We’re on the train to Venezia (Venice) as I write this blog. We departed right on time at 10:45 and will arrive at 14:33, which will give us some time to get settled and start exploring the city. The train ride itself is not particularly exciting as there does not seem to be much to view out the window. We are travelling through many tunnels and there are often walls and trees lining the track to keep the train noise down for the people who live nearby. So it gives me a chance to write some final impressions of Rome.
Our B&B was called "A Casa di Serena" and as Sandy mentioned in her blog, Serena was a wonderful hostess. She pronounces her name "Ser-ay-na", the Italian way and not "Ser-ee-na” the way we normally pronounce this name in English. Serena knew that we were on our 25th anniversary, so it was a wonderful surprise when we checked into our room to find a small bottle of champagne waiting for us with some chocolates and cookies. We saved the champagne for the final night of our stay in Rome and were not disappointed as it was very nice.
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| A very warm welcome from Serena upon our arrival in Roma |
Our B&B as you would expect, did come with a breakfast. It was the standard European breakfast of a coffee, juice and croissant. However, Serena’s approach was very convenient because she gave us vouchers to use at a café across the street, which was open all the time. In this way, we didn’t have to go before a certain time (e.g. 9:00 AM) and we were able to get our breakfast at 1:00 PM on the day we slept in. We were also able to buy sandwiches and other food when we wanted more than a small breakfast. All-in-all, A Casa di Serena was excellent value for only 110 Euros per night and we will definitely give them a high rating.
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| A standard breakfast from the café - orange juice, pastry and cappuccino. No charge for the heart shape in the foam, but only Sandy's cappuccinos seemed to come out that way. |
One of our key references for information as we travel is "Rick Steves’ Italy 2010" travel guide. It gives lots of important tips that you don’t know unless you have travelled through Italy before, such as validating your train ticket before getting on the train. If you don’t get your ticket stamped by inserting it in a little yellow box, you get a fine. I didn’t want to find out how big the fine was, so I made sure that our ticket was validated. I sure am glad that Sandy is an avid reader!
Rick Steves recently did a travel show on Italy that was aired on PBS, so many viewers who saw the show and planned to go to Italy bought his book and followed his recommendations. We tried out a couple of his recommended restaurants and were quite pleased with one and equally disappointed with the other. The bad restaurant must have become complacent with all the extra business they got from being in Rick Steves’ book. Here is a picture of us having wine with our dinner at the good restaurant. So far, we have managed to keep our goal of drinking one bottle of Italian wine per day.
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| Dinner at the good restaurant in Rome recommended in the Rick Steves' Italy guide book. |
Rome and the Vatican are so large and rich in history and art that it would take quite a while to see everything of interest to you. Many things need visiting more than once to truly appreciate them. Since we were so close to the Vatican, we ended up visiting this site every day for the three days we were in Rome and took different tours and approaches, each of which had their merits. We took several audio tours at various museums where you carry a phone-like device and press a number on the key pad to hear about the room or object you are looking at. In the picture below, Sandy is listening to an audio guide while Steve contemplates a statue of one of the Roman emperors in the Hall of Statues at the Vatican Museum.
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| Sandy listens to the audio guide while Steve contemplates a statue of a Roman emperor in the Hall of Statues in the Vatican Museum |
Other tours involve a live guide with a group. We haven’t hired a private guide yet, but may do so later. The live guides are good and it is nice to be able to ask them questions, but these tours don’t provide you with the opportunity to skip ahead or linger behind since you have to stay with the group. With these tours, the guide uses a microphone and everyone in the group has earphones tuned into the channel the guide is speaking on. This system lets each person hear without being close to the guide since they can adjust their volume. It also lets the guide speak softly without shouting and making loud inappropriate noises in museums and sacred areas, such as basilicas.
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| Michelangelo's Pieta inside St. Peter's Basilica |
Sandy went on a guided tour of St. Peter’s Basilica and learned some interesting things about Michelangelo’s famous statue called the Pieta. The Pieta is protected behind a glass wall because a crazed man attacked the statue several years ago. He took a chisel to the face of Mary because he thought the statue’s face resembled his own mother’s face too closely. In the mayhem that followed, someone stole the nose and a finger that had broken off. It is sad that people take advantage of these situations instead of respecting the history, art and property of others.
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| Sandy and the Swiss Guards |
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| Here is a picture that Steve took of me taking the above picture of Sandy |
Security is ever-present at the Vatican, especially when the Pope will be making an appearance. To enter, we had to go through metal detectors and have our backpacks scanned, just like you do at the airport. Many areas are no longer accessible to the public because people were carving off chunks of the monuments for souvenirs. The famous Swiss Guards are present at the Vatican in their colourful uniforms, as well I’m sure in the disguise of tourists to keep watch on things. You can’t get a Swiss Guard to pose for a picture with you, but you can take pictures of them as I did for the picture above.
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| The List of Popes |
The other way we often tour sites is to just wander around on our own and read the signs that are multilingual, including English. This is how I found the list of Popes above, which was located in a hallway off to the side in St. Peter’s Basilica. Did you know that 42 of the Popes were sainted, starting with St. Peter, who was the first Pope. The last Pope to be sainted was in the 1100s. No matter how we tour however, it involves a lot of walking. We each brought several pairs of comfortable shoes and found that it helps to change them as blisters can form with even very comfortable shoes. It also helps to pace yourself and rest when you can. Hopefully, all this walking will prepare me for my hike up the Colle del Gigante on Monte Bianco next week.
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| Lorne and Sandy resting while on tour. |
Sometimes we feel like gladiators as we head out for a tour and to visit the popular tourist sites, but fortunately we have survived a lot longer than the average gladiator did, which was to the age of 33. Surprisingly, this was not much younger than the average life span of a male in ancient Roman times.
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