Our first stop on the way was the Spar supermarket where we picked up some panini and fruit which we then took to the Piazza di Spagna and ate on the Spanish Steps.
Following lunch, I washed my hands in Bernini's Fontana della Barcaccia.
The view of the piazza towards via Condotti from the Trinita Trei Monti
Not having been to Rome before, H was fascinated by the artchitectural details, such as these bust insets on the facade of a building along Via del Babuino (I think).
Piazza del Popolo! Also, check out that sky...
H misses the view of the piazza from the Pincio.
As we slowly made our way west, we kept getting distracted by little details that make Rome so interesting.
Case in point: walking along, I turned my head to look into a courtyard when this fountain caught my eye and I ran in to investigate...
And I found these fish and turtles living there! They were swimming around but slowly came over to where I was standing and the turtles crawled out, clearly waiting for me to feed them. Not pictured, the itty bitty, weenie baby turtle!
Hark! The Castel Sant'Angelo!
Walking along the Lungotevere Prati, you can see all the wood washed up on the Ponte Sant'Angelo from the mid-year high water (it wasn't quite a flood).
On the way to the Vatican City, I decided that the best way for H to see it was to get the full effect approach from Via del Conciliazione
Words upon seen the Piazza San Pietro: Wow..
Wow...
After doing the dodgey shove again to get in as quickly as possible, I then proceeded to give H a lecture on art history, covering topics such as
The rise of Michelangelo...
Bernini and the counter-Reformation...
How to identify which popes were involved with which projects based on their coat of arms...
And gossipy stories such as how Pope Urban VIII, from the Barberini family, allegedly authorised that bronze from the Pantheon be used to build the Baldacchino, resulting in the proverb, "What the barbarians didn't do, the Barberini did."
Then it was time for us to climb the dome.
But first we refilled our waters bottles from the fountain next to the Basilica - holy water?!
H's comment upon my telling him that this is the Sistine Chapel, "I thought it would be bigger."
Doing this climb confirmed to me that I am an experienced dome-climber. I set a cracking pace for H and I to climb the 300+ stairs to the top and got a bit cranky when we reached the smaller parts and got held up by slowpokes.
Ahhh....
Ehhhh....
I also got cranky that people were so slow getting down from the dome. I swear, it felt as though it took more time to exit than to enter.
Prior to going to Rome, I decided to utilize my friendships with native Romans and ask for hints about where to eat. Emi stepped up and suggested a pizza place not too far from St. Peters, Bonci. Located at the rear of the Vatican gardens, since we assumed that we weren't allowed to cut through and climb the fence, it took a good 2km walk in 30+C sunny weather to walk there.
But we got to have a nice look at houses off the tourist track
And this really nice staircase.
Finally! Look how sweaty I am!
Our choices! Top to bottom: Potato and cheese, spinach and zucchini flowers (best of the lot), and ...something. We weren't able to figure out what it was despite choosing it. Maybe egg?
Unfortunately, while I was eating the pizza, mosquitoes were eating me. This necessitated a return to our hotel so I could take an antihistamine and douse myself in tiger balm, and taking advantage of the now working air-con to take a siesta. Luckily, Rome is not in Bayern, meaning that when we headed out much later, things were still open for us to walk around and enjoy by night. Key sites:
Piazza Navona and the fountain of the four rivers,
The Pantheon
And this beautiful cliché.
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