Thursday: Cappuccine skelletons, Trevi fountain, Capitol Hill and returning home

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Last day and we get up early. After breakfast I call the hotel reception and ask to leave our suitcases until 3 pm in the flat. Seems to be OK but they will call to confirm.

We want to go to the Cappuccino monk convent to look at their famous crypts with skeleton decorations. On the way we pass by the Spanish Steps its overcast and early and for once we get to see the stairs without a crowd. As we get closer to the cappuccino place (S. Maria della Concezione) the weather improves and there is a bit of sun. We pass by Piazza Barberini and have a look at Berninis Fountain of the Bees (Fontana Appi). The cappuccino monk museum proves to very modern we rush through it, though. Because Michael and Philip are primarily interested in the bones. The crypts are truly extraordinary. A bit bizar with a special room for e.g. shin bones, one for pelvises, and one for skulls. An incredible number of dead monks went into the decorations of these crypts.

In front of the S. Maria della Concezione

Exiting the Cappuccino monk place, we find a nice cafe and rest our legs with a nice cup of, yeah you guessed it - Cappuccino!

Having regained a bit of energy we proceed in the direction of Fontana di Trevi. Meandering through narrow, picturesque streets (feels like we are in some kind of theme park, with all those palaces and churches around us) we see a big crowd and voila, there it is, the perhaps most famous fountain in the world. It is big and impressive. And facing the fountain, we find shoe heaven! An impressive entrance area with hundreds of shoes on display. Low and behold, they have some fancy looking boots at a reasonable price. We enter and Hiroko is seated in something that looks like a shop from the 50's, only rows of chairs for costumers to sit down in for trying on shoes and shoeboxes piled high against the walls. Hiroko finally gets her boots.

On the way up the Capitol Hill

We proceed and reach the opulent Vittorio Emanuelle monument. Hiroko has read about an apartment building from 2nd cenutry AD. The ruins can be seen right next to the V. Emanuelle monument. The "tall rise" building was constructed, leaning against the steep side of the hill. We then climb some steep stairs up to the capitol museum and enjoy the view from up there. Descending on the opposite side of the hill, we have a look at Forum Romanum from a distance.

On our way back towards our flat, to pick up the suitcases, we stop at a restaurant for pizza. It turns out to be a very nice place with good service.

Just before returning to the flat we stop by the big GAP store on the Corso and buys a "GAP Roma" hoodie for Mai. We get our suitcases and meet the cleaning lady before getting a cab on the Corso (There is a Taxi waiting area a couple of hundred meters from our place). We get a nice Mercedes taxi which takes us ruthlessly and efficiently to the airport. A very comfortable way of traveling. After uneventful check-in and waiting we fly back to Munich.

Wednesday: The Vatican and Piazza Navona

Piazza Cavour - in front of the Palace of Justice

Today we decide to go to the Vatican to see the church of St. Peter. We decide to walk as the weather is still nice and we want to enjoy the last bit of sunshine. It is supposed to change. Passing by the mausoleum of Augusto we cruise along streets with oozing traffic. Weather is getting a bit more cloudy and a there is a brisk wind. We pass over the river Tibern and cross the big square of Piazza Cavour, lined by the imposing facade of the Justice Palace. We walk around the big star shaped area enclosing the Castel de St. Angelo, a previous mausoleum of Hadrian. Finally approaching the Vatican and the church of St. Peter, we see an unbelievably big crowd on St. Peter's square. This can't be. Mass tourism these days... When I was young you just walked straight into the church of St. Peter. No big queues. Then somebody shouts to us that there has just been a mass by the Pope and the church opens again after two. Oh, so that's why there are so many people.

Approaching St. Peter's Church

We decide to find a place for a coffee. On the side of the vatican where we are there are not so many cafes. We find a cozy wine bar. It is hopelessly crowded with people who have been to the mass, presumably. But we find a table and get some good coffee and a delicious piece of cake, something like a gateau basque.

In the wine bar. You can pick the bottles you'd like to dring from the shelves.

From the Vatican we take a cab to Piazza Navona. There is a lot of life on the square with street artists and vendors of all sorts. We take a look at Bernini's famous statue of the four rivers symbolized by gigantic muscular men interlocked. We have a late lunch at one of the nearby restaurants. Somewhere we have sensed the smell of fried calamares, squid, and that is what we want. We get a nice plate of shrimps and fried calamares.

Walking back through the picturesque streets of historical Rome, we stop at the big GAP store on the Corso. Against the will of Michael we buy him some smart clothes. Then we make it back to the apartment and have some tea and relax.

In the evening Hiroko and I go out shopping. It is raining a bit so we get to use our umbrellas for the first time on this trip. Hiroko finds a bag in a nearby shop and I actually find a very nice Italian suit which I decide to buy. There are so many small men's clothes shops and the service is very nice. I am amazed that clothes are still manufactured in Italy. Nice to get something which is not made in sweat shops in the Far East. I have been very happy with my other Italian suit that I bought in Sweden about ten years ago.

We then spend a fair amount of time looking for new boots for Hiroko. There are some very nice high-heel boots, little pieces of art. But they are probably not very practical for everyday use and Hiroko decides against buying them. Maybe we'll find some boots tomorrow on our last day.

We walk back through rain-wet streets and pass by the bakery, which we like, to get some bread. There is a Japanese lady who works there and Hirko chats a bit with her. We return with Pizza Bianca and other yummy varieties of Pizza and have dinner.

Tuesday: St. Clemens and Colosseum

We take the underground train in the morning to the neighbourhood aroud Colosseum. It is very different from our own neighbourhood - much more motor traffic and air pollution, and the buildings look in general much more run down. We are staying in a very nice part of Rome...

The first stop today is the church of St. Clement. The church is very old, from the 11th century, but that is not all. From inside the church we go down into the cave-like, excavated subterranian space under the church, through 3 layers of history, ending up at the very origin of Christianity. The first storey under the church corresponds to an older church from 4th century AD. Going down one storey further we enter an old Roman building which housed clandestine Christian worship from the 1st century BC! It also housed a Roman Mithraic temple at some point. Under it all, a well is streaming noisily. In fact, a hundred years ago, a subterrainian lake was flooding the lowest parts of the buildings and only after building a draining tunnel, further excavations could be done.

After the underground adventures under the church of St. Clement we go and have a cup of coffee ad icecream at a caffe close to Colosseum.

Then we go down to Colosseum. We thought there wouldn't be a crowd in February but it actually looks like there is quite a number of people around the ancient arena. OK, we find a queue leading into the Colosseum. It doesn't really move a long. Some Danes decide to leave the queue, saying that there is 10 km of queue a head of us. Hm, after a closer look it seems like they are right. After more than an hour of waiting we finally make it into the arena. Yeah! Now, Michael is already tired of the whole business and wants to go home... Anyway, we get a good view of the whole structure in sunshine and we walk around. I pick up small, good-to-know facts from guides. Like "areana" means sand (that's what they used) and women only came to do business in the fornicatorium.... Hey, that's an interesting latin term, right?

We exit the arena and Michael is in a rotten mood. It helps to buy one of those useless toys the Indian street vendors trying to push you. A jelly pig that you can toss on the ground upon which it turns to a pool of jelly and then magically reshapes into a pig. It takes him 2 minutes to destroy it. Oh, well, he is in a much better mood afterwards. 1 Euro well spent.

We find a very modest pizzeria, facing away from the Colosseum, and eat some cheap pizza. We take the train back to Spagna - the Spanish Steps and feel like coming home. Clean streets, wonderful buildings and upmarket shops.

Monday: Villa Borghese and the Zoo

It is a glorious day. Philip, Michael and I go out after breakfast to find a supermarket. We use the iPad and find a small supermarket hidden in a passageway. It is perfect for little things: milk, cheese, snacks, red wine etc.

Returning to the apartment, we find the cleaning lady in the building who agrees to receive Hiroko's suitcase when it is delivered. That's great. That means we can get out and enjoy the wonderful weather. We head out on the Corso. A man on the corner of the Corso is taking a photo of our street so we decide to do the same, it's a really nice street. We go down to Piazza del Popolo. The Corso is still more or less free from motor traffic, like a pedestrian zone. Maybe it was always like this. The sky is deep blue and the air is crisp. From Piazza del Popolo a long flight of marble stairs leads us up to the outer edge of the Villa Borghese park and an amazing viewpoint. We can see the whole of Rome from the Palatine hills, Vittorio Emanulle monument to the dome of St. Peter's church and a hundred other church towers.

We decide to cross the whole park to reach the Zoo at the other (northeast) end of it. It is a long walk but Michael is very happy, running about and exploring everything. There are broad tarmac roads without any cars in the park and people are biking, skateboarding etc. It is a great place.

We find our way to the Zoo which has a beautiful entrance in classical style with pillars and lion sculptures. We spend hours going through the whole park. Michael is very excited to find all the animals indicated on the zoo-map we got with the tickets.

When we exit the park we all have heavy legs. We decide to try to find our way to the Spanish Steps. We succeed and stroll down the famous stairs in sunshine. Michael needs to pee and we head home to our apartment.

Upon entering our place we see that Hiroko's suitcase has arrived. Praise The Lord!

After a short break we go out and get some pizza at a nearby pizzeria.

Arriving in Rome

After a comfortable and short (1 hr and 10 minutes) flight we arrive at Rome airport. So far so good. But at the baggage conveyor belt... we have to wait and wait. OK, Italian organization and reliability is maybe not world class. Should have realized that. Finally something starts to happen. The two first pieces of luggage turn up and are retrieved with a victorious air. Making sure that the suckers from our Munich flight notice that we do indeed now have our luggage and are ready to roll. It is a sunny Sunday and Rome is waiting for us, here we come. Only, where is the third suitcase? Fck. Hiroko's suitcase never turns up. Endless waiting at the conveyor belt. Endless waiting at the baggage claim office. Message: The bag is stuck in Munich and will arrive in one and a half hours. We request to have the bag sent to the hotel as we want to get out there and enjoy sunny Rome. Most likely, the bag will be delivered tonight.

The taxi driver takes us through unbelievably busy streets. Hordes of people are out for Sunday afternoon strolls. Our hotel is a historic building (they probably all are in this neighborhood) on the corner of the Corso and a side street (Via dei Greci). The apartment is small but very nice. They provide, with the apartment, some snacks so we decide to make afternoon tea.

Later we go out to explore. On the Corso we plunge into a malstroem of people. We walk from one set of street artists to the next. Football artists, dancers, painters, musicians. Great entertainment and it's free. Michael is impressed with the paintings and wants us to buy him some. We manage to persuade him that there are plenty of other, more reasonable items, to buy in Rome. We pass by the column of Marcus Aurelius at Piazza Colonna and marvel at the huge marble pillar stretching up in the blue sky. Surprisingly all the shops seem to be open on this late Sunday afternoon. We peek into a shop with Italian delicacies. They have sandwiches that make your mouth water by the mere sight. Then more or less by chance we end up by Pantheon and take a look. Impressive. The sky is deep blue through the hole in the roof of the ancient dome. The building seems to serve as a church now and there is an alter in one end with benches in front of it. The place is stuffed with people. Probably because it's Sunday. Outside some dark-skinned street vendors throw something, a toy of some sort, with red and blue lights incredibly high up in the air, it spins around as it slowly glides down again from the evening dark blue sky. We joke that they should try to aim for the hole in the dome of the Pantheon. It would look so cool if the thing came down from the ceiling inside... Do we want to buy the toy? No thanks.

Time to think about food... Restaurant or sandwiches in the apartment. Michael does not want to go to a restaurant, so we decide for the cold food. We get some of the delicacies from the shop we looked at earlier and we also go back to a bakery which we looked at earlier to get some cakes.

Back in the apartment we start to worry about Hiroko's missing bag. We still have not heard from the airline baggage service. The suitcase contains Michael's nappies, Hiroko's toilet bag and clothes... We have our good meal and then Hiroko decides to go out to try to get nappies and a toothbrush at least. No such luck. Although most shops are open, even late this Sunday night, the supermarket was closed. Dammit.