Days 14, 15, 16, 17: Oct. 27, 28, 29, 30: Four Days in Rome
Since we spent a lot of time during our four days in Rome socializing with friends, I will take the liberty of combining four days into one report, which also has the advantage of helping me catch up.
The almost coast to coast drive from the Adriatic to Rome takes about 2.5 hours and the mountain scenery in the middle of the peninsula is quite striking as you drive along the autostrada at 140 km/hr. The highest peak–the Gran Sasso–reaches 9,000 feet but there is a long tunnel (about 6 miles long) that takes you underneath instead of having to go over one of the mountain passes.
The drive into the city has become pretty routine for us and we find the car rental office in the parking garage under the Villa Borghese park without difficulty. However the taxi ride from the parking garage to the hotel is more problematic because there is a big demonstration being held in the Piazza Navona causing a number of street closings. So our cab driver has to circle around and find alternate routes to the apartment which is near the Campo de’ Fiori. And he doesn’t know how to approach the street where the apartment is so I get the apartment owner on the phone to talk the driver in. The ride ends up costing almost Euro 30.00 because of the extra time in traffic.
The owners of the apartment–Massimo and Biancamaria–meet us at the door and help us wrangle the luggage in the very small elevator up to the 3rd floor. The apartment is very bright with a nice view over the rooftops of the neighborhood.
We spend some time talking and then we all go out for a light lunch together at the Ristorante S. Anna, just around the corner.
What we did in Rome:
-took a walk on the Via dei Coronari, a beautiful street lined with antique shops and stopped for a gelato at the Gelateria del Teatro…delicious.
-went to the Bellini show at the Scuderie del Quirinale gallery….a spectacularly mounted exhibit of art from the master of the Venetian renaissance.
-went with our friend Maureen to the exhibit Etruscans, The Ancient Cities of Latium at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni…a stunning collection of artifacts from four of the Etruscan cities near Rome. While we are waiting to go in, we got to see another demonstration against Berlusconi’s education "reforms"…..masses of people marching down the Via Nazionale, holding banners and singing and dancing.
-spent a morning at the Crypta Balbi, a fairly new, very fascinating archaeological museum in the heart of Rome, which examines the development of one block from Roman times up to the present. The "Time Out Guide to Rome" has this description.
The Crypta Balbi displays one of Rome’s more interesting recent archaeological finds, combines the best of the ancient
with state-of-the-art technology and is packed with displays, maps and models that explain (in English) Rome’s evolution from a bellicose pre-Imperial era, to early Christian times and on through the dim Middle Ages.
-spent a hour in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva near the Pantheon. The church is a large Gothic influenced building with a non-descript "modern exterior". Santa Maria sopra Minerva is best known for the Bernini elephant sculpture supporting an obelisk in the piazza in the front. Inside there is the grave of the artist, Fra Angelico, a Michelangelo "Risen Christ" as well as breathtaking frescoes by Filippo Lippi covering the Caraffa Chapel, which include an Annunciation, an Assumption and The Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
-went to the Vittorio Emanuele II monument intending to take the panoramic elevator to the top for the view over Rome, but were deterred by Euro 7.00 cost per person for the ride. So we contented ourselves with the view from terrace and had a coffee at the cafe on the terrace.
Then we walked back through the Campodoglio and the Ghetto on the way to having a porchetta sandwich at Aristocampo on the Campo de’ Fiori.
We also made our mandatory visit to the Pantheon and strolled through the Piazza Navona and the Campo de’ Fiori.
One of the nice things about Rome is that we have a lot of friends there and have the chance to get together with them. On this trip, we were busy everyday…
On Monday, we had dinner at a restaurant near the Colosseum with our friends Bonnie Kramer and Michael Rosenbush from Washington DC who are living in Rome for six months. On Tuesday, we were invited to a dinner party at Maureen and Franco’s apartment near the Colosseum. On Wednesday, we visited with Tony Polzer, a guide in Rome who I work with. Later that afternoon, we spent time with Rob Allyn, who was good friend of Frances Nacman–another guide in Rome who was also a good friend of ours–who had died the previous week. That evening, we went to dinner in Testaccio with Leon and Jill Kammer, who run a villa and apartment rental company in Rome. And on Thursday night, we had dinner with a college classmate of mine–Victor Simpson, who is the AP bureau chief in Rome and his wife Daniela–at Pierluigi’s.
The weather in Rome was extremely unsettled…..on two evenings, there were torrential downpours with thunder and lightning. One night the rain was so severe that the stairwell of our apartment was flooded and the elevator was knocked out until the next day, which meant that we had to walk the four flights of stairs to get to our apartment. It rained on and off for all of the four days in Rome.
Next stop, Chianti and then on to Florence.
The almost coast to coast drive from the Adriatic to Rome takes about 2.5 hours and the mountain scenery in the middle of the peninsula is quite striking as you drive along the autostrada at 140 km/hr. The highest peak–the Gran Sasso–reaches 9,000 feet but there is a long tunnel (about 6 miles long) that takes you underneath instead of having to go over one of the mountain passes.
The drive into the city has become pretty routine for us and we find the car rental office in the parking garage under the Villa Borghese park without difficulty. However the taxi ride from the parking garage to the hotel is more problematic because there is a big demonstration being held in the Piazza Navona causing a number of street closings. So our cab driver has to circle around and find alternate routes to the apartment which is near the Campo de’ Fiori. And he doesn’t know how to approach the street where the apartment is so I get the apartment owner on the phone to talk the driver in. The ride ends up costing almost Euro 30.00 because of the extra time in traffic.
The owners of the apartment–Massimo and Biancamaria–meet us at the door and help us wrangle the luggage in the very small elevator up to the 3rd floor. The apartment is very bright with a nice view over the rooftops of the neighborhood.
We spend some time talking and then we all go out for a light lunch together at the Ristorante S. Anna, just around the corner.
What we did in Rome:
-took a walk on the Via dei Coronari, a beautiful street lined with antique shops and stopped for a gelato at the Gelateria del Teatro…delicious.
-went to the Bellini show at the Scuderie del Quirinale gallery….a spectacularly mounted exhibit of art from the master of the Venetian renaissance.
-went with our friend Maureen to the exhibit Etruscans, The Ancient Cities of Latium at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni…a stunning collection of artifacts from four of the Etruscan cities near Rome. While we are waiting to go in, we got to see another demonstration against Berlusconi’s education "reforms"…..masses of people marching down the Via Nazionale, holding banners and singing and dancing.
-spent a morning at the Crypta Balbi, a fairly new, very fascinating archaeological museum in the heart of Rome, which examines the development of one block from Roman times up to the present. The "Time Out Guide to Rome" has this description.
The Crypta Balbi displays one of Rome’s more interesting recent archaeological finds, combines the best of the ancient
with state-of-the-art technology and is packed with displays, maps and models that explain (in English) Rome’s evolution from a bellicose pre-Imperial era, to early Christian times and on through the dim Middle Ages.
-spent a hour in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva near the Pantheon. The church is a large Gothic influenced building with a non-descript "modern exterior". Santa Maria sopra Minerva is best known for the Bernini elephant sculpture supporting an obelisk in the piazza in the front. Inside there is the grave of the artist, Fra Angelico, a Michelangelo "Risen Christ" as well as breathtaking frescoes by Filippo Lippi covering the Caraffa Chapel, which include an Annunciation, an Assumption and The Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
-went to the Vittorio Emanuele II monument intending to take the panoramic elevator to the top for the view over Rome, but were deterred by Euro 7.00 cost per person for the ride. So we contented ourselves with the view from terrace and had a coffee at the cafe on the terrace.
Then we walked back through the Campodoglio and the Ghetto on the way to having a porchetta sandwich at Aristocampo on the Campo de’ Fiori.
We also made our mandatory visit to the Pantheon and strolled through the Piazza Navona and the Campo de’ Fiori.
One of the nice things about Rome is that we have a lot of friends there and have the chance to get together with them. On this trip, we were busy everyday…
On Monday, we had dinner at a restaurant near the Colosseum with our friends Bonnie Kramer and Michael Rosenbush from Washington DC who are living in Rome for six months. On Tuesday, we were invited to a dinner party at Maureen and Franco’s apartment near the Colosseum. On Wednesday, we visited with Tony Polzer, a guide in Rome who I work with. Later that afternoon, we spent time with Rob Allyn, who was good friend of Frances Nacman–another guide in Rome who was also a good friend of ours–who had died the previous week. That evening, we went to dinner in Testaccio with Leon and Jill Kammer, who run a villa and apartment rental company in Rome. And on Thursday night, we had dinner with a college classmate of mine–Victor Simpson, who is the AP bureau chief in Rome and his wife Daniela–at Pierluigi’s.
The weather in Rome was extremely unsettled…..on two evenings, there were torrential downpours with thunder and lightning. One night the rain was so severe that the stairwell of our apartment was flooded and the elevator was knocked out until the next day, which meant that we had to walk the four flights of stairs to get to our apartment. It rained on and off for all of the four days in Rome.
Next stop, Chianti and then on to Florence.
posted by Jim Zurer at 7:31 PM
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