Buongiorno, tutti,
Yes. Once again, we are in the Eternal City. We have been here 5 days already, so you will think that I am very lax in getting out a blog post. Honestly, although I thought we have been seeing our lovely city at a leisurely pace, we have been busy for these 5 days.
Before I go any further, I want to tell you that renting this apartment in the Monti District, has been one of the best finds of our many trips to Rome, so I will give you the rental information now, just in case I have piqued your interest in Rome enough that you will want to come here, also. Natalia, the landlady, also has apartments in other sections of Rome.
On Friday, we went to our favorite art museum, the Borghese Galleria, up in the northern part of the city. This house belonged for to the Borghese family and the art work is displayed where that family intended it to be displayed. The villa is set within the Borghese Gardens, where there are acres and acres of trees, grass, parks, a small lake; spending some time in the gardens is a good way to unwind. Find a bench, do some reading, rent a bicycle, or pedal cart of some sort and spend a peaceful, fun afternoon.
In the Galleria, there are many sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. These are in different rooms on the main floor. There are paintings by Caravaggio, an important Italian artist, also on the main floor, then on the second floor are more classical paintings. I always get so mesmerized by the Bernini sculptures that I keep going back to see them. I go upstairs, see the paintings, then go back to the sculptures.
After we had toured the Galleria, we took a taxi to our favorite watering hole, a sidewalk cafe facing the Vittorio Emmanuele monument, where we could have a glass of wine, a light lunch, while watching the organized chaos of the Roman traffic.
Yesterday, we went out to the church of San Giovanni in Laterano, just outside the ancient walls of Rome. The church was built in the 13th century. These dates always take me aback, for when I look at the brickwork of the church and the walls, it is so difficult to imagine the workers putting all that together 800 years ago.
The inside of the church is very beautiful, also. In the main chapel of the church, a ceremony was taking place, so we could not walk through as I had planned; however, we could walk along the aisles outside that main part of the church and view the enormous sculptures of the apostles lining both walls, and see some of the smaller chapels within the church.
Today we went to Piazza Navona, then to the Pantheon, then to Trevi Fountain, and eventually ended up at one of our favorite restaurants, the Abruzzi, on via S.S. Apostolli, near Piazza Venezia.
Frank and I were both concerned before we left, about how much walking he could do over here. He bought a cane, and has been using it. He has done well with all the walking we have done. We are both happy about that. We have also taken taxis for some of our trips, as taxis are very reasonable. The price is usually between 8 Euro and 11 Euro, and for us, it is a Godsend to get us where we need to be without the hassles.
We have also used the Metro system, which is very handy and reasonable priced, also. Our apartment is only a block from the Cavour Metro station. The trains come to the station about every 10 minutes.
We found a very good restaurant near here when we visited Rome last year. We were pleasantly surprised to see that it is about 4 blocks from our apartment. Last night, we found another good restaurant in this Monti neighborhood, so we will be visiting that one again, also.
Gli Angeletti is our favorite. The address is on via Angeletti, but right in the Piazza dei Monti. The other restaurant is called Trattoria Il Tettarello, via dei Capocci, 4. It is also an easy walk from our apartment.
And I, of course, had to throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain, as that means I will return to Roma again. My only concern was that the coin probably landed on another tourist’s head, rather than in the fountain, for there were many tourists there today. I might have to go back and try that again before we leave.
At any rate, we are having a good time; since we have been here many times before, we are seeing the highlights that we had enjoyed on other trips, while finding new places that we had not seen before.
Rome is huge but beautiful and there are new adventures along with the old, around every corner. I love the city, the small areas, the parks, and the people. I know I will return some day before long.
So I will say, Arrivederci. I will write again before long, I promis.
Ciao for now,
Dolly
By AUTHOR – Full Story at SOURCE
LOCATION Gay Travel Resources