16-20 August-Rome

St John the Baptist-Sancta Maria Church, Piazza Rpublica

Sancta Maria Church-Rome

Solstice Map-Sancta Maria Church

Piazza de Popolo

Rome from Bourghese Gardens

Roman Forum

Roman Forum

Augustus Rooms-Palatine Hill

Roman Forum


Trevi Fountain

Colosseum

Colosseum

Colosseum

Palatine Hill-Roman palace
Pantheon

Pantheon

Dome-Pantheon

Campidoglio

Trevi Fountain

St Peter's Tomb-St Peter's

St Peter's Rome
Maurie seeking devine inspiration from a text!

St Peter's

Castel dell Angelo

St Peter's Square

St Peter's
Swiss guards-St Peter's

St Peter's

St Peter's

Constantine's Arch

Roman Forum

Colosseum-first images of Rome

Rome

Accommodation in Rome

Piazza Republica

Piazza Republica

Roman ruins

Roman Forum
Colosseum

Wee taste of some of Tuscan wines

Villa-Radicondoli

swimming pool-villa at Radicondoli

Radicondoli

Memorial for Italian's tortured by Nazis WWII, opposite our accommodation

16 August (Rome)

Left Radicondoli this morning and headed for Rome. The week in Tuscany has been a memorable experience of living in a beautiful and historic part of the world. We have enjoyed the scenery, the old villages, food, wine and good company.

The arrival at Rome airport was uneventful compared to heathrow and the rental car safely returned to Hertz Rentals. We caught the train into Rome and a taxi from the station to our accommodation.

Our host, a very friendly and helpful woman called Maria, met us at our accommodation. It is her house that we are staying in, and we still have not quite worked out if she is staying in another part of this apartment on the same floor, but she always seems to be at hand when we arrive back and if we need anything.

After we settled in we went for a walk towards the coliseum and the Roman Forum. As it was close to dusk the area was closed so we could only walk around the outside.

After spending some time here, we found a little restaurant and enjoyed a very pleasant meal.

What a great day with the defeat of South Africa in the rugby and the medal success at the Olympics. Mahy Drysdale is a real hero.

18 August ( In Rome)

We were given a great breakfast of warm croissants, toast, great coffee and cereal by Maria this morning. She was adamant that we could not help her cleared away the dishes and told us she really enjoyed have New Zealanders and Australians to stay, not British or Americans. We tried to put her right about the Australians, but language difficulties made this a bit tricky.

After breakfast we caught the metro to St Peter’s and had a good look around. This church is truly awe-inspiring and I cannot believe how moving it is to see people praying in front of the tomb of the last pope or simply by being in such a grand and historic place. We spent quite a bit of time wandering around, admiring the frescoes, various crypts etc. While we were there a mass was also taking place, long time since I have heard the mass being said in Latin.

Built in mid 15 Century on site of Nero’s stadium and the place where St peter is said to have been martyred. It took 150 years to complete- Michelangelo took over the design work at the age of 72 and is responsible for the design of the dome. It houses possibly one of his best works, the Pieta.

After this we wandered out to find the Trevi fountain and came across the Pantheon on the way, a circular building that is spanned by a huge dome that was built by the Romans early in the first century and was later converted to a church by one of the Popes in 608 AD. Built by Hadrian over Marcus Agrippa’s original temple, 120 AD. In it are the tombs of kings Vittorio Emanuelle II, Umberto I and the artist Raphael. Stunning marble floor and frescoes on the dome ceiling. Light comes into the Pantheon through a 9 metre circular opening at the top of the dome.

Next we joined thousands of others at the very impressive Trevi fountain, built in 1732 and designed by Nicola Salvi. The one wild and one docile horse represent the moods of the sea.

Lasting out a very hot day, we returned to our rooms and a short break and refreshing shower before heading to the Piazza del Popollo area where we enjoyed great Italian cuisine and the fine sense of humour of our waiter Paolo.

19 August (Colosseum)

This morning we took a guided tour of the Colosseum . It is well worthwhile paying the extra for a guided tour as you learn so much more than just wandering around looking at ancient stone and brick. We were given a description of the history of its development and demise, along with graphic details of the types of events that went ion in the Colosseum. The Colosseum was destroyed by an earthquake in the 14th century and much of its stone and marble was removed for the building of St Peter’s Basilica.

After this tour we continued on with another guide to explore the Palatine, and the remain of a palace built by Roman Emperors(Emperor Domitian) and wealthy families. This served as the palace for around 300 years and building started in 1st century AD. We were entertained by our young Australian guide Hannah- good to hear that Aussie humour with a few jibes at the Kiwis.

We then continued to explore the Domus Augustan (what was left of two rooms of Augustus’ palace (still very good frescoes exist-Casa di Livia 2nd century BC), and the Roman Forum. It is amazing to explore the many levels of this city and realize that underneath the city were many other layers of accommodation and commerce going on.


By this stage we had been out in the extremely hot sun for about six hours and were feeling the heat. A nearby Irish pub saved the day with a few refreshing cool Guinness’s and a bite to eat. We returned to our rooms for a rest and then out to dinner to a restaurant close by.

20 August (Rome Day 3)

This morning Dallas and I set off for the Piazza dell Republica to wonder around the shops and then off to the Piazza dell Popollo area. First Dallas wondered between two shops looking at bags she liked, decided to delay the decision, and we took the train to Popollo. We wondered around looking at very expensive shops in very hot weather, and then finally headed for an air-conditioned restaurant for lunch. Expensive and fairly ordinary.

We also visited the church Sancta Maria Degli Angeli dei Matira, built on the remains of Michael Angelo's last work. This is a relatively new church that is interesting for its huge side chapels, beautiful marble floor, and a line that maps the solstice of the sun embedded on the church floor. The sun shines through a very small hole at the top of the church at certain times of the year to identify the beginning, middle and end of the solstice.

After lunch we had a brief foray into the Bourghese Gardens, surrendered to the sun and returned to Piazza Republica. A quick look at the bags again, a decision made and a bag purchased, and then back to our rooms for a rest in a hot room.

Being our last night we decided to go somewhere reasonably special and so headed off to Piazza Nuvona, a beautiful long, rectangular piazza with very large fountains and an impressive building in the middle section that was the palace of a previous pope, now the Brazil Embassy. The piazza is a place for many artists doing portraits and selling of reasonably fine water and oil paintings of places around Rome.

We had a very delicious meal, finished with great Italian deserts, especially tiramisu.

We traveled back to our rooms by taxis, again experiencing the renowned reputation of the Rome taxi drivers, fast, exciting, seemingly dangerous and risky, but never feeling worried about their ability to get us home safely. Tomorrow we leave for Singapore after three excellent days in Rome where we have enjoyed the sights, eaten good food and drank excellent Italian wine, experienced a range of Italian personalities.