Wednesday – 5th Week: Rome

Like Florence, we’ve been to Rome before and have done all the tourist sites, so felt no need to stand in a queue for hours to go into St. Peters Basilica, the Vatican or the Sistine chapel – beautiful as they all are.

We caught the train in from Frascati at 9:30. It’s an express train with only 3 stops and takes about half an hour. It starts at Frascati, so we were able to get a seat on the train – great.

We started off with the open topped bus just to get our bearings. From the railway station we went to Piazza Della Republica, then to the forum, then the Coloseum, Circus Maximus, St Peter’s Square and finally at the trevi fountain, we decided to get off the bus and do some walking. The fountain was packed with people, as usual. There weren’t many coins in the fountain, so maybe they’ve banned that now. From there we went to the Spanish steps, which weren’t as impressive as they could be, as the church at the top of them was covered in scaffolding for renovation. From there we walked down to the Tiber, where we crossed at Ponte Cavour and walked down to beside the Tiber past the impressive Palazzo di Giustizia and the ship shaped Castel San Angelo to get a great view of the Castle with St Peter’s Square and Basilica in the background. We then crossed the Tiber at Ponte San Angelo and walked to Piazza Navonna where we found a restaurant for lunch and watched all the street sellers with their knock-off sunglasses, handbags and belts and the artists selling their paintings. After a delicious lunch with a bottle of Frascati wine, we walked to the Pantheon, then down to the Piazza Venezia, down past the forum (I’ve never got the forum – it just seems like rubble to me) to the Coloseum, then back to the railway station – quite a walk.

We had dinner at a restaurant near the hotel with a couple of bottles of Frascati wine, which we’re still feeling slightly today.