Friday, May 25, 2012

9:30PM - Florence to Rome : Day 16

Arrived safe and sound at my last stop on this European tour - Rome!

It was a scorching 31 degrees today and my suitcase 'fix' didn't work as well as I had hoped so my "5 minute walk" to my B&B from the metro station felt like an hour, uphill all the way, in a parka! (That will be the story I tell my grandchildren.) Luckily my sense of direction has been much better on this last leg of the journey so I didn't lose my way which definitely helped things.

After I found my B&B, I chilled out a bit before heading out to roam the city (no pun intended). I didn't intend to really scope much out since the city of Rome is HUGE and I wasn't sure I could see much given how far everything was spread out so I just started strolling.

I made it over to one of the bridges and thought...'well I'm this far, I might as well keep going'. On to the Piazza Navona and thought...'well, I'm here. Let's keep going'. Then I got to the Pantheon and thought...'what's one more stop?'. Finally ended up at the Trevi Fountain and decided to turn back but not before a coin toss.

Coin throwing is a big thing at the Trevi Fountain. Legend has it, if you throw one coin into the fountain it means a return to Rome, a second coin leads to a new romance (some say with an Italian), and a third coin leads to marriage (hopefully to that same Italian). I'm not going to tell you how many I threw in but I'm sure you can take a guess :)

I took a different route back to my B&B and was led to some other interesting attractions like the Vittorio Emanuele monument and the Area Sacra. Both very beautiful and interesting. I love how the modern city of Rome is built up around the ancient parts: Like pages in a book, layered one on top of another.

For a plan that didn't include much of anything this afternoon, I sure walked a lot and saw quite a bit. I really should be saving my feet & legs for the two tours I have booked while I'm here; The Vatican which includes St. Peter's Bacilica and The Colosseum. As much as I hate tour groups, I really wanted a guided tour of these two massive pieces of history so I will endure the crowd just a little longer.

No comments:

Post a Comment