I am posting this part of the trip now since it doesn't seems that I will ever complete the text. Maybe some cold snowy winter day.
Sunday, September 18
Driving into Rome in a 9 passenger van is not for the faint of heart. But with Jack at the wheel and Geof at 3 maps and 2 GPS displays we made it with no tickets, no accidents, and very little screaming in the van. We found the appartment building that contained our B&B and Alfie came down to help get our suitcases into the small elevator that took us 3 flights up to the apartment. The van was double parked during this exercise and was almost ticketed by 2 policemen. A futile exercise because immediately after Jack and Geof drove frantically away to avoid the policeman and his ticketing book and to return the van, a truck took it's place in the double-parked space and the policement were no where to be seen. We trudged up the 3 flights of stairs - weren't sure if we trusted that rickety looking elevator - and met Ivana, the innkeeper.
Ivana is French, and reminded me of Cloris Leachman is one of her more scattterbrained roles. Alfie was the better english-speaker and the better suitcase-hauler and seemed to occupy one of the rooms in the B&B with his wife who (perhaps) did some of the cleaning. After the critical job of deciding who had which room, and getting the suitcases settled in the correct rooms, I (who had reserved the rooms, so I was the interface person) got a lesson in how to use the various doors. I was a very poor student and Cloris - I mean, Ivana - did much sighing and pantomiming to finally train me in the proper use of the antique looking keys and the recalcitrant doors. I also received a lesson in the use of the coffee maker and was told to train all the others in its proper use. The most important part of the coffee making procedure was to remember to hit the stop button so that the very small cup (this is expresso, remember) would not overflow. I think I was a bit more trainable in this process because there was less sighing and even a smile involved.
When the training portion was over, those of us who had not been involved in returning the van had to hurry out and figure out how to meet Jack and Geof at the coloseum at the appointed time. Luckily Lisa found an English speaking clerk in one of the souvenir shops who told us to take bus #46. The bus came fairly quickly and took us right to the coloseum. This was the last time we were to have such good luck with this particular bus.
The market at Campo de Fiore:
The B&B is on the west bank of the Tiber just south of the Vatican and only about 3 blocks away. We could see St Peter's dome from our bedroom window.
the morning rush hour. The many many scooters and motorcycles provided a brownian motion like randomness to the larger traffic.
St Peter's Basilica
We took a tour of St Peters led by one of the official tour guides. The rennaisance artists who designed and built St Peters did NOT go in for understated elegance. Every inch is covered in voluptuously carved marble and highly decorated precious materials - some of which - we were to learn - were looted from 'pagan' monuments and ancient historic shrines like the Pantheon. The Basilica is cavernous, the dome immense. So immense that the size cannot be judged from the floor of the basilica.
Vatican Museum
Coloseum and Roman Forum
The Jewish Ghetto
Pantheon
A beautiful ancient building, especially at night.
We went back during the day. The dome of the Pantheon is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome142 ft in diameter and 142 ft to the opening in the top.
Trevi Fountain
This is a major tourist attraction and was very crowded.
The many scuptures that comprise it are beautiful.
Last Night
Amazingly we are still friends after 2 and a half weeks, and countless meals together.
