There's no place like Rome

The weather gods really looked over me when I was in Rome and my last day there was as beautiful as the first. There were no clouds in the sky as Davide and I headed off on his scooter for my last Italian breakfast at his local bar.

I think everyday should start like this

YUM!

This shot is for dad :)

Davide was starting work at 2pm and I had a Vatican City tour booked for one so we had a few hours to zip round and see as much as we could. Our first stop was the Piazza del Popolo (People's Square) and we went into the San Maria del Popolo church (one of Davide's favourite churches) and it was worth a visit. There were so many different types of marble and such exquisite frescoes and sculptures. I tried to take pictures but they didn't catch the true beauty of this place.

Outside San Mario del Popolo

Different coloured marble

Painted dome

Sculptures

Another impressive thing about the square was how everything had been designed to be symmetrical so there were two identical churches at the opposite end. These were built in the 1600s and it is just mind blowing to think how they got it so spot on. Check this out;

Pretty symmetrical to me

On our way to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain we walked down Via dei Condotti, the most expensive street in Roma. We stopped and looked in the windows of a few and it's just crazy to think about the amount of money some people must have.

Oh yea!

I really wanted to get a special souvenir from Rome so when I saw a watch in the window of Furla for a reasonable price I just had to get it! In that moment I felt like a real high roller.

Proud owner of an Italian watch :) :) :)

 I also saw a real Ferrari!

Oh yea!

I threw my coin in the Trevi Fountain to increase my chances of coming back to Rome and this was one of the times I felt like a real tourist because it was absolutely packed there.

Throwing coin into the fountain (it was quite hard to co-ordinate properly)

Davide then took me to a lookout from where we could get some good views of the Roman Forum since I had missed out on the tour on Monday. I can't think of the name of the place but it was a great spot. We had to climb a lot of steps to get up there but as we were walking there we walked past the famous bronze statue of Marc Anthony on his horse and I got to see the bronze wolf with the suckling Romulus and Remus. This was a lot smaller than I had thought it would be.

Marc Anthony with a pigeon on his head

Little wolf

Great view

My fantastic guide Davide :)

It was getting close to 1pm so Davide dropped me near to the Vatican City so I could get ready for my tour. I don't think anything can really prepare you for the Vatican City though. I learnt so much about the Popes and Rome, it was a fantastic history lesson and our guide, Lara, was an archaeologist and historian so really knew her stuff. I learnt that the reason for the existence of the Vatican City was due to the Pope's not been keen for unification of Italy (it meant they lost all their governing power) hence keeping the Vatican City a separate state. This was interesting; the Pope's day is 11th February every year and the Pope resigned on this very date this year! Coincidence? I think not! For the last 500 years they have lived in here and the whole space is no more than 44 hectares. The walls outside belong to Rome and Italy and have been surrounding it since the 1500s. There was just so much information to take in. This was one of the most mind blowing for me; 700,000 pieces of art are on display in the museums but over 400,000 are in the vaults underneath in collection of Vatican museums. It is just phenomenal the amount of stuff they have there. I snapped so many pictures and was quite overwhelmed by it all really. It was great too because it wasn't too busy and we actually had time to stop and look at things for quite a while. Apparently in peak season the Vatican gets 30,000 visitors a day and it is impossible to move around in there. It's hard to say what my favourite thing in there was but a definite high light were the marble sculptures and busts, the tapestries and Michelangelo's paintings in the Sistine Chapel.

Athena with inlaid glass eyes

I've always wanted to see this!

Huge original bronze sculpture of Hercules, perspective shot below

Tapestry

Guess who?

Impressive ceiling

Map from hall of maps (this is before satellite images int the 1600s)

Look at the depth!

Amazing!

Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures inside the Sistine Chapel but it is definitely something worth seeing. As I was sitting in there I was thinking about the rituals that take place there and how in a few weeks it will be in that very place where the votes will be placed to elect the new pope. It's all very scandalous in Italy at the moment and there is a lot of chat about why he resigned etc... I guess that's the million dollar question at the moment. My timing couldn't have been more perfect really because soon it's going to be crazy there.

Saint Peter's Basilica was another great part of the tour. Now this a HUGE building. Huge and beautiful. It's the biggest Catholic Basilica in the world and it's quite hard to get a perspective on how big it actually is and even when you are inside it it is hard to take in it's size.

Outside entrance to St. Peters

The dome is 127 meters tall!

Looking out the the square

Really quickly I want to mention another great thing about Roma; there are over 4,000 water fountains throughout the city that were placed there in the ancient times and have been one thing that have always been maintained because they value fresh water so highly. Talk about clever!

A larger fountain called 'The Ugly Boat' and this is at the bottom of the Spanish Steps

My last day ended with a dinner that Davide organised at a friend's brother's restaurant. Great food, great people and a lot of good laughs. It was another great experience and a memory I will cherish forever. The starter was a mixed platter and the salmon was just divine, I think it had been marinated in apple juice. For my main I had the crispy bacon and asparagus fettuccine (recommended by Davide and Danielle) and I struggled to finish it but did in the end and was applauded from the others for doing so. This wasn't because I didn't like it, I LOVED IT, but because I was so full already. Italians eat a lot! Everyone knows you have an extra stomach for dessert so I had no trouble polishing of a caramel and pistachio tart. I also tried limoncello and it burned! I highly recommend the restaurant to anyone visiting Roma. It's called Jetlag 64 :)

Starter

Thumbs up for the good food

Main. YUM!

  

Dessert

Zara and Danielle

A pic for Murray and Jane

Restaurant owners. Jetlay 64 rocks!

The dinner crew

Sadly my time in Roma had come to an end but I don't think I could have had a better time if I tried. Roma has been on my list of places to visit for as long as I can remember and it was everything I wanted it to be and more.

Thank you Davide for showing me around and taking me to so many wonderful parts of Roma, without you I doubt I'd seen half as much.

So now it's back to school for me and time to get my thinking cap on for my next destination.

Paris maybe?

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