Came out of the new Hotel (we changed for last night because they weren't going to have rooms through the 3 nights, we assume. Lovely courtyard.
Headed to breakfast and discovered this Lori. Waiting for us in the backyard.
I hear an owl hooting in the distance... Just like our regular hoot owl back home ❤️
Omg - the sun dried tomatoes are so good! Must try prosciutto now - omg - looks like bacon - tastes like heaven. I think this is what my calorie counter hits at home. Thankfully vacation calories don't count (but my scale will report otherwise when I get home - no matter).
Breakfast is lovely!
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11:15 notes - Breakfast at the hotel was Lovely! (Just said that again) BThere was a very pretty patio area with a courtyard kwe were asked to stay insude to eat si they would be able to keep that area pristine foe guests who were not rushed.
Clover got their egg, but it was pre-boiled. They really liked being able to boil their own in Paris. All eggs still brown shelled. Because they come from REAL CHICKENS! :)
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Rolled out to the bus - not too far, but maybe a half mile to a mile. One of the girls has a bag that already won't zip up all the way, but now she's broken off a wheel. Poor thing. She's very positive about it - says 'I swim, so I'm ready if I have to carry it the whole way.' We're going to try to find her a place to get a new one.
We are listening to radio like this on the bus today. spotify: Italian Pop - and probably oldies Pop at that
There is so much beautiful labout this trip. Weare riding the bus to Rome from Florence. Wee see olive trees regularly spaced along theh hillsides, and the Italian Poplar creates a high canopy like an umbrerlla when they grow tall. There are many of them around homes and villas. I also see what look like cedars maybe? List of Common trees doesn't include evergreen, so still looking. So it looks like the tree I'm looking at is a pine with the high canopoy, not the poplar. It's the Italian Stone Pine (called locally the Umbrella Pine)... Oooo... they also have it listed at the RBG @ Kew website. And Oh! Thhis website is better for the common trees in Italy!
I know somebody out there is going to be saying it outloud..... "Nerd!" Yes. Yep - that's me! Can't remember the names of the people I'm travelling with but insanely curious about the world around me and how it works.
stopped for lunch around 11:30 (half hour later than planned). Universally acknowledged this was the best rest stop food anyone has had. Some had a fried chicken breast, i had a salad with fresh mozzarella (in a real bowl with real utensils), Clover had a chicken sandwich. I particularly liked the mellon I got. Still sipping on my Peach tea.
Topography has changed. There are still mountains, but now the land is mostly flat.
Arrived in Roma!
Aquiduct outside Rome
The Gorgeous Italian Stone Pines
Aquiducts inside Rome!!!
More of the Stone Pines!
Cleopatra's REAL Needle
Rome Tour - this is a whirlwind
Ruins just outside the Coliseum. I asked - I wrote things down - I don't remember a thing and my notes are just all a jumble. It's something - I thought it was maybe water management things, bu it might be related to Neros old Palace that had been built in that area before an emperor succumbed to "the people don't like me taking up so much prime Roman Real Estate for my pilatial villa and giant pool... let's give them entertainment watching people kill each other... that sounds like good fun! They'll love it.
(they were right)
Emperor's Box is where the Cross is now
Giving you al the pretty pictures
Marble's all gone but this iss what the fascade of the whole place would have been before being looted by the Romans and Christians to buid things like St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican)
Capitals - several of them here, kind of beaten up though.
Proof of life & actually being where we said we were. Unless AI did this and we're faking the trip. It's so sad that that's a possibility. Not as sad as my SD chip being stuck in my laptop drive, though.
Loved looking at all the Arches - how they were built and how all of them provided support in different ways. Support to the columns to distribute weight of the rock (travertine / limestone for most of the material, but a lot of brick), then also including arches on the tops of columns to help distribute weight of the seats & all the people. (litard - lines of bricks, glomiard = cement, reticulato - the way bricks were staggered & alternated back-forth)
More evidence! See - I'm even holding my notebook!
Marble column - such pretty foliation in thiis metamorphic rock! (see what I just did there?)
Not sure if this is ingress, or egress - but water had to flow both ways because of the toilet situation. Good water on the inflow, though - from the Virgin aquaduct.
Fresco of the map of Jerusalem (I see the 3 croses on the left! - Christians must have done this) - this is called "The Jerusalem Gate." (this is when she started talking about the paid toilets")
Sooo.... for the rest of the tour, I'm going to hope the pictures can be identified. This is definitely something, but mot significantly there's some loot from tombs (the little statues people used to remember their family memberss who had passed on so they could pray for them) and most importantly - the Toilets. Yes, that's why everyone is queueing up (but it actually didn't take that long to get there).
Winged fictory at the top of a mausoleum being pulled by horses?
Ok, it's on the top of the Victor Emmanuel Monument (dedicated to Italy's first king - celebraing 50 year anniversary of Italy's unification in 1861 - Thank you Rick Stevens book on Italy for getting my facts straight!)
I think this is something about somebody who died here....
something Trojan's Market I think? Forum - that's it.
Vestal virgins around the corner?
Palatine Hill? I'm so BAD at this game!
Wait... is this across frorm Juliuss Caesar & this is the Senate?
More Trojan Market
Ah yeah! This is where Julias Caesar died - across from itt was the Senate
Used to be another place of worship or commerse with a bunch of pillars that have fallen down, leaving it looking like the cool place from ancient Celts in Northern France! Tell me it's not uncanny!
Forum of Trajan
Coliseum over there!
This looks like the Trojans Market on the right
Caesar Statue in front of the Christian repurposed pagan temple!
SS Luca & Martina
I really love the trees! These are the Poplars that Stephaie was remembering earlier. Everywhere around Rome!
Stolen plunder - what the English did, Rome did first.
They sort of "wrote the book" on how to loot conquored civilizations.
Aaannnnnd repurpose them in their own image.
Trajan's column
The big 50 year Anniversary building again - pretty impressive, but they did have modern equipmen to build it.
First king
Here we go... no.... i'm going to fail this test, too. Ugh! I'm so bad at the Rome picture-matching game!
Wait... I think MapEasy says this is the Foro di Caesari.
Gelato at the Pantheon (better known as "That was the Pantheon?")
So apparently it was mentioned several times, but we got to our destination and hear "there are several restaurants around here" and after the last couple of times of people not getting back to the meeting place - I'm a bit trigger happy about potential miscommunication.
Anyway, apparently it was just me that thought she was sending us forth for an hour of eating right before dinner, everyone else thought shopping?
Clover found a lovely little gelato place, so we stopped & when the waiter said it would cost one Euro more per item if we sit - I'm ok with that. It's cool & comfortable & it means I can use the restroom (seat-free levetation required) which has very cold water from the Aquifer and I was VERY happy to refill my bottle.
We get out - I walk around (run across Hadrian's Temple "Thank you for the wall!") and end up back with Clover and Mr/Mrs Walker 20 minutes later. THAT'S when I realize (morw walking around) that we're in feont of the Pantheon! Why did no one tell me? Gail (Mrs. Baker) says "Stefania said it like 5 different times! Before we left & here when she was explaining it. She said "You can go in the Pantheon if you want but you have to wait in line.""
This is why I should have read the Rome section before I left Florence. But honestly - I didn't want to think about anything but Florence when I was there. So I'll satisfy myself with having seen Rome mostly from afar and look at someone else's pictures of what is inside each. I should read about Vatican City tonight.
Dinner! Right....
Lovely Italian Dinner tonight - beginning with Bruchetta..... Secondi was Ricotta & Spinach Manicotti.... then chocolate mousse for desert (very light mousse).
Drive home - "Rolling down the Tiber"
The Tiber is flanked on both sides with a tall flood wall, bordered with floodplain sidewalks, street sidewalks, then tall poplars & one way roads. It's taking a long time getting outnof Rome, but the Tiber is lovely to watch. So many beautiful trees here, accenting the buildings and bridges.
We pass by a castle.... And a pyramid that ancient Romans brought back from Egypt & rebuilt in the middle of town. Cross the Tiber a couple more times (should we be making a wish?).
It's been a very long day and tomorrow will be early again - leaving at 6:45 for Vatican City.
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