THREE DAYS IN ROMA

Thursday – Saturday / Three Days in Roma, Italy

Sunday, March 29, 2009….. Since we are unable to access the WiFi with our own computers we are saving unposted blog journals from the past few days to a Jump Drive, as we have located an internet shop where we hope to post something new for you to read. We are hoping to be back on line with our own computers in Sorrento by late Monday evening. New pictures will also have to wait until then.

Thursday, March 26, 2009 Travel Day-Today our trip is half over !!
This morning we had a short walk to the station to catch the 10:20 train to Genova Italy where we will pick up our next train that will go all the way to Roma. While waiting in Nice we met a father and son, from Kansas, who have been using the internet to “couch surf” for sleeping privileges in private homes while touring France. Don’t think I would be brave enough for that but they have had a great time and met a lot of nice people. It helped that the son was fairly fluent in French. Our train seats were in a compartment for six…Thank heavens we only had five people so we could stack our 2 big suitcases on the remaining seat. All the small bags went overhead, ours and the other 3 travelers, who had smaller bags, filled up the overhead racks.
With us were two men from Morocco and a young lady, a surgical nurse from Australia, in her mid thirty’s who was carrying a huge backpack for her six week journey to France & Italy. We had a great trip sharing travel stories with Kayla and snapping lots of pictures of the sea, the storybook towns set along the edges of the water and built up into the hills…. Then came great views of snow-covered mountains as the tracks led us into the Italian Alps. Oh yes, As we crossed the border into Italy we again had to show our passports to the border guards.
Our train for Roma left right on time and we were so lucky as this time our seats were right at the back of the car with an open luggage area across from our seats. We settled in, had our backpack dinner, and watched a movie, Something’s Gotta Give, on Martha’s IPod to help pass the 5 hour journey ahead of us. We arrived in Roma at 8:30 PM…. Dark outside. This Roma Main Train Terminal is the biggest one I think I have ever seen… it’s like a separate city inside with every kind of shop and service that you could want. We took off walking with our bags and sure enough here was our B & B just down the street. The streets were full of people, which I would rather have then would it have been an empty street with just a few people, especially after dark. We had to go thru 4 locked doors plus an elevator before getting into our room…. So feel pretty safe in this building. Most of the building is rented out in apartments but they have a few bedrooms with shared baths that they rent out. We even went back out after we had settled in as knew that a McDonalds was down the street and we were hoping that they might have the internet, because we could not pick it up in our building. No Luck… we got food but no internet. So after touring the station some more we headed back to our room for the nights.



Friday, March 27, 2009 Roma, Italy
Up and out by 8 AM. Purchased 2 all day bus tickets, found the ATM and then starting walking to find the Hostel, The Beehive, where we will be staying when we return to Roma on April 6th. It’s a little further from the train station but still within walking distance. Would like to be there now as they have internet but…coming here for these 4 days was a last minute change to our schedule and this was all we could find that would fit our budget. Just a short way down the street we found an Internet Shop that was open. Went in and rented a computer for 30 minutes so we were able to check our emails and send mail to our hubby’s… Mine got a Happy Anniversary note as today is our 27th Anniversary on the 27th of March. Felt bad at missing this special time with him but I do want to thank him so much for understanding about this trip and what it means to me. This is the first time in 50 years that I have spent this kind time with my twin, Martha…….no greater gift could he have given me. I also received an email from my daughters in Paris who said that they are getting along just great and having a fun time on their trip. I was worried about them Wednesday night as I had not heard if they had arrived in Paris, so I called their hotel to make sure they had arrived safety. Looks like the Bradenton Herald, my local newspaper, may use some of our blog news in their Travel Section this weekend. I have to get back with the Editor later today but her email sounded very positive that they would publish some details of our trip.
Caught the #40 bus and rode it all the way to St. Peter’s. The line to get into St. Peter’s stretched all the way across the large square but, it was a fast moving. We were in the middle of a school group of kids in their early teens who starting talking with us. Found that they were from Sorrento, where we are going next week. Had a lot of fun with them taking pictures and exchanging blog site information. A lot has changed since we were here in 2005….. you now have to go through security just to get inside. But it was nice to return and remember the last time I was here with Philip. Of course that was right after I broke my arm in Assissi so we only had the one afternoon and night here before returning to the states. Martha & I even rode the elevator up to the first level inside the Cupola but did not walk the 320 circular steps to go all the way to the top of the dome.
Going outside we took the required pictures of the Swiss Guards in their uniforms…went into the Vatican gift shop and purchased a Rosary as requested by a Leisure Lake friend and sent my Hubby a postcard from the Vatican post office as an Anniversary gift. We are truly the last of the big spenders when it comes to spending money in souvenir shops. Soon it was time for our Scavi Tour. We showed our email ticket to the Swiss Guards and they let us pass into the bowels of the Vatican. … but, when we entered the Scavi Tour Office we were told that our tickets had been cancelled because we had not sent payment… as he talked with us the phone rang….while he was on the phone we noticed that he was looking at his computer. We think that he then realized that these tickets had been arranged for by a local Cardinal in Roma. When he hung up the phone he said that we would be included in the next tour if we could just wait another 15 minutes. He couldn’t have been nicer……Guess it pays to have friends in high places. The Scavi Tour is the Tomb of St. Peter and Pre Constantine Necrospolises (this is archeological findings from a 1940’s dig down under St. Peters where they unearthed old cemetery’s that go back to the time of Christ and before.) This area, since the first century has been linked to St. Peter and has continued to have churches built with the main altar always being over the spot where it is believed that St. Peters was buried. The tour ended at the grave of Pope John Paul II who died in 2005. A moving experience, one that has taken me 4 years to complete as we had ticket’s for this tour back in 2005 but were unable to use them.
After getting sandwich’s for a quick late lunch we caught the bus back to our room and started typing our blogs when we realized the time and our need to purchase train tickets for Monday’s trip and also for our trip on April 6th that will take us up to Dijon, France. That will be the day after Easter and am sure the train may be sold out by that time.
Leaving the train station Martha talked me into walking to see a few sights at night. We walked to the Trevi Fountain, where we tossed coins over our shoulders to assure of a return (someday) to Roma, purchased ice cream to eat on our walk to the Spanish Steps and then caught a bus back to our room. Just before we turned in for the night we purchased strawberries and banana for a treat in the morning with our cereal. At least Martha can not say that I did not get out after dark in Roma… and we had a great time
Finding our way to these tourist places. Know that when we come back after next week it will be Easter and we will be seeing other things at that time…..

Saturday, March 28, 2009 Walking Roma
Another nice day found us off to find first the internet and then a riding tour bus for Roma. Was great to check on our emails and found that the Bradenton Herald had posted us on their website… How great is that !
Found the circle tour bus only to be told that our ticket would only be good for a half day because of a planned demonstration that would shut down a lot of the streets… but, we could also use it Sunday morning. We said, thanks but no thanks, bought another all day regular bus ticket and off we went to Plazza Venezia where we found The Victor Emmanuel Monument erected in honor of Italy’s first king to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the country’s unification in 1870. Next to this Monument we saw Trajan’s Column. A tall 140’ column with a narrative relief that tells a story about life in Roman times. This column is the world’s grandest column from antiquity.
From here we walked past and viewed the Roman Forum. You can pay to go down and walk right in the ruins but we opted for the great visual view that you can get as you stroll down the street. Our walk soon brought us to a wall that has 4 old maps, engraved in the stone, showing how the roman empire grew from one city, Roma, to on the 4th map, a large empire of many country’s. Just past this point we came upon the Roman Colosseum, a huge
Stadium where Gladiators once fought many battles, both with animals and the Christians. Again, we elected not to visit the inside as the line was long and when we return we will be attending the Good Friday Stations of the Cross which will be held in the Colosseum. Along side the Colosseum we found the Arch of Constantine. Martha was surprised to see that work has begun in this area to reconstruct the long ago fountain that used to be in front of this arch but had been destroyed by Mussolini during the war.
On the other side of the Roman Forum was an area called Palatine Hill where all the important Roman’s had their homes. Again, a long line had formed to get inside to view these ruins so we elected to bypass this tourist attraction and went on to view the area of the Circus Maxium. They are starting to do some restorative work on this area but mostly it is just a large green space with some tall ruins to one side of it. Our goal was to find St. Sabina street and walk up to the convent where lies a wonderful park with a fantastic view of Roma in all its glory. The last hill up the street paid off with a great photo opportunity in this lovely little park. Just up the street from the convent is a door leading to Knights of Malta…. When you put your eye to the keyhole of this door you have St. Peter’s Basilica perfectly framed in your view. Very few people know of this so it makes it special to find… but, more and more people are learning about it so guess someday you will have to stand in line for this great little view.
Leaving this area we walked, yes we have now been walking for several hours, to the river Tiber to find a bus that would take us to a new area….. short ride… a few blocks away the bus stopped for a break and everyone had to get off…. So we decided to keep on walking and find the Pantheon and the famous Bernini Fountain that is in front of the it…. The Pantheon was built in the year 27 as a Roman Temple, and now is a Catholic Church, that has a hole in the top center where you look up and see the sky.
You have to admire Romans who built such buildings as these without all the modern construction things in today’s world. The people milling about in the front of all these buildings and fountains just sort of blows my mind. This is not prime tourist travel time nor a holiday…. Find it hard to believe what it will be like when we come back after a week as it will then be Easter Week in Roma….. am sure it will be wall to wall people.
Walked over to the Piazza Navone where we have, you guessed it, 3 more famous fountains… but one is covered for repair work. Martha tells me that in Roman times this street area was used for chariot races, hence the oval shape of the piazza. From past visit Martha knew that this would be a great place for us to enjoy our “Meal in Rome”. We had been thinking of Pizza but settled on Lasagna and White Wine. Such a wonderful meal we had while setting at a table in the Piazza watching all the people. We have been eating very few meals in restaurants so this was a real treat for us.
Wandering along the river Tiber we saw the Castel Sant’ Angelo…another Roman building made famous in the Tom Hanks movie, Angels and Demons….we walked across the Bridge of Angels and this time decided to actually take a tour of this building that was built as a tomb for the emperor and has been used through the Middle Ages as a castle, prison, and place of last refuge for popes under attack. Ancient Rome allowed no tombs within its walls – not even the emperor’s. So Emperor Hadrian built this tomb just outside the walls and across the river from ancient Rome. To get inside the building we walked up a long ramp and then steps all built so that horses could pull things up inside the castle. It was interesting to see and feel the history all around you while inside this building.
Leaving Castel Sant’ Angelo we caught the #40 bus and headed back to our room. Picked up some grocery in the Terminal building across the street for a picnic dinner and just made it home as it started to sprinkle rain.