Day 23: Rome

Bus Tour
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Today we headed out to Rome city. We drove into the city and found a parking garage. This was right at St Peters in Vatican City which was great. We looked around but decided not to stand in the snaking line that was 500 metres long to walk through the Cathedral. We were fortunate enough to witness a minor miracle on a bench in the Vatican as Billy managed to cover himself in chocolate icecream, and our bottled water spot cleaned him enough to get through the rest of the day without looking too embarrassing!

Castle
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We then caught the bus (110 tour bus) which was great. It was much cheaper than the one the hotel tried to sell us a ‘reservation’ on (it cost 13 Euro for the full day) and you could hop on/off whenever you like at the stops which were throughout the landmarks in Rome. It also had commentary in multiple languages and free audio headphones included. Most of the bus seating is the second level, which is good as that is the better level of comfort, and ranges from oppressive open-air heat to slow cooking suffocation. When we got off our pants were literally wet with sweat.

We were fortunate enough to witness a minor miracle on a bench in the Vatican..

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We headed towards the Roman National Museum and also stopped to have McDonalds for lunch (Billy was very pleased, his first McDonalds since we left London and probably his first decent meal…sad isn’t it!). The museum was nice (mainly because it was cool), it featured mainly statues, some of which were quite impressive. We spent about 1.5 hours wandering through and looked at everything the museum contained. Bily got into the swing of things and could spin a good story about what various statues had been up to, and their role in their demise. Lots of sword fights and lasers!!

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We then headed back to the bus and headed past the Foro Romano (which is the ruins of ancient Rome), this was interesting, but again very similar to what was at Pompeii. We decided not to spend time walking through it in the heat, and headed for the Colluseum. We were not as impressed as we thought we would be, as we had been spoilt at Tunisia”s El Jem. It was impressive of course, but was roughly the same size. The Colliseum was more complete however than the amphitheatre at El Jem.

We then headed back onto the bus and listened to the interesting commentary. There are so many awesome buildings and statues throughout Rome you cannot list them all, but suffice to say, the detail is exquisite and they make the buildings look very impressive. There are also numerous smaller cathedrals and churches littered throughout Rome. The double decker bus weaves through narrow streets and alleys which allows the

Foro Romano
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Italian traffic to get ticked off and start tooting. Igoring police bikes and cars is mandatory.

We arrived back at Vatican City at dusk and walked a short walk to Castel S Angelo. This was a large Castle on the banks of the Tiber River and cost 8 Euro to enter. It was fabulous with sweeping passage ways and ramps letting Billy race off and explore. The castle included a museum of items (such as swords and armor) as well as statues etc.

From the top you could see just how expansive Rome is, as well as the number of huge ancient buildings. Aren’t we clever driving in and only getting lost on the way out of Rome. I’m sure you could spend a week exploring Rome, however, the heat and makes it a little uncomfortable though we have a swimming pool back at the hotel. From an uneducated point of view a lot of what you are seeing kind of blurs with each other as it is all very similar (I wish I had been able to come here while I was learning Latin at school many years ago).

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From the top of the Castle we spied a playground, so Billy spent the next 45 minutes on the playground, having a good time and attempting communication with other kids. It was good to see him interacting with kids as he hadn’t had much opportunity for a while. We then headed back to the hotel, another stop at McDonalds for some fries and nuggets for Billy’s dinner and a nice coffee for us (for anyone who likes a decent size coffee at a good price – 1 Euro – that tastes as nice as coffee anywhere McDonalds in Rome is definitely the place to go). We found that the Italian style coffee (even Cappucino) is small, and we craved a Starbucks or similar (as the Hotels do not have coffee making facilities in the room and at 2.50 Euro for a crappychino coffee it is not cheap).

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We ate pizza for dinner at the hotel (finally a couple of nice pizzas in Italy). Kim’s pizza was salmon, rocket, mozzerella and lemon sauce; Will’s had salami truffles …brilliant. Billy played soccer with a group of kids for about 1.5 hours before we retired for the evening. A busy day, but we feel we saw a lot of Rome and are ready to move on tomorrow.

Tool of the Day

Rome authorities for not looking after Circus Maximus (Circo Massimo), is simply is not worth visiting; of course we walked a long way to get there!! It is now basically a paddock full of litter and broken bottles in the middle of Rome. It runs along side the Foro Romano which definitely is worth a look if you couldn’t get out to Pompeii.