Welcome to Rome, Italy Part I

October 5

We departed the ship sorry to leave but excited about our visit to Rome for a few days. We are staying a magnificent old villa in the embassy/consulate district which includes many other gorgeous villas. As we all now seem to use the internet to book our vacations I was so fortunate to call hotels.com and get a wonderful travel consultant, Jeremy Hinsen who has been invaluable in making all my hotel reservations including this one in Rome at the Prime Hotel Villa Torlonia. In fact if it wasn’t for the three hours we spent on the phone and all his help since I arrived in Italy I just don’t know exactly where I would be staying at the moment. It is great when you get such superb customer service now-a-days as well as a hotel with the charming view of a the back courtyard and adjacent villas as we do for the next two days.

Well you can clearly see we are very happy in our hotel and after settling in mom and I took the local tram to the Coliseum where we picked up the hop-on-hop-off tour. We enjoyed two straight hours of sightseeing and pretty much all of the points of interest that we looked for are on this route.

After one full trip we got off at the Tiberina Island which houses the Hospital of the Fatebenefratelli (Good Doers Brothers). It’s a lovely old structure which operates nicely even today. We did venture in as we needed to use the ladies room and we saw a woman walking the halls and I am sure trying desperately to get the baby to cooperate and come out soon as well as lots of children running around and people coming in with fabulous bouquets of flowers for there loved ones. It was like any other hospital but in a truly remarkable old building.

After the Island visit we took a boat tour on the Tevere River which took us past the Castle Saint Angelo, a place mom and I visited seven years ago and so enjoyed touring. I do recommend any visit to Rome should include a walk through the Castle and be sure to make your way to the top for truly spectacular views. We also passed on the boat a Gothic Cathedral which clearly stood out around the more understated architecture in that neighborhood and directly next to it was a museum for the souls in Purgatory. What we were told was that the church had a fire many, many years ago and in the flames the congregation saw the image of a person suffering in Purgatory. Once the fire was put out on the wall behind where the blaze was now had, stuck to it in ash, the same face they saw in the flames. From that point on the priest who witnessed the whole affair began his quest to acquire all artifacts of such a nature and in the museum now are all articles that have some picture of a soul suffering in Purgatory on it as a result of a similar incident to the one that took place after the church fire. I had never heard of this museum before but the idea of it certainly does make an impression.

Now a little bit down from the Museum is what the Romans call the Awful Place also known by its real title as the Hall of Justice. The Romans were not impressed with this building in the least when it was built many years ago and I don’t think they feel and more passion for it now. It was said that the building was austere and although I find there to be some beauty in it the fact that I am not a Roman must surely make my opinion of no importance.

We also went past the Argentina sqaure where there are interesting ruins taking up most of the space in the square and is surrounding on the sides by beautiful buildings and even the Theater of Rome. I love that you can look out your window while you're working in your office and see something as great as the ruins from over a 1,000 years ago.

As the boat trip continued toward the Vatican we passed some charming old bridges and many more beautiful buildings until the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica came into sight just as the clouds and the remaining sunlight created an intense backdrop.

Basically this first day back in Rome was spent passing lots of amazing ancient ruins, gorgeous churches, fantastic fountains and lots of piazza’s each more interesting than the next.

We did make a stop at the Monument of Vittorio Emanuelle II and the tome of the Unknown Soldier. It is always such an impressive sight. On the side of the monument, and not something I was ever made aware of on my previous visits to the city, is a church with well over a hundred steep steps leading up to it. Why this is of interest is there was a bride ascending the steps with her husband next to her and we were told that it is a tradition to walk up all those steps together while your family follows behind and for those parents whose son or daughter is marrying a person they do not approve making the torturous trek up the stairs is just another way to feel the burden and pain of the whole situation. There is so much drama in the everyday life in Italy but that is what makes it all so wonderful to watch and I did so love seeing her beautiful gown and I am sure they will be very happy together.

After a few final errands at the Termini train station getting mom and me set for her to take the train to the airport on Tuesday and for me to find a hotel near the station before I leave on Wednesday for Northern Italy we took the subway the neighborhood where our Hotel was an found a great place to eat. The Cyrano Golosita Ristorante Pizzeria made a wonderful thin crust pizza and fresh salad and yes, even a few homemade cookies for dessert. A short walk back to the hotel was just what we need before we were off to bed.