Author: Matt & Andrea

Not much to write about today. Andrea’s stomach took a turn for the worse this morning, so after we left our bags with the porter and checked out of Hotel Bonvecchiati, we went looking for another hotel room to use for the day (so Andrea could rest). Unfortunately the hotels we were checking either had no rooms or wanted 200+ Euro. We kept walking, seeing a bit of Venice in the process. Andrea doesn’t honestly remember much of it, as she really just wanted to find a place to sleep.

Finally we were back near Hotel Bonvecchiati (who had no available rooms), and we ended up finding a room at a 2 star hotel just around the corner. The receptionist told us it would be 140 Euro, but then offered us a 100 Euro small room with a French bed. I still don’t know what that means…seemed like a normal bed. It was a small room, but served our purposes just fine. Andrea was able to get a few hours of sleep, which helped a bit. 

Afterwards we picked our bags back up and sat in Piazza San Marco for a couple hours, doing some people watching and soaking in the atmosphere. We’d really like to go back so we can actually spend more time there; Venice is a very beautiful and unique city. Plus it’s island population is decreasing by 1000 people per year, and it’s sinking…

We caught the vaporetto back to the train station, retrieved our big bags from the bag check, met Wayne and Kim, and got ready for the overnight train to Munich. Andrea was not looking forward to that (feeling sick and all)…

The train from Firenze (Florence) to Venezia (Venice) we intended to take was leaving the station at 11:40 AM. We couldn’t book tickets online the night before, as the website wouldn’t accept any of our American credit cards. We checked out of the hotel (I wrote in the registry book, since we really liked our room) and made our way to the train station, arriving by about 10:40 AM.

The self-service ticket machine wouldn’t let us buy 2nd class tickets for the 11:40 AM train, so we bought 4 2nd class tickets for the 12:38 train. Not too much later, and still a high-speed train…

The four of us hung around the train station for the hour and a half in between, talking about what we’d seen, home, and the brilliant idea (thank you Kim) to check our big bags in the Venice train station and just take our backpacks to the hotel. We shuffled some clothes and toiletries into the Camelbak so we could do just that.

We were able to find luggage racks and spots under the seats for our bags this time, which made life much easier. Once again our 4 seats were scattered aisle, window, aisle, window, but our car was sparsely occupied. After an early stop, the two seats next to Andrea and I were open, so the four of us could finally all sit on one side like a group travelling together! 

We arrived in Venice, checked our bags at the station, and headed out into the city of masks. It was quickly obvious that this is a very different place. There are no cars and no scooters anywhere on the islands, only people on foot and a small navy of boats, water taxis, and vaporetto, the equivalent of a city bus, but in boat form. We purchased tickets for the boat, and took off down the Grand Canal for the Rialto stop. We got off at that dock and walked the rest of the way to Hotel Bonvecchiati.

Quick story about this hotel: Wayne found this hotel on Hotels.com, with pictures that looked fantastic but a rate that seemed far too low (around $150 for the night in the deluxe room, which is approximately 100 Euro, when most other nights for the same room ran around 240 Euros). We searched around and found glowing reviews, except for one little blog that said the faucets were rusty, the bathroom tiles cracked, and the elevator small. Well, every elevator in Europe has been small, so that was no real complaint. We were intrigued, however, by the dichotomy of reviews, some showing brand new marble bathrooms and gleaming fixtures, and the one review showing a rusted tap and chipped porcelain counters. Last night we pulled the trigger and both booked the deluxe room.

Upon arrival, the lobby looked fantastic, so that meant so far, so good. Andrea and I were lead up to room 416, which was gorgeous, completely remodeled, and everything brand new. We were really happy, and the view from the windows looked out on a bend in the Grand Canal! How cool is that, and what a lucky deal!

Wayne and Kim’s room (229), however, showed a little bit of the contradiction. It was about the same size, and with another fantastic view of the canal, this one from nearly water level. The TV, bed, floors, and bathroom, however, were a bit older, revealing the confusion we’d had in reading the various reviews. The room’s still a great deal for the low price we got, and it looks like the hotel’s being renovated. The corridors and stairways between the various rooms, however, is a nearly indecipherable maze. Room 416, as an example is on the 6th floor, while 229 is down a flight of stairs from the 2nd floor. Further, some 600 rooms seem to be on the 2nd floor, and there don’t seem to be any 500 rooms…

Andrea was feeling under the weather again, so she lay down to take a nap. Wayne, Kim, and I headed out to explore Venice. I love it; it’s truly a unique place. I immediately wished Andrea was along to see everything, so I took lots of pictures so I could show her when we got back. We walked past St. Mark’s, down along the southern shoreline of the San Marco area, around though winding shops, bridges, and piazza, and finally back to the hotel. At this point we were all getting really hungry. Andrea was ready to join us, so we all went out together in search of dinner.

We wandered north and a bit west of St. Mark’s, stopping to check menus at a whole bunch of restaurants. A bunch of places not only had higher prices than we’d seen elsewhere, but also service fees and cover charges, sometimes 4.5 Euros per person with a 12% service fee. We were sure we could do better. We passed a place with light brown leather booths, lined with brass poles and a gleaming marble bar, a restaurant that looked like it jumped straight out of a mob movie, but I admit I way to intimidated (especially under dressed) to even think about going in. Wayne went off down an alley and around a corner to a seeming dead-end, but came back to tell us there was a charming little place hidden away back there. We decided to go for it.

The food was average and the service, again, sparse, but we had good conversation and decent food for a decent price. We ordered a Cabernet Franc, something unique as we couldn’t remember ever having a pure Franc before. It was very fruity, with an odd effervescence to it, almost like it was sparkling (though it was not). We had a great time, some good laughs, and we left exhausted after our long day. We headed straight back to the hotel to call it a night and get some good sleep.

Today was our one month-iversary; it’s been one month since the wedding. We celebrated in style all day long! 🙂

We got up and had some breakfast at the hotel, then headed towards the Uffizi gallery, where Kim had helpfully pre-reserved tickets for a 12:30 entrance. Turns out this is really important to do, because the same day entrance line is really, really long! Fortunately we got to skip that and head for the reservations line, which is really, really short. Even shorter when we realized the tour group standing at the front wasn’t actually going in, they were just in the way. Once again, we’re reminded how much we don’t like tour groups…

The Uffizi gallery has an impressive collection of art, especially works leading up to, during, and just after the Renaissance. We saw original Botticelli paintings, including the popular “The Birth of Venus,” as well as work by Raphael and Caravaggio. Unfortunately you can’t take pictures or video in the museum, so we don’t have anything to show you here, but I can say it was a beautiful collection of fine artwork. The audioguide, however, really wasn’t very good. It was extremely sparse (focused on one or two paintings in a room of 6 or 7), with limited detail and terrible directions (occasionally it was accurate with “the painting to the left of the door you entered” but often seamlessly went from one painting to another without telling you where to find it). It had some interesting information when you could find the painting in time (tip for those travelling later: pressing the play button while the audio is running will pause it), but oftentimes we’d make our way to the painting being discussed, only to have the guide abruptly end with “the next room is 10.” The Rick Steves podcast, available for free via iTunes, evidently has better information. That’s what Kim and Wayne had, so we’d trade details back and forth as we discovered them, although Andrea and I rarely found ourselves with info they hadn’t heard.

The information cards in the museum for the works were much more focused on where the painting used to hang, who commissioned it, and how it found its way to the museum rather than what it’s of. Usually this meant they were uninteresting, but towards the end there were two pieces were it was very interesting, one discovered for sale in an English antique market, and another discovered in 1916 in a Medici storage vault. The latter was a painting by Caravaggio. How cool to come across priceless works of art like that…

When we finished at the gallery, we headed to the Casa di Dante, Dante Alegheri’s house in Florence. We didn’t actually go in, as we didn’t have enough time (we had reservations at the Accademia at 5 PM), but we got a look at the outside and visited the bookstore, where we bought children’s versions of each part of the Divine Comedy (hell, purgatory, and paradise, if you didn’t know). Andrea was hoping to find a really cool, bound version of the Divine Comedy, but they didn’t have anything quite like that. These children’s books were very unique though, so we picked them up.

The Galleria dell’Accademia has one main work, and it’s really all the little museum needs: Michelangelo’s David. Again (unfortunately) they don’t allow pictures or video, so we don’t have anything to share, but the sculpture is truly amazing. The biblical David, debatable whether before or after the slaying of Goliath, stands about 17 feet high, in a dome dedicated singularly to this incredible sculpture. The organic feel of the work when you see it in person is unreal; the veins in David’s left wrist and arm are defined so subtly and realistically, it seems impossible to accomplish with a hammer and chisel. And to think, this sculpture was originally meant for the top of the dome on the Duomo (hence the slightly odd head and hand proportions, as it would have been viewed from the ground at a great distance).

The museum also houses Michelangelo’s “prisoners,” a collection of unfinished sculptures so named as they seem to be imprisoned in the rock from which they were being carved. It was very cool to see the early stages of his work, and how a sculpture would begin to develop from a huge chunk of rock. There was also an unfinished pieta, where the body of Christ was far more defined than the other figures, showing the various stages of Michelangelo’s work all in a single sculpture. There was also a musical instrument gallery, which was small, but a fun change of pace from all the visual art we’d seen. It was here that I learned why a harpsichord sounds different than a piano (the former uses a mechanism to pluck strings, the latter hammers them).

Back near the hotel, we did a little shopping (Andrea got some new sandals) and we ate at Ristorante il Grande Nuti again. This time I (Matt) had the gnocchi with tomato and basil, which was good, but not quite as unique as Kim’s bleu cheese gnocchi.  Wayne, Kim, Andrea, and I had a brief discussion about the coming days’ plans (there didn’t seem to be enough time to see Tuscan hill towns, then get to Venice, then catch the overnight train to Munich we’d already booked). We decided we’d head to Venice the next morning, so we booked a hotel online.

Ah, another travel day. Andrea’s tummy wasn’t feeling very good this morning (we both had a hard time falling asleep), so we slowly assembled ourselves and our things for the trek to the train station. We grabbed a little breakfast in the hotel (complimentary, again better than our last place), checked out, and headed the few blocks to Roma Termini. We met up with Wayne and Kim and our train hadn’t been assigned a track yet. As seems to be the norm for our travels, it didn’t get a track until a few minutes before arrival, at which point we became a little part of the mass of humanity making its way towards the train to Firenze (Florence). 

Since we’d all had prior experience, we now understood how we were supposed to find our designated car and seats. We made our way to car 11. Although we had 4 sequential seats in the 50s, Trenitalia’s assignments are all wonky. Each side of the aisle has 2 pairs of seats facing each other, but we ended up with one aisle and one window seat on both sides of the aisle. Weird. Worse, though, was there was very little space to put our luggage (our giant tourist suitcases 🙂 ). The racks near the doors were full, and while one of our bags fit between the backs of the seats, the other would not. I ended up doing a little luggage clean and jerk near the gangway so I could put the larger bag into the overhead bin, which it miraculously fit into.

The ride to Florence was largely uneventful, except for some really load and irritating cell phone ringers that rang repeatedly. Every time Wayne would look at me and ask me to answer my phone, a joke that really did play well each time. 🙂

We arrived in Florence and wheeled our baggage across the bumpy streets and narrow sidewalks to the bed and breakfast, which wasn’t really marked, so I’m glad we knew the exact address. We buzzed up to the hotel, were let in and discovered there’s no elevator and the Dream Domus is 2 floors up. No big deal, but something we all admitted we wish we knew beforehand. We lugged our bags up and checked into our rooms. The rooms are very nice, and very charming. Ours had a little entrance hallway leading to a decently sized bedroom with a nice bed and chandelier.

Since we hadn’t eaten all day we headed south in search of food. We found a nice restaurant (Ristorante il Grande Nuti) just down the block from our hotel. Everything was good (except Andrea’s calzone was a bit empty), and their house wine was tasty too. Kim’s bleu cheese gnocchi was probably the best. After we finished up we headed towards the Duomo. 

The Duomo is a large Renaissance cathedral, complete with appropriately large dome. The space inside was simple until we reached the dome itself, which is covered in ornate frescoes. There was an option to climb the stairs to the cupola (dome), but it was getting late and we didn’t think it’d be worth the time or the cost. There was an especially cool set of offering trees, laden with little votive candles. Under the floor of the Duomo was a gift shop and excavation project; evidently there was an earlier basilica at the same site, that the Duomo was built on top of. Interesting, and another example of just how laden with Western history Italy really is.

We crossed the street to the Duomo museum, which contains a tremendous amount of sculpture, relief work, and paintings that have been removed as the church was redesigned and updated through the years. Some of the most interesting works were the architectural proposals for the redesign of the facade of the church in the early 19th century. There was an open contest for the redesign, a contest that was rerun several times as they didn’t like the proposals enough, until they finally decided on the facade as it stands today. Also in the museum are another Pieta by Michelangelo and sculptures by Donatello. We have now covered all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle namesakes.

The Duomo is an impressive church, but it has a really gaudy exterior of white, green, and pink marble. Even more interesting is they’ve been restoring the building, so there was a marked difference in just how dirty the back of the church is, as compared to the front, which is much brighter and cleaner. But that really just makes it even more gaudy. 🙂

We went back to the hotel, and picked up our dirty laundry. We’d passed a launderette earlier, and we could all use more clean clothes. Wayne and I (Matt) found a gelateria, picking up beer and gelato to occupy us while the washers spun. Our new, especially creepy friend Stefano slunk into the launderette, and I mean slunk. He kept his hands in his denim coat pockets and eased his way through the barely open door without touching it, a weird big grin on his face. He spoke only Italian, and  happily (though creepily) asked us where we were from, what we do, and what sports we play. Wayne said he didn’t play any sports, so Stefano suggested he was a big fan of the “discotheque, no?,” waving his arms around to suggest dancing. Then he asked if any of us were studying medicine, and seemed to indicate that he, himself was, and wanted to look at Kim’s feet. This is where it  got really weird. He started asking Kim to walk around, to take off her shoe, Kim saying no, Stefano becoming more frustrated, especially because we don’t speak Italian, and finally culminating in his storming off down the street (thankfully). Before that we were pretty sure he was going to ask for money or try to steal something.

The laundry was dropped off at the hotel, and we made our way back into the nearby central market to find a place to eat. We settled on Za-Za, and took a table indoors. We had more decent house wine and pretty good food, although not outstanding. It seemed to be a very popular place, and later we found it in Rick Steves’ book as a recommendation. The price wasn’t too bad, although we had another cover charge, this one being 3 Euro per person. We decided that with cover charges we’re only going to tip for above and beyond service from now on; no more guilt-driven tipping bad service. 🙂

Today Andrea and I got up early, walked across town towards the Roma Termini (train station) and looked for a new hotel for our last night in Rome. We went with the Hotel Mondial, operated by Best Western. As soon as we walked into the lobby we knew we were better off; the hotel has a beautiful entry and friendly staff. The room was much larger, the bed much more comfortable, and there was both internet access (that worked) and satellite TV. To say the least we were very happy to be changing hotels. The location obviously isn’t as good, but we’d be leaving via the train the next day anyway, so the location was actually quite near where we needed to be.

Andrea and I made our way back to the Hotel Tritone, checked out, and caught a cab to move our bags across town. We used the internet connection to find a hotel in Florence, and decided on the Florence Dream Domus B&B, not far from the central market and the Duomo and pretty close to the train station.

We weren’t too sure what to do with the rest of our day in Rome, since we’d done most everything we knew we could or wanted to do. We thought it’d be fun to ride scooters around Rome, and we’d seen some near the Colosseum, so we slowly made our way there. Wayne and Kim were checking out the Palatine and the Colosseum that morning, so we figured it’d be an easy place to meet up. We all did, and grabbed some lunch at a little cafe a few blocks northwest of the Colosseum. I (Matt) went for the spaghetti carbonara, because I’d heard it was a Roma specialty and was interested in trying it. In case you don’t know, carbonara is pasta with egg and ham. It was very good, kind of like a breakfast spaghetti.

We found several places to rent scooters, but at that point it was 4 PM. The places closed at 7, and with a minimum 3 hour rental it meant we’d have to pay a full day’s price and be back pretty shortly after we began. We decided it probably wouldn’t be worth it after all. We’ll try to find another opportunity before we leave Europe.

We wandered in the general direction of the train station, window shopping, checking in for different deals at scooter rental places (there were none), and looking for a nice place to sit. Eventually we found an old basilica just west of the train station and took a look inside. The small entryway hid what turned out to be a massive room with huge pillars and vaulted ceilings. Evidently Michelangelo had a hand in its design, and the vaulted ceilings themselves are all that remain of his contribution. It had a large floor mounted sundial, as well, with an opening in the upper corner to let light in. Unfortunately it was too cloudy today to read the sundial.

Andrea, Wayne, Kim, and I found a little cafe just west, near a large fountain. I don’t have a map on hand, so I’m not sure which piazza it was. We had some drinks and sat for an hour or so, just soaking in the atmosphere and taking our time. It struck us that it was Sunday, and there may be a bar showing American football, so we made our way to our room in the Hotel Mondial to check the internet for details. We found the Abbey Theatre Irish pub showed a handful of games clear on the other side of town, west of the Piazza Navona. We walked our way over there to find an incredibly crowded Irish pub, filled to the brim with American tourists. We got ourselves a table way in the back, just in front of a flat screen where we could watch Green Bay against Detroit (the other signals, we were told, weren’t coming in). We also found ourselves in a room with some of the most obnoxious Americans in the place…as far as we can tell they were exchange students, some of which were from California. They were everything the rest of the world probably hates about us when we travel, mostly loud and ignorant (actual quote: “Mt. St. Helens…there’s like nothing even remotely important around it; it’s, like, in the middle of nowhere so it’s no big deal” We think this quote was in the context of if it were to erupt again). Another member had been to “the Chi town” 3 times, so he was an expert on all things Chicago. We managed to not get in a conversation and/or argument with these “students,” swore we’d never let our kids leave the house alone until they were 30, and headed back towards the hotel.

On the way back Andrea found some incredible elaborate paper lanterns some folks were selling on the street, but we decided against it (light used a 220V plug). We’ll look for something similar online or back in the states.

We weren’t quite sure what we’d do with today; we’ve seen a lot of Rome. We scoured the map, looking for little nooks and crannies we may have missed. We came up with the Musei Capitolini, the Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus), and the Mamertine prison.

The museum was just north of the forum, and the most interesting part was the building itself had been rebuilt and reused many times throughout Roman history. The very strata of the building can be divided into thousands of years. They’ve got a decent collection of sculpture, and the busts were very interesting. It was also eye-opening to see some of the same statues we’d seen in Naples again, where we’d learned they were popular and often copied. We related this to numbered Disney sculptures; people collected the bust of Caracalla, and therefore there are more than one around. The actual layout of the rooms was very beautiful, and has remained largely untouched for hundreds of years.

We walked towards the forum, on the north overlook where there entrance to the Mamertine prison is. We left an offering and used 1 Euro to listen to the audio guide. This is the prison where Peter and Paul were held before they were martyred, and where a miraculous fountain appeared to Peter that allowed him to baptize and convert his guards, who were then subsequently also martyred. It’s a powerful, small, dark room, where an honorary altar has been added, complete with an upside down cross to symbolize Peter’s upside-down crucifixion (he didn’t feel he deserved to be killed the same way as Christ). 

We made our way out of the forum, and headed south towards the Circus Maximus. Along the way we passed the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, which houses the Bocca della Verita (Mouth of Truth). If you’ve seen Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn, this is the big round, open mouthed face sculpture that will supposedly grab you if you stick your hand in the mouth and tell a lie. There was a very long line to stick your hand in the mouth, so we took a picture of somebody else and kept heading southeast for the Circus Maximus. Super cool to see it, though.

We made to the Circus Maximus! Whoopee! It’s boring. It’s a big oval field where they used to have a chariot races, behind the Palatine hill and before the Aventine. We walked a length of the track and made our way back towards the crappy hotel by way of the Colosseum again.

We stopped at an internet cafe to research hotels for Florence. The Dream Domus Bed and Breakfast looked neat, with unique, charming rooms. We’re hoping we’ll be able to get in there.

For dinner, Andrea, Kim, Wayne, and I decided to follow a suggestion from the Rickers and headed to Ristorante Il Gabriello. It was in a neat space, downstairs from the main street through sliding glass doors. The staff was very curt, and didn’t seem to enjoy our presence at all. The food was OK, not outstanding, and a little pricey. We had a fun time and headed back towards the Trevi Fountain in search of limoncello. We found it at Taberna, that same restaurant with the painted walls and ceilings (and huge beers) we’d visited a few days earlier. It was extremely lemony, a bit sour, with a really strong alcohol aftertaste. We reveled in broken English t-shirts (I celebrate the LA Doggers baseball shirt as my favorite), drank, and wound down another fun day in Rome. Dreadfully, we headed back to our crappy hotel room for one last night of crappy sleep in a crappy bed, with their crappy staff. We’re looking forward to writing an honest review on every website we can find when we get back.

Today we made our way back to the Vatican to see the Musei Vaticani and Sistine Chapel. We refer to this as our own little Vatican II.

We used a self-service cafe to pick up two sandwiches and a Sprite. Both sandwiches were firmly average, although Matt’s was very salty. No matter, we were on our way. For the first time in Rome we caught a taxi.

The Vatican Museum has something like 1400 rooms, if they all were open. It’s insanely huge, with a massive collection of all kinds of art. We saw hundreds of sculptures, busts, paintings, frescoes, tapestries, jewels, Christian relics, and Egyptian artifacts. We also saw a lot of zoo-like creatures called tour groups. By this time I (Andrea) was getting really tired of these. They’re  everywhere, they’re huge, they bump into you without remorse, and they’re always in the way. They have an uncanny ability to stop in every bottleneck and doorway possible. Anyway, enough about them.

We saw some really neat stuff and took several opportunities to eavesdrop on the tour guides; if they’re gonna be in the way, we’re getting something out of it. 🙂 This is how we learned about a copper statue with an oblong head, thick neck, and curved torso that had been struck by lightning shortly after it was created. The Romans considered it cursed and no longer wanted to take it into war. They also didn’t want to offend Jupiter and melt the statue down, so they buried it upside down, put a rock on the spot of the upturned feet, and marked it “cursed, don’t touch.” This helped preserve it for us to see, since it was protected from the elements. It’s one of the very few sculptures we’ve seen that actually had its original copper color.

We made our way to the Sistine Chapel. It was much smaller than we both expected, especially after visiting such sweeping churches like St. Peter’s. No video or photos may be taken in the chapel, and silence is required. It’s an incredible work, and should be seen for oneself. But it’s incredible how hard it is to concentrate on one single scene, since there are so many on the walls and ceiling and they run into each other without real borders or separation. It’s a beautiful room that we are very happy we were able to see. 

Before we left, we went back through security into St. Peter’s Basilica, because we wanted to get a crucifix for our new home from the gift shop. They have so many options! It was difficult to choose one (that was also reasonably priced), but we finally chose a simple wood cross with etching on it. We thought we might try to get it blessed by the pope, but it turns out he’s in France right now. So maybe next time.

We made our way back to the corner we hung out at the other day, and had some more strawberry gelato. No major people watching stories to report; there weren’t any nuns on the road today. The sky was getting a bit gray, so we headed back towards the hotel.

In the evening we met Kim and Wayne near the Spanish steps. It was drizzling just a bit, so we went to Porto Maltese, the wine bar/seafood place we’d wanted to check out. I (Andrea) have always wanted to pick out my own lobster, and I finally got to do it! I had originally named him Harold when we passed the restaurant a few days ago, a name I would come to regret since it’s so common in my family. But it stuck, and that night I ate Harold. What was unexpected (Matt: and awesome) was our friendly waiter walked me to the large tank and said “go fishing, it’s safe.” I reached in and grabbed Harold, who was hiding partially under a rock. His body was a little squishy. I pulled him out of the water and put him on the waiter’s tray. Harold didn’t look too happy. The waiter took him the back to the kitchen and made him delicious! He was steamed. Kim asked if I felt sad, I said no, he was tasty! 🙂 Oh, Matt had pasta with crab meat. No live creatures were caught in its making.

We had a very nice dinner with Wayne and Kim, shared a bottle of red wine, and during our meal the rain really picked up. Right at the end the electricity flickered out for a short bit. We finished up and made our way out into the rain. 

We made a quick change at the hotel (in our little crappy room) since we’d been well rained on. The four of us made our way to a little wine bar east of the fountain that Matt and I really wanted to try. We had another bottle of wine and dessert. It was a great way to wrap up the day.

Today was really fun and relaxing, and a little refreshing change of pace.

Andrea had a Big Mac attack this morning, so we had a quick, late lunch (avoided hamburgers at local cafes as they aren’t really made of beef, per se) and headed north towards the Piazza del Popolo and the Pincio. We’d never been that far north yet, and we had it in our minds to find some parkland, escape from the urban jungle we’d been caught up in for the last week.

The piazza had yet another Egyptian obelisk…we had no idea the Romans brought back quite so many of these. When we saw the first one it was magical and unique…now it’s kinda commonplace. Still cool, though.

The Pincio is basically a very large ledge that offers a panoramic view of the city. We slowly wound our way up through streets and stairs, taking some time to sit in the shade, take some pictures, and people watch. We took some pictures up at the top of the Pincio, some of which we’ll probably try to stitch together later into a big panorama of the city. We bought a bottle of water (probably for way too much money) and headed east into the Villa Borghese.

Villa Borghese is a huge park area north of Rome. After so many days walking through plaster, marble, and cobblestone, it was refreshing to walk through the grass, sit under trees, and play in the water. We found a little lake in the park with an island at its center with columns and statues. There was a stand to rent rowboats, which we thought would be a little fun, romantic experience. So we paid our 6 Euro to take a boat out onto the lake. I (Matt) took the oars and Andrea took the camera and we drifted out onto the lake. I like to think I did a pretty good job with the oars; I didn’t splash them at all, we didn’t run into anything, and we generally moved in predictable, straight lines. 🙂 Andrea got some great pictures of the lake, turtles, and ducks. It was a fun time.

As we were paddling about, another couple made their way onto the lake. A man was laying across the back of the boat, and a woman was working the oars. Then we noticed a small film crew on the shore and we realized they were filming that couple. We have no idea what they were shooting for (and we probably got in the way of a few early shots as we paddled around), but it was neat to see. We were really glad we chose to do it!

We continued through the park, resting our feet our in a large round fountain, which was amazingly refreshing. We walked back to the hotel past the Villa de Medici, and took a short siesta.

After we’d rested, we headed back to the Japanese restaurant we’d visited a few days before, this time determined to sit at the sushi conveyor belt. So that’s exactly what we did. We ate 12 little plates worth of sushi, and tried all kinds of interesting things like octopus, sea urchin, roe…basically whatever came down the line. It was all very fresh and delicious. Being the only ones in the restaurant, we ran through the 12 plates in about 30 minutes, so we felt like little piggy Americans. But we’re OK with that; it was fantastic, and a lot of fun!

It was bedtime so we headed back to our crappy little hotel room to sleep.

We woke up and dressed very modestly. You see, we’re going to the Vatican today, and fortunately Andrea read all about the dress code (no shorts, short skirt, bare shoulders, etc). So we covered our shoulders, put on long pants (yikes, it’s still around 90 degrees Fahrenheit here) and caught a taxi for Basilica San Pietro (St. Peter’s Basilica).

The piazza in front of St. Peter’s is huge, with another tall Egyptian obelisk in the center. That obelisk has stood for many, many years, paying witness to quite a few martyrs who were executed nearby. The sweeping colonnades around the sides (meant to symbolize either the pope’s or Jesus’s outspread, encircling arms, I can’t remember) are lined with 120 statues of Christian martyrs. There was a small makeshift parade going on in the piazza when we arrived, complete with drummers and ancient Roman soldiers, all in period armor carring SPQR banners and marching in time. Now, that sounds pretty cool, but honestly it was cheap looking, shiny plastic armor; in a way it looked like a bunch of the guys that try to get you to take a picture with them for 5 Euros in front of the Colosseum banded together to form a Conga line. 🙂 But we enjoyed it nonetheless, it added a cool importance to the beginning of our visit.

We went through security, picked up two Audioguides, and headed into the basilica. First and foremost, St. Peter’s is massive. There are lines on the floor inside indicating where other massive churches of the world (i.e. Notre Dame, St. Patrick’s, etc) would fit wholly inside it. Michaelangelo’s original Pieta (sculpture of Mary and Jesus) is there, behind bullet-proof glass. There’s a huge winding altar, tremendous statues and domes, the remains of St. Peter, and the remains of several popes are interred in the basilica. The remains of some popes are actually in glass cases at the base of an altar, which is interesting to see. Most of them are surprisingly well preserved. One seemed to have a bronze head and hand…we couldn’t quite figure that out. 

Let’s get this out of the way: when you’re planning your trip to the Vatican, evidently there are free podcasts available from Rick Steves to narrate your visit to St. Peter’s. There are also books that’ll give you oodles of relevant information. We did not enjoy the audioguide that we picked up at St. Peter’s. Each clip would give you a tiny bit of relevant information (i.e. what this is, who did it, when, and why) and then talk at great length like about the religious reminders present in each piece (i.e. Mary seems to be reminding us of our call to serve the Lord, worship Him, for He is the one true Lord….etc). After the fifth time this becomes very redundant, and it turned our visit into a much longer stay. By the end we’d just let the voice ramble on as we moved to the next thing to see.

Some of our favorite sights: Bernini’s altar, the amazing statues, especially the four saints in the original basilica pillars, the huge dome itself, and the doors to the basilica, which are covered with bas relief sculptures. One illustrates the 7 sacraments (although there were 8 panels, we’re still trying to figure that out), another is the Jubilee door, which is only opened every 25 years (next in 2025), and finally “Death’s gate,” a door formerly used for funeral processions, covered with images of Christ and martyrs.

We headed back into the piazza. They were cleaning the fountains today, so they weren’t turned on. We headed WNW out of the Vatican walls in search of food. We found a little cafe with a decent lunch deal (pizza + salad + drink for 10,50 Euros). Andrea had pizza and the worst salad she’s ever had (tasted like it was soaked in salt water), and I had penne alla’arriabata. The waitress actually came back to warn me that it’s hot. It wasn’t hot. 🙂 She should try some Thai food; that’s hot! This was tasty, but totally safe. 🙂 

We headed back and tried to make our way to the Musei Vaticani (Vatican Museum), but we learned it was already closing (closes at 4:30 on the weekdays). We tried to catch a cab, but were told that the ride that cost us 8 Euros to get in, would be 18 Euros to get back. I asked why there was a difference, and the cabbie said there was a parade they’d need to go around. A parade sounded cool, so we skipped the cab, headed east of the piazza in the direction he’d indicated, and took a shady seat on the street next to a snack cart. We never saw a parade. 🙂

We did, however, do some great people watching. We saw two nuns driving a small foreign hatchback, not terribly successfully, and parking it 2 feet off the curb at a 30 degree angle, pointing the nose back out into the street, grinding the gears the entire time while two female traffic cops watched, trying in vain to help. We’ve decided that these nuns shouldn’t drive, or at least practice. 🙂 During this scene our new favorite tourist appeared. Decked in a sun hat, bright flowered shirt, shorts, crocs, blank stare, gaping mouth, and point-and-shoot in hand, he shamelessly stood a few feet away from the nuns, taking pictures while they backed up from various angles. Sadly (as we quietly hoped against it), he turned out to be an American. 

We got some strawberry and lemon gelato and continued to sit and watch our corner. Next, a very frazzled older Italian gentleman drove by, talking very emphatically on his cell phone as he drove. He came to a stop in the middle of the street in front of us (for no apparent reason), still very passionate about whatever it was he was saying to the person on the other end of the phone. The two traffic cops approached him and motioned that he can’t use the cell phone and drive, at which point he started arguing with them, and on the phone, and finally hung up the phone. They had him pull of the road to talk it over, forming another 30 degree angle with the curb in front of the nun car, now with the tail pointing into the street, forming a huge V of bad parking. He got out of the car, arguing very loudly, pointing at his car and up the street (man I wish I knew Italian). At this point, our subtle American friend, got up again, and walked in tight circles around the car, taking pictures. All in all, we’re really glad we took a break at that particular corner.

We got a bottle of water and walked back to the hotel (it wasn’t very far). After a short rest, we headed east of the Trevi Fountain to a small restaurant with painted ceilings and walls; it was a fun little place with friendly staff. Andrea noticed they had giant beer mugs there (probably between 750 ml and a full liter), so we ordered one. We got two, so we each had our own! 🙂 Unexpected, but we figured this’d probably be good practice for Germany anyway. Happily we both got through them, with no ill effects. Andrea had lasagna and I had ravioli. We shared a mixed salad to start. It was decent food, a great atmosphere, and we had a great time; we’d go back.

Finally, we headed back to sleep. We used the detergent we brought along to do our laundry in the bathtub since we haven’t found a und a und a laundromat and the laundry fee at Hotel Tritone is per item (i.e. 2 Euro for underwear, 7 Euro for jeans), and hung it in the bathroom to dry.

This morning Matt and I arose once again to a day of moving but unlike other days, today we had only a short distance to travel.  We packed our belongings and headed southwest for our new hotel, the one we would be staying in for the remainder of Rome (five more days).

It was early, around 10:30,  when we arrived. Since it was before noon our room wasn’t yet ready so the hotel held our luggage as we set off for more sightseeing.  The hotel we are now staying in is Hotel Tritone. Right around the corner is the Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain) created in 1732, a wondrous work of art.  Matt and I both threw a coin over our shoulders into the fountain to ensure that we will return. While Matt was taking pictures I wandered into a shoe store. Now,  this will be a surprise to many but… this is the first time I have done any shopping on our honeymoon! I know that is a bit crazy, but we will do more shopping I promise.  Matt bought me a beautiful pair of shoes! 

After the shoes, we walked a bit more and then grabbed a bite at a panini shop. The sandwiches were good and the atmosphere, unique.  The music ranged from all types of hip hop to a sudden loud rendition of Bryan Adams’ Everything I Do. We enjoyed our time there, but it was time to leave and get our room so we headed back to the hotel.

The lobby of the hotel is small but very nice. The rooms are small….monotone….dingy…..old! It’s not a dirty room so we feel fine to stay here the rest of our trip but it did really shock us (especially for what people are expected to pay). We have decided that we will try to limit our time in the room to siestas and night.  The great thing about the hotel is its location. We are centrally located so it should be easy to walk to most of the areas of Rome. 

We decided that since the room was drab we would head out for a walk. Rick Steves (or as some like to call him “The Rickers”) has walking tours in his books and today we decided to do the “Walk across Rome: Campo dei’Fiori to the Spanish Steps. But we were already in the middle of that walk (and we’d already been to the Spanish Steps), so we worked backwards. Along the way we saw the Pantheon, which is truly impressive. We also stopped into the San Luigi dei Francesi (Saint Luigi of France) church, which contains original paintings of St. Matthew by Caravaggio. It was breathtakingly gorgeous. We took a picture or two.

We continued West to the Piazza Navona, which is covered with painters selling their artwork. We’ve decided next time we come (in 2 years) we’ll bring some home with us.  Some of the work was really fantastic. There are more Bernini fountains in the piazza, which are beautiful of course.

We headed South from there to the Campo de’ Fiori (Field of Flowers). This is an open market area that sells fruit and flowers, but we arrived later in the day so there were just a few flower stands running. But we were mainly there to see two things: the statue of Giordano Bruno (burned on the spot by the Vatican as a heretic in 1600) and the Theater of Pompey. This theater was being leased by the Roman Senate (since the actual Senate building had recently caught fire), and therefore was the site of Julius Caesar’s demise. We’re not quite sure which wall was part of the original theater (which covered several blocks) because they’ve built apartments all over it. We had a fun conversation about how Rome has so much history built on top of other history, and therefore so many buildings built on top of other buildings.

We had some more gelato! Andrea had caramel cream (nummy) and Matt had Wildberries (good, but too many seeds). It was again very refreshing on a hot day.

We wound our way back to the hotel, took a quick break, and then worked northwards again looking for dinner. We stopped at Ristorante Le Grotte and sat outside. We shared a Peroni, Andrea ordered the veal scallopini and Matt had Buscatini (can’t remember the word), thinking that’d be new and different, but it turns out it’s just fat spaghetti. Our dinner was pretty good, and Andrea was very excited to see they had Creme Brulee. We split one. It was very sweet, and had a very thick top crust. It had much less vanilla flavor, too. But it was pretty good. 

We finished up and went to sit on the Spanish Steps for a bit. Some enterprising young men wandered the crowd, trying to resell beer they picked up at the supermarket. Another guy put roses into Andrea’s hand after she refused (“no no they’re free”), then turned and asked Matt for money. We gave him the roses back. 🙂