Rome - An Art Attack

We arrived in Rome on Thursday afternoon and after checking in at our hotel, Gigli D'Oro, we discovered a cute hole in the wall restaurant right around the corner filled with locals (ie no tourists) where we enjoyed an excellent lunch of pasta, roast beef and salad. Then it was off for a long ground pound with stops at Piazza Del Popolo, Piazza Navona and several churches. After a brief respite back at the hotel, it was time for dinner and we decided to play it safe and eat at the same place we had lunch. We were not disappointed as the pasta and veal we had was excellent! Finally we retired to bed and drifted off to sleep after watching the season finale of season three of The Wire.

The next day we had a quick breakfast before heading off to the Borghese Gallery which was simply amazing. The Bernini statues (The Rape Of Proserpina and Apollo & Daphne) were the highlights of the gallery and Lisa has now declared she wants to learn more about Bernini. The Caravaggio paintings, particularly David with the head of Goliath, were also stunners. After the Borghese Gallery, we wandered through the Borghese Gardens for a bit, bought some local art and then something we had never experienced before happened; a summer storm in Rome! We huddled under a doorway just outside the gardens for 45 minutes while thunder, lighting and sheets of rain came down. A very cool (and cooling) experience. Then it was off to the Church (and museum) of the Capuchin Friars nearby which was another interesting experience as not only did it contain a host of artifacts and information relating to the order but also housed a series of small underground chapels decorated in thousands of bones (effectively a large ossuary). Then it was off to the Barberini Palazzo nearby for more art which was once again amazing and we highly recommend it to those who visit Rome. Not only is it filled with art and beautiful as a building in its own regard, but it was practically empty. We stood gazing at Caravaggio's "Judith and Holofernes" by ourselves for minutes!

With three museums under our belt we were basically arted out for the day (and hungry!) so it was back to our neighbourhood for lunch at a local spot (yummy rucola salad!) and then some rest. After the rest, we went to a local bar and wrote out some postcards before another wee wander until it was dinner time. Dinner was good but too expensive and we were a little put off when at the end of the evening we ordered two more glasses of wine and instead received an (opened) full bottle. We suspect the proprietors were looking for ways to charge too much and also noticed a 10pct service charge on the bill that was not mentioned in the menu.  Ah well, at least dinner was good, as bad food is a bigger turn off than overpriced. Finally it was back to our hotel around midnight where Christos watched a BBC show on the Colosseum while Lisa drifted into dreamland.

The next day it was off to the Vatican Museum (and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel) which although full of art are even more full of tourists. While seeing the Sistine should be undertaken by any who can, fighting through the throngs of tourists can be a bit overwhelming. We walked to the Vatican, arriving around noon, and bypassed the massive line for the museum as we had booked our tickets online. We tried to get in on a guided tour as supposedly they also allow you to skip the line for St. Peter's but were unable so instead we shuffled through the corridors of the Vatican surrounded by tourists on all sides. Finally after 45 minutes we arrived to at the Sistine Chapel and spent some time viewing it ... once more surrounded by tourists! Interestingly, after one exits the Sistine, the crowd thins out and many seem to skip  the exhibits that are post-Sistine, including some lovely 1st-4th century AD frescoes and mosaics and other beautiful objects.

When we exited the museum, we passed by St. Peter's and the line was astounding ... so we skipped it (having both been before). Overall, we much preferred our Friday museum tour (Borghese, Capuchin and Barberini) over our Saturday tour (Vatican), all due to the crowds or lack thereof. We wandered around Rome for a bit longer and then had dinner at an amazing restuarant (Al Duello) just around the corner from us. Dinner included a lovely bottle of Tignanello (one of Lisa's favourite wines), mussel soup. fennel salad and beef with a green tomatoe sauce. It was definitely one of the best meals we had on the trip and ended up being less expensive than the previous evening's meal! Then it was time for one more wander through Rome and we spent some time in Piazza Navona viewing the Bernini fountains. It was a bit funny as we had passed through the Piazza many times (it being close to our hotel) but never really spent much time looking at the fountains as we always passed through when it was during the heat of the day and we were usually on our way somewhere. Finally we had one more glass of wine just aroudn the corner from our hotel before retiring for the night.