Rome in July!

Alan and arrived in Rome on the morning of July 8, 2010.  We took our time at the airport because we didn't want to make any mistakes that we would regret later.  We decided that since the Leonardo Da Vinci airport is around 17 miles outside of Rome, that we would leave almost half our luggage in storage at the airport (6 Euros per day for 4 days per bag), that way we wouoldn't be dragging all our luggage with us to the hotel on the shuttle.  We were going to take a train, which goes from the airport to the termini right in the middle of Rome which was about 14 euros each, but then a shuttle (van) driver came up to us and told us he would take us dirrectly to our hotel for 15 euros each.  If we had gone on the train, we would have had to drag our luggage for something like 8 blocks over cobblestone.  Not fun, so we went into Rome with the shuttle driver.  By the way, a euro was about $1.26.  We saw the colesseum as we drove through Rome and we started to get very excited about our days in Rome.  After we got to our hotel (Art Deco Best Western), we walked around our neighborhood for a few hours, then went back to the hotel.  Then we walked out for dinner and found a little sidewalk cafe called Florian's where we had some good food.  We saw that someone behind us ordered a Hawaiian pizza and yes, Noah, it was on the menu.  Then we walked to the piaaza Republican and took some pictures. 

The next morning, we took off to the termini, excited to try out the metro and the public buses and found out that we couldn't use either because of a scheduled strike.  So we found a tourist bus and got on it about 15 Euros each.  We went all around Rome seeing all the big buildings but not stopping.

 It was a hop on/hop off deal and so you could get off wherever you wanted and then catch the next bus coming your way.  We stopped off at the Vatican and had lunch there and then went in to the St. Peters Basillaca. 

This is the Piazza San Pietro and was laid out by Bernini between 1656 and 1667

Of course I recognized the famous Swiss guards who guard the Vatican City.  I want to be a guard and wear that cool clown costume.

Then we into St Peter's and then went over to the Vatican museums and the Sistine chapel.  All fabulous and free.

This is in St Peter's Basillica.  Most of the great architects of the Renaissance and Baroque had a hand in the design of the basillica which is one of the most famous churches in Christendom.

This is the famous Dome of St Peters. It is 136.5 meters high and was designed by Michelangelo and not completed in his life time.

This is the extravagant baroquecanopy that stands above St. Peter's tomb.  It was comissioned by Pope Urban VIII in 1624 made by Bernini.  Below is Michelangelo's Pieta which is protected by glass since an attack in 1972.  The Pieta was created in 1499 when Michelangelo was only 25. 

The vatican museums are home to the Sistine Chapel and Raphael Rooms and houses one of the world's most important art collections.  They are housed in palaces originally built for Renaissance popes.  I didn't know much of what I was looking at, but I was very impressed by the ceilings.  These guys were great at ceilings.

No pictures allowed of the Sistine chapel.  Sorry folks.

I loved this little outside place with a pina cone statue.  It is actually named that.

This staircase up and down to the museums was designed in 1932 by Guiseppe Momo and is in the form of a double helix consisting of two spirals - one for up and one for down.

Then we hopped on the bus again and went to the the Trevi Fountain.  That was crazy, the crowd was huge.  I think that took all of our day. 

We ate at Florians again that night, I guess we felt comfortable there.  Really good food in Rome - very Italian, imagine that.  That was Friday.  Saturday we went to the termini and bought a Roma pass (25 Euros each).  That gives you access to public busses and the metro and your first two paying sights are free when you use the Roma Pass, so we chose to go to the colesseum.  We got on the metro and had a good time figuring out which side of the tracks we were supposed to be on.  When we got to the colesseum we didn't have to wait in line because we had a Roma Pass.  The colesseum was gigantic and we took a lot of pics.

Then we decided to get on a bus and find the Pantheon.  We got on the bus going the wrong way, of course, and then had to come back the way we had come.  We finally found the Parthenon down some very narrow windy streets, which were very charming.  The Pantheon is gorgeous, supposedly the most pleasing architecure and best proportions of any building in the world at that time.  I was impressed and so was Alan (his favorite thing in Rome).

 We again visited the Trevi Fountain and then up one metro stop to the Spanish Steps piazza. 
On Sunday we checked out of our hotel, and the hotel let us leave our luggage there for when we left in the evening for the airport.  We decided to go to the Roman Forum which now is my favorite thing to see in Rome.  I loved seeing all the ruins. 

Then we walked up to the Capitoline Hill.  By the way, after you walk around Rome, you do realize that it is very hilly.  Seven Hills of Rome, if I remember correctly. 
We were supposed to catch our plane to Addis at 12:55 in the morning, so we went to te hotel to pick up our luggage, and Alan called our shuttle man, who woldn't come and get us.  There just happened to be another shuttle at the hotel picking up someone else, so we asked if there were enough room for us.  He said yes, and we again paid about 14 - 15 euros to get back to the airport.  We got our other luggage out of storage and then went to check in forour flight.  There was no one at the counter so we left and had a bite to eat.  Wen we came back, there was a long line.  We waited and when it was our turn we were asked if we would be willing to stay another night in Rome and fly down the next night.  Ethiopian Airlines had sent too small of a plane and this plane was coming from Brussels, to Rome, to Addis, to Johannesburg.  They said they would put us up in a 4 star hotel, give us tree meals, and give us 1200  Euros if we would stay.  We said yes, but we had to wait for about three hours before they sent us to the hotel. 
The next day (Monday) we rode the train into Rome, for we were in a hotel out by the airport.  We decided to spend the day at the Vill dell Borghese walking the grounds.  Very extensive, some museums, and Beautiful.  We ate gelatos everyday.  I never realized that gelato was the word for ice cream in Italian until I was in Rome.  I thought a gelato was something different than ice cream.  It suddenly made sense in my head how close the word "gelato" is to the spanish word "helado."  Then it all kind of got put together.  Very good ice cream, and very refreshing on those hot Roman days and Roman nights.  We had a great time and I loved every hot, sweaty, crowded, noisy, Italian minute of it.