About to leave the flat and find a hop on – hop off bus to start the day. Probably head for Vatican first up before the crowds. Yesterday it was quite pleasant before lunch, the crowds really picked up in the afternoon though. I don’t fancy the ticket line after lunch.
Apparently shopping is also on the agenda today.
That’s it for now. It’s only 8am. I’ll update this entry this evening.
Back again. The sightseeing bus is another thing worth doing early. We were first on the first bus. By the time it was halfway around the loop it was full. We hopped off at the Trevi Fountain for some essential shopping then struggled to get back on again an hour later. The lineups at some of the stops would have taken several empty buses to clear. Those people were in for a long wait.
The blog app is having a moment. If it would let me add a caption it would read “Marcus Aurelius column”, but it won’t so it could be anything you want. If you want to know more about the column I’ll have to refer you to Google, as this is a travel blog not a history lesson.
The shopping hasn’t lived up to expectations so far. The only things that have been purchased thus far are a t-shirt and a couple of postcards. I think our problem is that we don’t really want anything in particular and impulse buying is tempered by the prices. That will change.
This caption should read “typical street down which a bus can easily pass – at speed”.
The Vatican has been postponed until tomorrow and begs some further research. The lineup at 9:30am looked like it was a kilometre long, no exaggeration. We spent some time at the Piazzo Venezia and looked through the Santa Maria in Aracoeli church on Capitaline Hill. Some famous people are buried here dating from prior to 1500s.
I don’t know what this is, we’ll call it “another church and another column, in Rome”. Turns out its Trajan’s column on which Marcus Aurelius’ column is modelled. Thank you Google. Still don’t know what the church is. Note the building on the left. It’s being renovated. The hoarding is painted hessian, so as not to detract from the normal streetscape.
We continue to be amused and bewildered by the traffic in Rome. It could be best described as chaotic. The bus trip was like having a ring-side seat to traffic bloopers. I understand why the council doesn’t bother fixing up all the bent and broken or defaced traffic signs – nobody follows them. It is amazing where a bus will fit. A lot of cars seem to have scrapes down the side, so obviously it doesn’t always work out well.
Bought some groceries this afternoon to trim back the food costs. Beer was 1.50€ for a 66 cL (660 mL) bottle at the supermarket, compared to 6€ for 40 cL at the sidewalk cafes. I don’t expect that you will see a lot of public drunkedness at 6€ a glass. And yes beer is a grocery item.
We’re going to give the bus another go about 7pm, to see what the place looks like in the evening.
Went back, did another lap on the bus, all are now nervous wrecks from the number of near misses. The only thing we stopped to look at was the Circus Maximus, scene of chariot racing and the Ben Hur movie. Milly didn’t know who Ben Hur was (nor I think cares). We walked around the track but no one wanted a race, which makes me the winner by default.
Carp Diem,
Steve J.