Day 10, August 12: After all the sights yesterday, we had plenty of time today to leisurely check out the rest of the sights. Our first stop was the ruins at the Forum. It was incredibly hot in the sun so I was thankful we had our ticket from yesterday to walk to the front of the line. We had our breakfast right outside while people watching. Worst outfit to date: a woman in t-shirt, shorts, knee-high nylons and sandals. Yes, knee-high nylons and sandals. They were nude colored so maybe she thought no one would notice but you could clearly see the top of the stocking below her knees. She was also holding an umbrella so perhaps the nylons were to protect her from the sun?
The sight of the massive structures throughout Rome is awe inspiring. How did the Romans erect such enormous architecture that still stand today? It's hard to believe that we are walking on the same paths that Cesar and other emperors and diplomats walked in their lifetimes. We saw where they held the games and what used to be the living quarters.
After that we strolled and took a few shots of the Vittorio building and stopped for lunch along the way where I had a huge, amazing though expensive piece of watermelon and a delicious spaghetti with clams. Also rediscovered Fanta. It's so much better than here because it actually tastes more like real orange flavor. Now it was on to the Pantheon.
Again, the building is massive but the outside is deceiving as to how incredible the inside is. The dome is humungous and there is marble in every square inch. There are actually a lot of pieces of prophyry throughout the place. There's also a large opening or oculus at the top of the dome. We were wondering if it gets covered when it rains. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 142 feet. (43.3 meters). Apparently, almost 2000 years later it is still the worlds largest unreinforced concrete dome.
After that we wandered around and came upon Castel Sant'Angelo - an enormous building with a bridge (the Ponte Sant'Angelo) stretching across the Tiber River, each pillar on the bridge supporting an angel statue that holds an item involved with the Passion. We walked through the tunnels under the castle and up many stairs before we reached a small open courtyard. After that, there are a number of rooms to proceed through, each containing artifacts, paintings, even one with ornately designed guns. One gun was inlaid with pearl-like shell carved into animals and flowers among the carved wood. Things came from all over the world like a jade carved horn from China and a carved wooden paddle from the Pacific Islands.
There were more paintings on the walls and ceilings. Then there was a set of stairs leading to the top of the castle. It's a stunning view of Rome. The city doesn't seem so big from up there. Walking back through the castle you can see where guns used to be placed to defend it and you realize it's a pretty amazing castle. Apparently, there is also the option to tour the catacombs below and see the prison too.
Leaving Sant'Angelo we weren't too far from Piazza Navona near where we planned to have dinner. The piazza is beautiful with two huge fountains, one at each end, plenty of cafés, and people selling artwork and other pieces in the center. There was even a great jazz quartet playing when we entered the square.
We wandered through one of the alleyways and back to Termini Station to make train reservations. The line is long and slow but there's no where else to do this. This shady old gypsy woman wormed her way through, playing up her age and asking people's pity to let an old lady go ahead of them. She just confused some people so she got pretty far down the line until one young man refused to let her go any farther. She was actually right up against his arm asking him to let her by and he shook his head blocking her way. No wonder the Italians don't like the gypsies.
After reservations were taken care of, back to Piazza Navona to have a cappuccino somewhere. The first place was way too expensive, unless you feel paying €6 ($9) for a cappuccino is reasonable. We found a far more reasonable place just a few doors down and enjoyed the amazing people watching over a drink. There was a bored and tired Korean teenager sitting by the fountain with her mom who was busily perusing various papers she brought with her. The girl looked ready to fall over she was so tired. Then there was the odd older lady we dubbed 'The Clown' with blue face paint on the top half and red on the bottom half covering her entire visage. She topped it off with a straw hat with long whitish hair attached to it.
A pretty young blonde was standing in the square at one point, a bag attached to a trolley and she seemed to be waiting for something or somebody. 3 of the waiters looking to bring customers into their restaurants started chatting her up and there was some good flirting back and forth. At one point though, she wandered off away from the bag and out of the square!
None of the waiters seemed worried about it but that freaked us out a little bit. All those warnings in airports about unattended baggage makes us a bit paranoid perhaps. We paid for our drinks and got out of there. Then we searched for our restaurant.
Jason found a recommendation online but when we asked a few police officers they said the place was closed down. Instead, we took their advice and ate at Trattoria Da Mario - via Chiesa Nuova, 12. The owner was very sweet and helpful when it came to deciding what to eat. He recommended the octopus carpaccio salad with arugula and olive oil with lemon as well as the seafood risotto. We ordered both and I decided on a pasta with a cream/ tomato sauce that did not disappoint. Everywhere we've eaten has been so good.
There was a weird lady sitting by herself, tall blonde who didn't speak Italian. My first glance at her, she was smiling and preening like a character in a show as if she'd heard someone praising her beauty. She almost seemed like she was in a drug induced state, definitely not sober but very animated with the tendency to touch the arm of the owner, cook, and eventually another patron she struck up conversation with. She was overly flirtatious, awkward, patting the chef on the arm, then she got up from her table and left. Maybe to run an errand? She then returned later and continued eating! At the end of the evening when I came out from the restroom, she looked like she was waiting to talk to someone, maybe the owner, and she happened to be standing in the way of the doorway I needed to pass through. She smiled but when I tried to get by her she didn't bother to move so I knocked into her purse. So weird considering we were in a large, empty room. Maybe she had too much wine. After dinner we called it an early night since we have a 9:15 train tomorrow morning.
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