Buongiorno, Roma!

Friday, October 27
Woke up in our apartment early this morning first to the sound of birds, maybe pigeons cooing, although it was still dark outside…..next came the garbage collectors and then the quiet noise of morning traffic--but I reminded myself, WE'RE IN ROME!! Once up, I couldn't wait to make/have some coffee but soon realized we had no milk! So, I got dressed to go find some. I thought I'd be walking for about 10 minutes, I poked my head into a tiny shop just steps down our little via and discovered not only milk, but yummy looking pastries , cheese, meats, candies etc. as well. Sarah and Nick got up soon after they smelled the coffee! While we ate our small breakfast, we looked at the Rome map and read a bit in the guide books to plan our day.
Out the door at 10:15am, later than we’d wanted, but finally all organized for our adventure. We crossed the Tiber River at the pedestrian bridge, Ponte Cestio, which goes right over Isola Tiberina and continues as the Ponte Fabricio to the other side where you are right in front of Teatro di Marcello. This stone theater was originally started as a temple in 431 BC, then as a theater by Caesar and finished by Augustus in 11BC. A real eye opening beginning to our first day exploring Rome and its long history.

We walked up to the Piazza del Campidoglio by climbing the steps Michelangelo designed and admired the intricate white mosaic floor of the piazza in the center of which is a statue of Marcus Aurelius. We descended some stairs to the backside of this plaza and immediately saw the whole area of the Roman Forum laid out before us. Amazing to see how relics of completely different centuries are found juxtaposed to one another everywhere.

We were in search of the Mamartine prison located beneath the Palazzo Sentorio. A friend from church had told us about this prison where the Apostles Paul and Peter were held captive prior to their martyrdom. We descended into this tiny dark cavern and listened attentively to the audio tape. We didn’t take any photos here as we all felt in awe of where we were and the significance it had in the history of Christianity. As Nick said, it was like sacred ground. There in the middle of the floor was the grate which we were told back then was the only way in or out for a prisoner and also the hole through which their food and water was given to them. Much later, stairs were put in so one could walk down into the cell. It was indeed a most depressing place for anyone to spend even 10 or 15 minutes! Daylight came in only trough the tiny holes in the grate mentioned above. As we left this depressing but powerful spot, we thought about the contrast we would see tomorrow when we go to the opulent, enormous, beautiful St. Peter’s Basilica! Wonder if while sitting in Mamartine, Peter could ever have imagined something like that one day being built and named for him.


We continued on our self-guided, self-directed walking tour of Rome by heading around the corner to the Il Vittoriano, where the tomb of the unknown soldier (WWI) was being carefully guarded by three Italian soldiers. We walked up Rome’s “main street”, Via del Corso, then took a right to the Trevi Fountain. This was on Sarah’s "must see" list as she’d seen it in the Hilary Duff movie "When in Rome".

As you can see, we weren't the only ones out sightseeing in Rome today!

From here we walked along until we reached the Spanish Steps. We wandered a bit along the streets just off the steps like via Condotti, della Croce and della Carrozzze. Lots of wonderful shops, ristorante and people watching.



There was a fabulous florist with the most intersting arrangements. I love the way he's cut these pumpkins in half widthwise and "stuffed" the arrangement in the middle!

We settled on lunch on via della Croce at a little pizzeria where we could get an outdoor table. We love sitting at streetside tables enjoying the fabulous weather and to watch all the people, dogs, strollers and motorcycles on the street.
The motorcyclists were all trying to see if they could ride down the street without being stopped by the caribinari. Some would obediently hop off and walk their bikes, while others brazenly rode along hoping not to get stopped. It was even better watching those that got stopped talking to the angry caribinari!

The pizza was DELICIOUS!!!


After lunch we did a little window shopping-this was definitely the high rent district! Sarah was looking for ballet flats but not by Prada or Gucci! We crossed back over the Via del Corso by the Borghese Palace, now the Spanish embassy and a museum, and walked along until we got to the Piazza Novona. It was bustling with people and tourists. We decided it was gelato time so we got our "flavor of the day".
So many yummy choices!
We went onto the piazza to sit and noticed that not everyone was eating gelato....

We listened to some lovely acoustic guitar music being played by a nicely dressed young man sitting out on the piazza. While he provided entertainment for our ears, this mime entertained our eyes...

As the sun moved across the piazza, we just sat there happy to watch the people and admire the three beautiful fountains.

During our short few months in france and now Italy, we've noticed Europeans seem to take more time to sit and enjoy life; especially moments like this lovely, sunny, Saturday afternoon. We felt very fortunate to be doing it as well.