Eternally Roma

Our visit to the capital started with finding our accommodation - a camping village out of the centre of town, where we had engaged to stay in a little bungalow. It was a lovely location - lots of space - and nice to have a private room and bathroom to ourselves. We were disappointed by the lack of cooking facilities, but there was nothing we could do about that.

Unfortunately there was a lack of Aussies and Kiwis staying on the grounds, as the day after we arrived was ANZAC day. Coincidentally, it was also an Italian holiday, and all the attractions were packed with people. We made our first stop at the Spanish steps. They were covered in huge terracotta pots of pink and white azaleas, and were very pretty indeed. At the top we looked in a church, and then strolled down towards the Trevi Fountain. This, again, was packed with people, and we decided to return at a later time to see it properly. On our way to the Pantheon (which turned out to be closed) we came across a photography exhibition in an old building, which was very interesting. Not only were the pictures nice, it was a place to shelter from Rome's rain! which graced us with its presence for the duration of our stay (only intermittently, to be fair). Dinner that evening, in a quaint red-and-white-checked-tablecloth ristorante was enlived by glasses of Limoncello. I had been so sure that this was a lemon squash drink I had heard of. . . it's not. . . It actually happens to be a rather strong lemon liqueur. . .

Returning to the Pantheon the next morning, we were amazed at it's beauty and amazingly preserved form. The domed ceiling looks positively modern, with clean lines and amazingly advanced engineering. We had been going to visit the Vatican on our second morning, but did not make it to the queues until rather later than we ought, and decided to postpone our visit after walking some miles (it felt like!) to try to find the end of the line. We had some compensations, however, in having time to explore this part of the city. A side alley revealed a gorgeous gelateria where we tried 'puro' gelati - pure chocolate flavour. We were dubious as to how it could be, but it was!

Friday we headed again for the Musei Vaticani. Joined the queue at 7.30, taking it in turns to run off for a cioccolato and pastry for breakfast. The doors opened at 9am (a nice surprise - we had thought is was 10am) and we filed in, with the customary x-raying of bags and wanding of anti Catholic suspects. We enjoyed taking a slightly different route from the crowd and enjoyed the first galleries we visited in practical solitude. Stone carvings and lovely mosaics abounded, and were enjoyed much more than the second gallery we saw featuring iconographic art (a genre that just doesn't excite either of us that much). An Egyptian gallery was interesting, if seemingly incongruous, and a painted shroud was particularly lovely. The long galleries were next, and we both enjoyed the Galleria Geographica, with huge elaborately decorated maps of ancient Roman empires. They reminded me in form of the maps of Tolkien and CS Lewis, and were coloured in brilliant jewel greens and blues. Another favourite room for us was a display of micro-mosaics - tiny tiny mosaics depicting landscapes, architecture and fauna. They were so intricate and detailed, we spent ages peering at them.

The Sistine Chapel was the obvious main attraction, and we both enjoyed it, but were not perhaps as awe-struck as we could have been. It was full of people and guards hissing 'Shhh!' at anyone who made more than a peep, and was a bit overwhelming. The whole interior is painted, even the draperies, and there is almost too much to see. The Vatican Post Office then beckoned, and we each sent a card (one of my long time tourist ambitions).

St Peter's Basilica (San Pietro Basilica) was right there, so we decided to have a look-see. X-rayed again, we joined the shortest queue and trotted off to see the tombs of the popes. Sounds macabre, but it wasn't too bad, and was interesting to see the grave of Pope John Paul I, very tastefully plain, and John Paul II, which was still adorned with flowers, candles and notes. Up in the Basilica itself, we were amazed at how huge it is - one just keeps walking and it keeps going. It was impressive, indubitably, and had lovely confessionals (they looked like walnut wardrobes) but was otherwise almost gaudy. One thing amazing to note was that a lot of the large 'paintings' above the shrines turned out to be mosaics. We are both inspired to take up the craft. Outside I forcibly restrained Robyn from laughing outright at the Swiss Guard (I thought they looked sweet) and we left the Vatican.

This was a major tourist day for us - we next went to the Colosseum. The queues were not so bad here, and we were in and up to the first floor quite promptly. The thing that struck me the most (Robyn has visited before) was that it is oval. I had always assumed it to be circular. It is also huge. Very grandiose. They are restoring half of the arena floor, so that one can see how the proportions were, and are leaving the other half free revealing the underground partitions. We did a circuit of the top floor and then of the lower.

In the morning we moved from our bungalow to a tent (having decided we wanted to extend our stay from four nights to six, we had to move accommodation). Doing some much needed laundry took up the morning, and in the afternoon we went into town to see an exhibition on Leonardo da Vinci which we had passed previously. It was very interesting - they had assembled working models of many of his machines, and had a film playing on his life (in Italian, but we got the drift of most of it). We followed this up with a walk along via Margutta (52!) and turned towards the Forum. We arrived just too late to enter, so consoled ourselves with dinner at a gorgeous trellis covered ristorante with homemade spaghetti and lasagne and a hilarious waiter. We enjoyed the evening by again visiting the Fontana di Trevi - it is lighted up at night, and has a great atmosphere. We were even treated to a bride and groom coming down for their wedding photos!
Our Sunday was started by a long wait for a bus into town, where we had the address of a Baptist church with a service in English. Owing to the immense number of people heading the same direction as us, we missed the first half hour of the service, but managed to arrive in time for the whole sermon. We enjoyed a 'Sunday lunch' back at the campsite, feasting on supermarket roast chicken and potatoes. After a nice nanna-nap we decided that a stroll around the Forum would be pleasant, and took care to arrive before the gates closed. The Forum isn't perhaps as well signposted as it could be, but as Robyn had been before we had a general idea of what we were looking at. The Temple of the Vestal Virgins was especially lovely - there are flowers growing all about the pools, and it is very picturesque, as are many of the columns and arches.

We finished our visit in Rome with the determination to return at some future time. It is a truly great city.