Italy Trip Home Page
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ITALY
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We left our house in San Diego on Tuesday morning and arrived at our new (temporary) home in Rome at around 10:30 AM, Rome time, the next day.
Our upgrade requests for First Class went for naught, but we paid for "main cabin extra", which buys a few inches of extra legroom, well-worth it of you've got long legs on a long flight.
Our Airship
The first of a thousand selfies
Rome! Time to start speaking Italian! Unless of course there are English sub-titles...
The small street on the right is the street our apartment was on.
This is another view of our street looking south, our apartment was in the building to the far left where the guy in the light blue shirt is walking.
This is the address. We found it on VRBO and I would recommend staying there if you happen to be headed to Rome.
It was around the corner from the Piazza del Popolo
This is sculpture on the P del P. It's a Roman waiter pointing to the menu saying "just point, don't try speaking Italian", which reminded us that we were hungry.
Our first meal in Italy. What else? OK, maybe vino rosso instead of beer, but we were thirsty.
We walked around the neighborhood until we could check in.
The Spanish Steps. Unfortunately the fountain was undergoing "repairs".
We'll have more Spanish Steps photos later with Deb & Mike.
One of the bridges over the Tiber
Another one. Our street ran parallel with the river
A view of St. Peter's from Borghese Gardens
The twin St. Mary's on P del P
Lorri on the P del P
Lorri relaxing, finally, in our apartment
This is our bathroom. We had a mouse! See it?
This is the rest of the bathroom
Thursday, Rome
We had an afternoon reservation for the Scavi Tour, the tour of the archeological excavations beneath St Peter's Basilica which exposed the tomb of St Peter as well as many other burial chambers, artifacts and structures.
Looking down the Tiber
A curbside fruit stand
Approaching the Vatican
Just a mild storm
Clearing up nicely
A famous location
A famous couple
...and a close-up of the famous couple!
Another view
We had to get past the Swiss Guard to go on the Scavi Tour
I think they need something a little flashier
They were just coming in to hang out with the Pope for a week or two.
..or three
Oh, by the way, the Pope says "Hi!"
I'd like to show all my photos from inside the Tour but no photos were allowed.
So I'll just describe it: Underneath St Peter's Basilica, they have excavated the tomb of St Peter and a bunch of other tombs and sarcophagi and other stuff.
St Peter's from down the street
The Castel Sant' Angelo
The middle arches of this bridge date to ancient Roman Times
Lorri standing in the street
The other side of the Castel Sant' Angelo
More of the Tiber
Time for and afternoon snack
This was somewhere near the Vatican, Ciampini's
Me
I know! Let's have pizza!
That night we had dinner at "59" the restaurant around the corner from our apartment. It was excellent!
as was the wine
and the company
some antipasti
Piazza del Popolo at night
Good night to Thursday in Roma!
Friday, Rome
The highlight of the day was our Red Bicycle Tour of the Appian Way! The tour left from a location near the Coliseum, so we decided to walk there and stop at the Pantheon on the way.
Walking toward the Pantheon
Looking out from the Pantheon
Looking in to the Pantheon
Looking up in the Pantheon
Looking around in the Pantheon
CAD drawings of the Pantheon
Just your casual excavation of some old Roman stuff not too far from the Forum or the Colosseo
We found the bicycle place but we need a snack before heading out.
I know! How about some pizza? Notice the Colosseo in the background? That makes the pizza authentic.
OK, here we go
See ya, Glenn.
Hello, Muso!
We're outside the gates now!
Looking back
Not the Appian Way
This is the Appian Way, kind of bumpy. I hope those old chariots had coil springs and independent suspension.
Fortunately, there were side trails and smooth spots that made the ride a little easier
The remains of aqueducts
Not the Appian Way
Oh, did I mention that we had two flats and no bicycle pump that worked?
I guess we needed a break anyway.
Toward the end of the ride we stopped here for mineral water and cheap jug wine.
We didn't buy any water but we did score 1-1/2 liters of red and the same of white for about five Euros total.
It wasn't really great wine but it came in handy when we ran out of the good stuff.
After the strenuous ride we needed to replenish our strength so we stopped at the Shamrock for a Guinness or two.
Just what the doctor ordered!
On the way back, we noticed this statue of our friend AJ.
Back at the apartment, the day's spoils.
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