Rome – Transatlantic 2009 Day 6 – Last Full Day In Rome
November 29, 2009
Yesterday was our last full day in Rome on this wonderful vacation. This morning we will be boarding the Celebrity Solstice for our Transatlantic cruise back to the US. We decided to scale back our ambitious site seeing yesterday and take in a few of the larger piazzas.
We got a slow start on the day by sleeping in. After a breakfast of bacon and sausage, we made our way down to Piazza Popolo. We strolled around there for a bit and check out the three churches that are on the piazza. Suzanne really had wanted to visit one of them (can’t recall the name) because of a couple of really old painting that the church has. The church dates back to the late 1400s.
We then proceeded to head over to Piazza Novona (my favorite piazza). Along the way, we stopped at a new monument/museum. I say recent because it was only recently discovered and put back together. It was a former monument/temple to peace. When it was rebuilt, it was housed inside of a building which seemed really odd. I guess it gave them an easier way to charge an admittance fee for viewing.
At Piazza Novona, we were able to enjoy a nice pasta lunch will taking in some people watching. This piazza is very large and usually has an array of artists and street performers there. At this time of year, most of those had been replaced by a Christmas Market. There were still a couple of street performers there too. Suzanne was able to find a couple of souvenirs at the street market.
This was also the first time we got a bit wet on the trip. As previously mentioned, it had been threatening rain the entire trip which made the weather actually quite enjoyable. There was a slight drizzle falling while we ate lunch and for a few minutes afterwards, but we still managed to stay pretty much dry.
After leaving Piazza Novona, Sean wanted to visit the Spanish Steps again since he still hadn’t actually climbed up the steps. So I guided us back there but took a path back over there that went past the Pantheon. The kids still had not seen the inside during daylight hours. After seeing it, the nighttime view was still preferred. It also gave us an opportunity to get our Gelato for the day! We also visited the Trevi Fountain another time on the way back to the Spanish Steps. Savannah wanted to throw another coin in the fountain since she said she had already left Rome and then returned. Now, personally, I think visiting the Vatican doesn’t really qualify as such, but what the heck.
Finally, we hit the Spanish Steps and the kids were able to climb to the top and view them from above. After a short stay, we headed back to the apartment. I picked up a bottle of my favorite Italian wine, Barolo, for us to enjoy in the evening/night in the apartment.
We enjoyed a final Roman meal and reminisced about the trip to Rome. The girls were a bit sad, but were cheered up by the fact that tomorrow we would be getting on a cruise ship!
This has been a great way to start the vacation. The fact that we gave ourselves four days in Rome was really good. It would have been hard to see all we did in less time. Luckily, having been here many times on business myself, also gave us a pretty good idea ahead of time what to see and how to get there since I still find navigating room on foot very easy. The food has been fantastic. The people have been wonderful. The apartment couldn’t have been better. The price was right and we were ideally located in old Rome with easy access to most things we wanted to visit. All of us have enjoyed the pre-cruise stay in Rome much better than last years pre-cruise stay in Barcelona, Spain.
Be sure to follow our travel exploits on this blog as I try to make a daily update of our Rome and transatlantic cruise. Today, as previously mentioned, we will be boarding the Celebrity Solstice to begin our transatlantic cruise. This should be an interesting cruise as the Solstice is a bigger ship than we normally cruise. It will be another fun day!
Rome – Transatlantic 2009 Day 5 – More Touring Rome
November 29, 2009
Yesterday we continued our wonderful, albeit tiring experience in Rome. The previous day we logged nearly 7 miles walking and touring in the city. Yesterday we logged about another 6 miles. We are certainly getting our exercise. I guess it makes us feel less guilty about the awesome food we are eating. Suzanne and I usually try to eat a relatively low carb diet but have pretty much thrown that out the window here in Rome. Hopefully, logging 6+ miles a day of walking is countering the diet change.
Yesterday, Suzanne and I rose about 7:30 in the morning. We let the kids sleep in until about 9 given the heavy walking the day before. We enjoyed a traditional European breakfast of rolls, cold cuts and cheese. It really hit the spot!
About 10:00 we started out towards Castel San Angelo. It was a former Hadrian palace that was then converted to a castle as a safe haven for the Pope should it be needed. They had some museum type stuff in there, but the best part was the spectacular views it offered of Rome. In all directions, you could could see very far from the top of the castle. We should have some good pictures from there.
We then walked over to the Vatican and St Peter’s Basilica. We decided not to see the Sistine Chapel as Suzanne had seen it before and the kids weren’t really interested. I have been to the Vatican maybe 10 times, but never seen the chapel due to lack of interest. I am more of an architecture and view kind of guy. There was quite a few people at the Vatican, perhaps more than I have seen before. It was hard to tell because many parts of of St Peter’s Square and the Basilica were blocked off with chairs. They were set up and prepared for the Advent and Christmas celebrations. It took us about 20 minutes to get through security and into the Basilica. They even had St Peter’s crypt/tomb blocked off. We spent about an hour walking around the Basilica. The kids were quite amazed.
After the Vatican, we walked along the Tiber River for a while enjoying the sites. We stopped in Trastevere area for a nice lunch. We sipped on some wine, enjoyed some pasta/pizza and plotted the course for the afternoon.
Turns out there was a church, St Maria of Trastevere, that Suzanne wanted to see so we swung by there. It was the first Catholic church built in Rome. It was another fascinating church, but they are all starting to see that way now. They certainly used to spend a pretty penny on building churches!
Then we walked back into old Rome and swung by another ruins at Largo Argentina. It s a ruin area that also serves as home to stray cats. An animal shelter is run nearby that spays, gives shots, feeds and tries to find homes for the cats. There was probably a couple dozen cats visible in the ruins on this visit. I think I remember more cats on previous visits.
After the ruins, we swung by the Pantheon again. The kids wanted to compare it in daylight to nighttime when we went by before. Unfortunately, when we got there, they were shooing everybody outside of the Pantheon. It looked like they were preparing to have a mass or ceremony of some sort inside. So, instead we grabbed a Gelato!
The kids were now pretty beat and it was evening, so we headed back to the apartment but stopped at a couple more churches on the way. One of them featured a false dome. Instead of building a dome with windows. The false dome actually looked pretty good and was believable.
We arrived back at the apartment about 6:30 and enjoyed a glass of wine before heading out for dinner about 8:00. For dinner, we went to Fontanella’s, one of my favorite restaurants in Rome. This was going to be our splurge in Rome. After arriving, the waiter said I looked familiar and asked if I used to visit the restaurant. I certainly remembered him from other 8 or 9 stops at the restaurant while on business travel. We enjoyed a nice bottle of Italian wine and several courses. First, we had some special prepared Proscuitto. Then we had a pasta course. Me and the kids enjoyed Spaghetti Carbonara – again – while Suzanne had Putenesca. Then we had a special Risotto prepared for us. Savannah is a big fan or Risotto and I wanted her to experience the real thing. It was fabulous. After the Risotto, Savannah and I were treated to a tour of the kitchen and met the chef and his staff. She has taken a real interest in cooking and was very giddy at the tour. It was a nice special treat for her. Then we enjoyed a main course of Saltimbocca, another favorite of ours. Creme Brulee was on the menu for dessert. It was great dinner!
After dinner, we returned to the apartment and retired for the night at about 11:30 pm.
Be sure to follow our travel exploits on this blog as I try to make a daily update of our Rome and transatlantic cruise. Today, we will have a bit more relaxing day. We plan to visit a bunch of piazzas (ie Novona and Popolo) and probably will visit a couple more churches. We may also try to get back to the Pantheon so the kids can see the inside during daylight. Should be another fun day!
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