Teri's Roman Holiday

After spending four fairly relaxing days in Venice, we hopped on a train to the Eternal City - Roma! It had actually been 9 years since Sam and I had last done anymore than catch a train or a plane in Rome, so it was really nice to have an excuse to share the sights of that remarkable city with Teri! 

As we exited the train station, we got in the queue for a taxi and Teri experienced her first crazy Italian cab ride! Since we were staying in an apartment in a quiet neighborhood instead of a hotel on a main street, the driver was less than certain how to get us to the address we gave him. 

While maneuvering his way out of the station lot, he hollered over to another cab driver for directions, but it seems the other driver steered him in the wrong direction - possibly on purpose! So while driving through heavy traffic, going in all directions, our driver started trying to look up the address in what appeared to be an Italian version of a Thomas Guide map book in his lap! Sam asked him where his GPS was, and the driver responded, "GPS makes you stupid!" He finally figured out the approximate location, and then stopped to ask a policeman where the address was. In his defense, our building was on kind of an alley way/parking area, not so easy to find, and it did make for a very entertaining ride to say the least!

After checking in with the landlord, and doing some grocery shopping for the next morning's breakfast, we had dinner at a pretty good restaurant just a stone's throw from our apartment, before getting a good night's sleep in preparation for a very busy day of sightseeing. 

A short walk from our apartment, in a quiet Jewish neighborhood, we could cross a busy street to see this lovely view of the Tiber River and Tiber Island.

Though rain was predicted, the day started out pretty nice as we walked from the apartment to Vatican City, our destination for the day. As you can see in this photo of us in front of the Castel Sant'Angelo, it was sunny with ominous clouds in the background.

Photo by Sam Parsons

It did start sprinkling as we joined a walking tour of the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica.

Main altar in St. Peter's Basilica

The Pope's Swiss Guard.

By the time we were finished touring the Vatican, and were ready to walk back to our apartment, it was pouring!!  It was so bad at one point, we had to duck into a shop doorway, with other soaked tourists and locals, hoping it would let up a bit. It seemed only to worsen, so we braved the rain and got completely drenched (despite the umbrellas we each had), but ended up having a delicious pizza and wine dinner in a cafe on Piazza Navona! Once our bellies were full and we were warm with wine, the rain had stopped and we wandered around the Piazza where one of the scenes in Angels and Demons took place. The obelisk in this photo's background is the Fountain of the Four Rivers, where the fourth victim was drowned.

The following day, we walked to the Colosseum, and joined a tour given by an older, professorial-type gentleman, who reminded me a lot of Roberto Benigni of "Life is Beautiful" fame. (I took no photos because I was trying to keep my camera dry, but Sam got our guide in his video.) It was raining most of the time we were there, but our guide was quite entertaining and informative. The second half of the tour was on the Palatine Hill, and was lead by an American doctoral student from Colorado, who was very smart and well versed in Roman history and politics.

The dome of St. Peter's Basilica, seen off in the distance from atop Palatine Hill.

After wandering through the ruins of the Forum, and before returning to our apartment that evening, we walked back by the Colosseum for this amazing night time view.

And surprise, surprise - a wedding shoot!

When the sun came out on our last full day, we managed to walk all over much of the rest of the city. We took in the Campo dei Fiori (translation: Field of Flowers, an open air market with food, clothing, souvenirs, and of course, flowers for sale),

the Pantheon, an amazing structure rebuilt in 126 AD, after being destroyed by fire,

Its most incredible feature being the rotunda, molded with approximately 5000 tons of concrete, and with an oculus at the top, allowing natural light (and rain) into the interior.

the extremely crowded Spanish Steps,

and the famous Trevi Fountain,

where Teri made more than one wish (think: Three Coins in a Fountain)! I'm pretty sure I know what she wished for!
 
If you've been to Rome, you know that you cannot walk very far without seeing archeological digs and ruins. Because so much of the city has stuff like this under the surface, it has been very difficult to build a comprehensive subway system, making the traffic in this city of almost 3 million (plus tourists) pretty awful!

Feral cats love these old ruins. There were dozens of them in this particular area!

I don't know how many miles we walked that day, but it was lots! Of course on foot, you will see things you might not notice from a car or bus, like this interesting graffiti on a postal box,

an exotic beverage shop window filled with colorful, and no doubt intoxicating liquors,

shrines on the sides of buildings,

 or a reluctant photo subject.

This guy happens to be a member of an elite group of Italian soldiers known as Alpini. We wanted a picture of him because of his funny, feathered hat, but he wasn't having it!

(Don't forget to click on photos to enlarge, follow links when words show up in blue, and go to my Flickr page to view a few more photos from this trip.)