downstairs in their ‘wine library’ as we called it.  It was great.  Nice and quiet, with only four tables down there.  Much quieter than the lively upstairs area.  I had the rollatini, which was amazing.  We also shared an order of sautéed chicory, which was delicious!  I’m going to have to start buying chicory! 

After dinner, we wandered around again through Trastevere, shopping, then stopping at an outdoor café for a last drink of the evening.  It was nice to people-watch for awhile.  After checking our map, we saw we could cross a bridge and walk through our beloved St. Peter’s Square again to get home!  So that’s what we did.

For our last day, we got up early to hit a couple of churches recommended by our darling Vatican tour guide before we caught the bus to catch the train to Naples.  We again walked through St. Peter’s Square, took photos of the screens set up for people outside to watch Mass (we dubbed them the Pope-a-trons!), then rode the subway over to the Repubblica stop and went to Santa Maria della Vittorio to see the Bernini sculpture of Santa Teresa in Ecstasy (Christiano called me Teresa, so he said I HAD to see the sculpture), then on to Santa Maria degli Angeli. 

Both of these churches were incredible.  While we were in the Santa Maria della Vittorio, they were starting to get ready for Mass, so the choir was singing.  It was so beautiful.  I wish I could’ve gotten a good photo of the Bernini sculpture, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.  Then, Santa Maria degli Angeli was just stunning.  The interior was designed by Michelangelo, I think, and it was so lovely.  We could’ve stayed there forever, but we had to get back to the apartment to pack and leave for Naples.  We were definitely sorry to leave Rome.  Three days just isn’t enough.  We promised each other we would come back and spend more time there.  This was definitely an amazing start to an amazing trip...Naples, here we come!!