2023 Italy Day 18
Rome, Friday Apr 7
Waking up, knowing we are in Rome, even in a tiny guest room, is kind of magical! The Eternal City awaits us! And of all days, it is Good Friday! So that means that pretty much all citizens not working and all tourists of the Catholic faith are here in town for the weekend! And sure enough, the traffic is crazy all day! Glad we have our car parked in a garage and happy to be walking today! Albeit we have the Hop On Hop Off Bus pass and we have a Metro Rail Pass! So we walk to the bus stop, about a mile away and wait almost an hour in line to get on a bus!
And Rome is so much warmer than Tuscany was! It is actually tolerable in a sweater and light hat! And the heat works in our room! We get breakfast at a pastiserrie a couple of doors from our room and get our tummies satiated! Then we walk to the bus stop, about a mile away and wait almost an hour in line to get on a bus! We want to ride a different route today but it turns out the Pope is making appearances in the city today and the route we want is closed for the day! Also, we never see the Pope, LOL
But we ride the bus and get off at the “Wedding Cake” stop and we walk around. It turns out you CAN go inside the Wedding Cake AND you can go to the top! Even better yet, the 30 Euros it should have cost goes to zero on Good Friday and the tickets are FREE!
We go to a restaurant at the midway point and get refreshing Aperol Spritzes which are Prosecco, flavoring of some kind and club soda on ice! Not my first choice for a wine drink but they ARE refreshing on what is a sunny day!
There is even a “Panorama View Elevator” that takes you to the very top for some great city views! Oops, did I mention the Panorama View does cost 15 Euros per person? But to tell a photographer he can’t go up would be blasphemous! So we buy the tickets and go to the top! Views galore!
We study the view photo displays at the top and find where the Trevi Fountains are and we descend and head in that direction. Even though I have walking navigation with me, it is not hard to find. Just follow the bulk of the crowd and we soon arrive! Before we leave the Fountains, we get our last taste of Italian Gelato, it is just the best! I acquire some coins in the change from the Gelato and Elee tosses one in the Fountains in honor of her Mom who we brought here 7 years ago in a wheelchair. It brings tears to Elee’s eyes and I choke up a little also! We even get to see the Spanish Steps but elect not to climb them!
But we move along and find a bus stop to ride again and we ride a complete loop plus a couple stops to the Rome Train Terminal. Here we get on the Metro Train and try to ride 2 stops to the Colosseum. Alas, the train slows at the Colosseo stop but doesn’t stop! It stops next in Circo Maximo and we get off. We’re not sure of exactly where we are but soon I recognize the streets and figure out it is where we walked this morning to get to the bus! It’s strange how things become familiar quickly!
It turns out the reason we couldn’t stop at the Colosseo either on a bus or a train is that the Pope was scheduled to be there. Italian News tells us a Cardinal went in his place due to the cold weather. As much as we thought it tolerable today has a lot to do with what we experienced in Tuscany during the last week! We did wear warm clothing today and I can understand how an 86 year old person does not want to brave this weather!
We have a slightly longer walk back home than we thought, but only a mile or so! So we walk back (aided a few times with my walking navigator GPS, I love that part as it also shows the direction my phone points!) and we get ‘home’ in about a half hour. With almost 13,000 steps in today, my legs agree it is time to call it a day!
We check out a restaurant that is almost directly across the street from our room, which is convenient. It was “Pizzeria al Vinoria”! Can you figure out what they sell? You are wrong. They not only sell Pizza and wine, they also sell all kinds of pasta and meat dishes! We both order pasta and I can’t get over how perfectly Italian restaurants can cook pasta, “Al Denti”! Fantastic meal!
We retire to our room and relax to write these Blogs. I have a bottle of wine left and we can’t take it on the plane due to traveling with carry on’s so what to do, what to do? Oh, I have an idea! (and it doesn’t include leaving it behind, LOL)
So good night and I tip my glass to all my followers and readers! And tip it again! And again!
Around the World in 80 Trips (Or Less) 
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