Rome

We woke up in Milan to pouring rain. After breakfast at our hotel, we walked the two blocks to the Milan train station where our train to Rome was running about 10 minutes late. Our 3 hour train trip arrived in Rome about 30 minutes late - Amanda and I read a little on the trip and I napped a bit, while a teenage boy sitting with his father seemed eager to chat with us. Unfortunately, we were not feeling that chatty.

Upon arrival to Rome Termini, we took the H bus for about twenty minutes, dropping us off in Trastevere where our AirBnB apartment was located. We met up with our host who led us our cozy studio on the Piazza del Castilo.

After dropping off our bags, we headed to the Santa Maria in Trastevere which is a beautiful church about a block away. Here's a picture of the altar:



We then decided we were going to walk and meander as we didn't have any concrete plans. We crossed the Tiber river below:



And made our way to Campo Del Fiori which is an outdoor market and has a statue of Giordano Bruno, a monk that was burned at the stake - a picture of both below:



We then walked by embassies and government buildings to arrive at Piazza Navona where Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers is located with statues representing rivers from various continents with an obelisk in the middle. The four rivers represented are: the Danube, Ganges, Plata, and Nile. I also had my first flashback to the movie, "Angels & Demons" where Tom Hanks is running around Rome trying to find hostages! I'm sure Amanda enjoyed my questions like, "do you think that fountain is deep enough for people to swim in?" Clearly Dan Brown and the makers of the movie had a creative license to the details of Rome! Some photos below:





We then decided to have ice cream at Tre Scalini known for their chocolate! You can see our happy faces!



Our happy faces harken us back to a picture Amanda shared with me! She was last in Rome at the age of four:



We then walked over to the Pantheon which is an ancient temple converted to a church. This architectural marvel with an amazing dome was originally founded in 27 BC, with single granite columns and the first two Kings of Italy buried here. Also buried here is Raphael and pictured below is a sculpture commissioned by him called "Madonna of the Rock":





There are two Jesuit churches nearby and we decided to go into Sant Ignazio, where there is a fake dome and a 3D baroque ceiling by Andrea Pozzo. Below is the facade and the altar:



It was really difficult to capture the impressiveness of the ceiling, but on the right, you can see how you can be tricked into seeing as if the leg is coming out from the fresco:



We passed by this colonnade which has 2 folks dressed like gladiators. It's the remaining part of the Temple of Hadrian in the Piazza del Pietra. The gladiators make me think of the Sesame Street characters and the superheroes that hang out in Times Square in NY:



We finally made it to the Trevi Fountain which was unfortunately undergoing construction. I vividly remember the gushing waters when I was a kid and my mom insisting we throw coins into the fountain in between the crowds. Here you can see a collage of the scaffolding, coins in the dry fountain, and the workers who are trying to make it look like new:

Unique to the experience, is that they built walkways, so you can actually walk over the fountain and be closer to the statues - here's a lovely picture of Amanda on the walkway:



After the fountain, we made our way to the Spanish Steps! I remember when I was a kid, I had a caricature done of me here during one of the nights of our vacation in 1992. Today, it was raining and there were colorful umbrellas of the many tourists. There were flowers up and down the steps which we enjoyed, and at the bottom of the steps, is the Boat Fountain by Bernini as well as the house of Shelly and Keats. Apparently Byron also lived just across the plaza. Here are a few photos of the Spanish steps as we went up:



Here are some views from the top and on the way down:



Before my childhood trip to Rome, my mom had us watch Roman Holiday with Audrey Heoburn and Gregory Peck. Back then, we enjoyed ice cream walking down as my mom wanted to relive that scene. In honor of Audrey Heoburn and Mama Kim, both classy ladies, I indulged in my second cone of ice cream for the day:



We then walked toward Piazza del Popolo where there is again, an obelisk and a church, the Santa Maria del Popolo. Here in the chapel next to the altar are two Caravaggio paintings: The Crucifixion of St. Peter and the Conversion of St. Paul. You can see they are exquisite:



In the Chigi Chapel, designed by Raphael, are four statues, two of them by Bernini. The chapel pays homage to the Pantheon with a dome. This is also where I had my second "Angels & Demons" moment. A photo collage below of the Chigi Chapel:



As we were hungry and a bit tired, we decided to go to Antica Enoteca where Amanda ordered the Cacio e Pepe, a very Roman dish, and I had the Capricioso pizza. A photo of our meal:



As we sat and enjoyed relaxing, it began to really downpour. We eventually braved the rain and walked over to the Spanish Steps metro. The trains were very crowded, but not as bad as the 6 train on the Upper East side. We were hoping to easily transfer to the H bus at the Republica stop, but apparently you have to be prepared to wave down the bus, practically in the street, and we let two of them pass by! After waiting awhile and second guessing ourselves, we couldn't bear to stand in the rain any longer and hailed a cab. We didn't originally hail a cab as most cabs prefer picking up passengers at stands. I'm hoping our "not for the win" moment of standing in pouring rain will be our lowest moment of the trip! However, it wasn't that bad as I like to chalk it up to adventure.

We made it back to our apartment, sopping wet, but pleased that we saw so much of the city on our first day!