Wonderful Roma

Can't believe we have been here for four days and not one post.  Oops. The end is getting near.  From Arezzo we drove down to Rome to Ostia Antica near the airport. We dropped our little Fiat 500 back with nearly 7000 extra kilometres on the clock that night and in the morning John visited the extensive archeological park there.

We have accumulated a bit of stuff so caught a cab into our wonderful apartment in Rome which is about a one minute walk from the Pantheon and then spent a lot of the afternoon discovering how close we are to everything. It is fantastic.  In the evening we wandered along the river and over to Trastevere for dinner 

John has done a bit of exploring by himself here while I fight off some dreaded disease.  He went out to the aquaduct a park the next morning.

When he returned we again wandered up to the Piazza di Popolo and the Borghese Gardens. We are trying to see places we haven't been before.  We are constantly in awe of places we see and churches we pop into and ruins built into buildings as we walk around Rome.  We came back via the Spanish Steps 

Thursday we got up early and went for a walk to the Pantheon and Piazza Navona so as we could get a look at these glories without any tourists in them.  It was wonderful. 

After breakfast we went for a walk to the nearby Jewish ghetto area.  We had a coffee on the way at one of the 15 best coffee shops in Rome and wandered around this area quite close to us.  It was fascinating even though our visit was interrupted by a storm.

We explored this area bordered by the Tiber and the Theatre of Marcellus and ended up walking to the Piazza Venezia where we caught the lift up to the top of the Victor Emmanuel Monstrosity for the most fabulous view of Rome.  That night we meet our friends Helena and Mark Glindemann for dinner and had a wonderful night catching up on their news and sharing our stories.

Mark had told us of the long queues at St Peters when they were there so we went early and after a half hour walk were walking into St Peters at about 7.45 am.  It was great with no crowds. We both wanted to revisit this important church.  John then went to the Museum of Rome while I wandered down the Via Nazionale looking at the shops.  In the afternoon we went to the Capotiline Museum which was fantastic.  Some shots from there.

And finally today my dear husband who never stops went to the Forum for a few hours by himself which he thoroughly enjoyed.  I meet him and we actually did a tour of the underground sections and the third tier of the Colesseum. Really worth it if you are in Rome.  

John has just gone to Mass at the Pantheon but I am confined to bed.  What a waste. Still can't complain because as we come to the end of our holiday we have had exceptionally good health and great weather - all very important to have a magnificent time.

Buona sera.