From Rome To You

They call this building "The Wedding Cake"
The P'azza Navone....Fountain in P'azza Navone....Nice bum where are you from.......

The Colloseum ruins......

The Colloseum......

More......

Front view of colloseum.....

Fountain where.......
We cooled our aching feet off.....

Fountain near the Pantheon.....

Bear with me now because this is a long post full of lots of pictures. Wanted to get most of them posted before the Cortona ones. Saw many sights, smelled and tasted wonderful food, and am having the time of my life.

Wow.....finally made it to Rome and what a view and what sights there are to see! The plane ride was way tooooo loooonnnggg and my knees and feet and ankles hurt. They do not make much leg room for us tall people!

Once I landed in Rome a driver from the hotel came and picked me up to drive me to the hotel. I arrived there at about 9am and quickly had a shower after being on airplanes for 15 hours. Brandon (my son) arrived at about 10:30 and we started on our venture for the day. The hotel is very nice and they are very gracious. Hotel Campo de Fiori is the name and they have hotel rooms and apartments. Our apartment is on the 2nd floor and has a kitchen, bathroom and bed/living room. It is very hot in this apartment because there is no air conditioning - once I come back from Cortona I will be staying here once again for 2 nights and I will have a hotel room complete with air conditioning and all the amenties!

Our day started with a long walk to the pantheon, forum, and collosseo. The day was very hot and we were outside all day long. We also went to the fountain of trevi and the piazza navone. Luckily along the way to one of the points we came across this fountain where we were able to cool our aching feet and just relax for awhile. Seeing these things was an all day affair and we treated ourselves with a great italian dinner.

Next day we were going to get up early to do the vatican thing, but our alarm never went off so we spent the day walking again to some shopping areas and then to an art gallery that was way up on a hill.......it never seemed like we were going to make it there because I never saw an end in sight! Finally we arrived and saw many works of art that are all preserved in this gallery. After spending a couple of hours there, we made the trek back down the hill to where we boarded a city bus to take us back to our hotel area. We had a nap and then went to a small trattoria for a traditional Italian dinner. It was fantastic!

Next day, The Vatican. We woke up early to be at the Basillica by 7:00am. This church is nothing like any other I have seen. Even the Notre Dame in Montreal does not come close in comparison. So many marble statues, painted murals, bronze carvings, etc. It amazes the eye. After touring the basillica, we then went and purchased our tickets to walk up to the dome. My son conveniently did not tell me about how many stairs we would have to climb to reach the top. 320!! A very narrow, spiral staircase leading up to the top of the dome (which is the top of the basillica) and I must say a very great place to view all of Rome. I have proof that I made it up there......notice the photo with skyline in background! Next, on to the museums of the Vatican. I have never in my life seen so many statues! So many tapestries! So many murals! So many oil paintings! And, the Sistine Chapel painted by Michealangelo is breathtaking. Too many people in the chapel though to really get to see all of it.

Things I like about Rome: the sights, the fountains, people watching, gelato, cappuccinos, authentic Italian food like my grandmother used to make, the wine, the beer, the caprese salad (fresh motzarella cheese, basil, and tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and olive oil), french bread dipped in balsamic vinegar and olive oil, the shoes, the shops, the weather minus the humidity.

Things I do not like about Rome: rude people, cobblestone roads and sidewalks (when I first sighted them I thought they were so quaint and cute.......but after walking on them for 10 hours a day, the quaintness fades with the painful, swelling, elephant looking feet and ankles and legs that show up because of the heat and hot cobblestone roads.

Here is the apartment at Hotel Campo de Fiori.....

A quaint street near us.....

The "Wedding Cake" building as it is called....

The fountain of trevi.....

Outside columns of the Pantheon...

Inside the Pantheon.....

A fountain near Pantheon.....

Brandon and Caesar......