It was a good tour (and a lovely building) except we could only get tickets for the tour in Italian! The Hercules Room and the Carracci Gallery (aka The Loves of the Gods) are well worth seeing!
Afte a brief rest, we met up with Alex and Sal for a decent dinner at "La Quercia" where Christos had saltimbocca and Lisa had swordfish. After dinner it was time for a walk to Piazza Navona and a stogey for the old man!
The next day we awoke early due to renovations next door but did not manage to make it out of the hotel until just before 2PM.
We opted for a walking tour of Rome with stops at the Trevi Fountains and Spanish Steps before lunch at our local (il disiderio) which we thought was not as good as it had been in the past (it was nearing the ned of the lunch hour so the kitchen was a bit sloppy). After lunch and some rest it was off for another walk up to Piazza del Popolo to visit Santa Maria Del Popolo to enjoy the wonderful free art therein which includes two wonderful Caravaggios (Conversion on the Way to Damascus and Crucifixion of St. Peter).One must pay a euro to light them up but it is well worth the price!
On the way back from "Popolo" we passed by the Mausoluem of Augustus and discovered that the "guerrilla artist" that had been active last time we were in Rome four years ago was still going at it.
His name is Fausto Delle Chiaie and his works are very simple but amusing and quite fun! We purchased a postcard from him for 1 euro that depicts a rat which features in his current work at the Mausoleum site.
We had a wonderful dinner at Osteria 140, although we did end up paying for an item that was never delivered (where is that tartar?) and although Baba retired early, we walked up to Navonna and back wth Sally before dropping her off at the hotel and then staying up late at Cipasso, a wine bar near our hotel, watching people and enjoying the (relatively) cool evening.
The next day involved shopping for breakfast fruit in the open air Campo Fiore market (oh the figs are divine) before a walk along the Tiber to escape the heat and madness above before climbing back up into the streets of Rome for a walk past Castel Sant Angelo and St. Peter's to the Unita market for a salad lunch.After lunch we revisited the Pantheon where we were accosted by one of the ubiquitous migrants who offered us a free bracelet but was disappointed offered him his change (around 1 Euro) in exchange. In any case, the deal was done but the bracelet soon disassembled for its constituent parts (one can always use some twine!).
After the Pantheon we crossed the Tiber to visit Trastevere where we had last been in 2014. We visited the lovely Santa Maria in Trastevere and stopped for a beverage before heading back to our hotel back at Piazza Navona.
Dinner was for six as Kathy and Larry had now joined us! It was an OK meal but nothing to get excited about. Dessert however was a different story as we had Grom gelato .... We had noticed it for sale around Rome and that the Grom storefront on Piazza Navona was always busy at night so while we are not big gelato fans we decided to try it on our last night in Rome. It was divine!!
The next morning eight of us (with Jo and Liam now joining the grtoup) assembled at Termini station to pile into two rental cars headed for Umbria!
No comments:
Post a Comment