Bonjourno
(good morning)!
OMG,
I slept 12 hours straight! We decided our feet were way too sore to
get up for sunrise. Thank god. Walking to the toilet was bad
enough. It did take us an hour or so to get our bodies moving again.
The
day is looking a tad overcast. Forecast of 26 degree’s today and
high humidity once again. I did open my eyes to see a faint pink
streak in the sky at sunrise.
We
had a very long leisurely breakfast with Riccardo. No, not the
Riccardo who checked us in (who will now be known as ‘young
Riccardo’) - this was with Riccardo, who runs the business with
Alfonso.
Riccardo
is also lovely and I also want to take him home! Not sure I can
afford all this excess luggage!! ha ha ha
We
laughed so much, my tummy hurt. I talk too fast for him to
understand which made me talk faster still. It reminded me back in
the old Italian days when I couldn’t understand what everyone was
saying because they talked too fast! We shared photos from the past
few days and shared photos from our travels.
Alfonso
joined us as the morning got later, and from there it was just a
comedy show. I love these guys!! I can’t decide if I should just
move here permanently, or if they should come to Australia! :)
My
Italian is slowly coming back to me….rusty and I certainly couldn’t
hold a conversation, but some words have come flooding back, and no,
not just the swear words, because they are never forgotten. Had to
brush up on my prego vs grazi to make sure I use it in the right
context. Alfonso was impressed (or I think he was….I’m going
with “he was”!)
More
suggestions of places to see. There is a tiny little church which is
right next to the Colosseum (doh – we were just there last night….
do they not know my feet are sore??) ha ha so of course we will go
there.
We
have to buy our train tickets to Florence today, so we have our seats
booked. And we also want to try and book a tour to the Vatican City.
Steve would like to see inside St Peters Basilica (what we
photographed the other morning) – and of course there is the famous
stair case at the gift shop that I MUST photograph (its the whole
reason I have come to Rome)….well, that and the Gelati, and Steve
just reminded me he still has to go to Vodafone to get the SIM card.
Oh there goes the day.
Oh
and then we have to try and walk over to Piazza Navona…..3
fountains by the same guy who did the Trevi fountain (Riccardo told
us funny stories about the fountains!) and there is another church to
see that looks amazing!
So
the time is now 1pm. We’ve eaten breakfast all morning – not
sure I can fit anything else in…. Well, I can fit some Gelato.
Must try for 2 today! And best we get a move on and get out amongst
it. (Steve is dilly-dallying…. His calves and feet are very sore –
he is sounding like an old man today!)
We’ll
report back later on!! :)
WOW,
what another huge afternoon of walking! I know they say you walk
everywhere in Rome – but this is ridiculous! Another 10kms
carrying all our camera gear. I think the issue is the cobblestone
streets – its not our normal walking pattern, plus you don’t
stop. Even when you stop for a drink or gelati, you’re standing.
One day I’ll come back to Rome and leave the camera gear at home –
it’ll be much easier!
So
we made our first stop the Vodafone store on via Del Corso, via the
Spanish Steps on via Sistina. Still very busy there, but not quite
as busy as on Sundays! It really is a beautiful street – via
Condotti with all of the top end boutiques and the “beautiful
people” out for a walk. If I had a few thousand euro to splash
around, I’d come back here for sure!
I
left Steve at Vodafone to do his thing, and I visited a small church
that was right next door in Piazza S. Lorenzo in Lucina. I love how
some of these churches are totally hidden – not big and flashy like
some of the others. This was a beautiful little church.
From
there Steve met me (yes he got the SIM – yay!), and we started our
walk to find the Pantheon. Gosh the little back streets are getting
more and more beautiful! You turn down a small street and think “for
sure this can’t take us anywhere” and then boom, it opens up and
you are in a small piazza – just gorgeous!
It
was getting more humid and being that it was close to lunch time,
everyone was out and about and I saw lots of people eating
Gelati….but I wasn’t eating Gelati….so poor Steve was made to
stop to buy some!! Galliano Patisserie and Gelateria….it was
PACKED…. People lining the streets eating the Gelati and the queue
inside was insane….but we waited in line, and it was worth it!!
Steve
had Vanilla, Creme Vanilla & and I had Coconut, Banana &
Nougat – OMG, the Nougat was insanely good!! The Coconut &
Banana was more Gelati, and the Nougat was Gelato.
I
tried to move off the street to put my backpack down and get out of
everyone’s way, but I was told off by a Policeman for climbing over
the small fence to the cleared area – OOPS!! Sorry Officer!! So
told off twice in two days by the police – I’m doing well! Ha ha
ha
From
there we walked the small streets till BOOM we turned a corner and
there in all its glory was the Pantheon. Again, it was another site
we weren’t all the fussed about seeing or not seeing. But so damn
glad we did. WOW, its so BIG and impressive. I just love the way
these things are hidden, and the whole city is built right up around
it, and you have no idea and you turn a corner and BOOM – cracks me
up!
So
we walked around inside with the thousands of other tourists there.
It was vast inside and impressive. Not ‘pretty’ like the
churches, this was more about power and size and carvings.
I
tried to take a few photos of it outside, but eh – nothing good to
be taken in the middle of the day.
Once
again we walked down some small streets until we came upon Palazzo
Madama, another spectacular Church!! Did we go inside? Of course we
did!! Church San Luigi dei Francesi.
We
moved on through the small back streets till we came to Piazza
Navona. WOW, once again you turn a corner and come across this large
piazza and church and fountains.
Legend
has it (this was told to us by Riccardo at the apartment…) - that
the sculptor who did the Trevi Fountain did these fountains at Piazza
Navona and was having some issues with the Architect building the
Church there. So he made one of the men on the fountain looking like
he is bracing himself for the church to fall down on him. Basically
saying to the world that he thought the architecture was of
questionable quality! Ha ha - funny!
We
went inside the Basilica…. No photos apparently – signs
everywhere. But the minute I saw the dome, stuff what the signs said
(bring on the police!) - I HAD to take a few sneaky shots. WOW –
so gorgeous. I wanted to stand under the dome, but that was too
obvious, so I stood off to the side and snuck a few in.
Steve
was a good boy and he didn’t take any photos! Goody-Goody Two
Shoes is our Steve! :)
We
looked at the other fountains outside, and then saw another dome to
another church and that was it…. Whats that one look like inside?
We must have walked inside another 5 or 10 churches along the way –
they are everywhere. Every fresco is stunningly gorgeous and
beautifully ornate. Honestly, I am running out of words to describe
them all.
Santa Maria Dell-Anima - WOW, look at how ornate it is!! Amazing!
San
Nicola De Lorenzi was locked and we weren't allowed inside, but that
didn't stop Steve and I from putting our lens through the gate to take a
shot of the ceiling - the best we could! So beautiful!
Santa
Maria Della Pace - how impressive is that front with the columns? The
dome was carved instead of painted, and I loved the windows right the
way around the dome. It was just lovely. A different look again to the
other churches we'd been into thus far. The fresco's were painted by
Raphael in the 1400's.
We
found ourselves on a main road – via Coro Vittoria Emanuele.
Where we found – yes you guessed it – another Church! Well, two
actually. One we could get inside, the other we couldn’t. Parrocchia Santa Maria in Vaillicella Church on Piazza Chiesa
Nuova. WOW - check out the inside of this church!
We stopped for a few minutes to rest but we had to keep going, so on we walked.
We
walked until we hit the bridge Ponte Sant’ Angelo which leads you
to Castel Sant’ Angelo. It was still too early to photograph so
we found a small restaurant where we had an early dinner. Well, not
quite early for us – but early for the Italians.
Steve
had Spaghetti Cabronara, and I had Tortellini with Ham & cheese –
OMG…. Nothing beats real Italian pasta! 2 pasta dishes and I had
some Melanzani Parmigiana & 2 soft drinks was $25 euro – cheap
considering we were very close to the Castel Sant’ Angelo!
I
asked Steve what the time was and it was 6.11pm and sunset was at
6.20pm!! OMG, you haven’t seen two people with very sore feet move
so quickly! We all but ran to the other bridge, the Pont Umberto
which leads to the Court House to take sunset shots of the Vatican.
Eh,
pretty average sunset, no colour, heavy non-descript clouds. Very
disappointing to be honest. But the bridge was packed and no one
seemed to notice those things except us. We played around with some
long exposure images. I got talking to some tourists from France who
had been here for a few days. They had just been to the Vatican City
today. They asked when I was going, and I said, hopefully tomorrow –
she said ‘your game to go tomorrow’. Why I asked? The Papal
Mass!! Oh…. The thousands and thousands of people who will be
there tomorrow….. hmmm… well, that just made the decision for us.
No Vatican tomorrow. Oh well, the staircase photograph will have
to wait for my next visit to Rome. Shame, but there is no way Steve
and I will cope with that amount of people – not with very sore
feet!
After a few more shots were taken, we packed up and ran (not
quite...let’s call it a fast shuffle with sore feet) to the Ponte
Sant’ Angelo for blue hour. Well, more like “blue 10mins”.
Omg, this bridge is packed with people!! We set our tripods up in
the middle of the bridge and started doing long exposure shots to try
and remove some of the people. Of course with such heavy traffic,
you can’t remove everyone, but considering what we had to deal
with, I was very happy with what we captured.
We
thought of these images as a test run, as we plan to come back at 5am
to shoot the bridge with no one around.
As
it is now dark and we are even more exhausted, we made our start back
to the apartment. We thought about taking a taxi, when we spied a
Gelati place! What the heck, that is my Number 2 for the day!
“Frigadarium” This was more of a western ice-cream shop than a
Gelateria. All very creamy. They dipped everything in chocolate at
the end. It was nice, but I wouldn’t have it like that again.
Steve thought this was the best ice-cream so far. Nah – my
coconut of yesterday is still by far the very best I’ve had! I had
coconut, banana & their own flavour ‘Frigadarium’ - which was
like a toffee, butterscotch with chocolate fondant – extremely
rich! Steve had the ‘Frigadarium, Vanilla & Chocolate Chip.
So
sugar loaded we were ready for our big hike back. We took del
Governo Vecchio & numerous other small streets back (they looked
like they were the same street, but weren’t), back through Piazza
Navona, to the Pantheon (where I took some long exposure shots at
night trying to get rid of the many people….) - not too shabby an image, gotta say I love it!
Then back through
the Trevi Fountain (HILARIOUS the amount of people there!)…. Then
back up the hill to home.
These
back streets are superb! If we had more time, I would have explored
this street more with its eateries and fabulous trattoria’s, and
shops selling all sorts of wares & designer homewares etc.
Ahhh
back home finally…. Nothing like it!! We estimated we’ve walked
another 15kms tonight.
We
couldn’t get our shoes off quick enough. Unfortunately, I now
have one hell of a blister on the left foot heel...to the side.
OUCH. I knew it was sore, but didn’t think it was a blister. This
is going to be an issue for the huge OOAK trip in the next few days –
damn it! ugh
We
both made the decision that we can’t do photography in the morning.
We can’t risk hurting our feet more, not this close to the big
OOAK trip – the whole reason we are here!!! So we are better off
resting our feet. We got some nice images of Rome and in reality we
have to be happy with what we got.
My
main priority will be to find a Farmacia tomorrow to get some big
plasters/bandaids to put on my heel.
Anyway,
too tired to really worry about all of that now. We showered then
fell into bed and we were both asleep within seconds of our heads
hitting the pillow.
Buone
Notte - Tiamo Roma
