They say that
all roads lead to Rome. Well, that is,
until you get lost. And then it’s all a
bit hopeless as cars veer in front of you, double park with their hazard lights on
whilst the driver saunters over to the coffee shop; motorbikes weave
precariously in and out of the cars
knocking off wing mirrors as they go, and which side of the road, and how much
of it you use, is negotiable. And if you
are in a car with GB plates it becomes a little game for the Romans – we were
even cut up gladiator style by a sweet smiling teenage girl in a Smart car…
So
this is when one has to adopt another saying – When in Rome, do as the
Romans. G became proficient at charging
into non moving traffic, me at deciphering the mood of the drivers and the
general direction in which we were going, and the boys at buttoning it as we
swerved this way and that with all the passion (if not finesse) of the Italian
drivers.
Luckily our
hotel, the Ca’ Selva Candida, was a little oasis of a hotel on the outskirts of
Rome, to which we would return daily, sinking into the chairs at the bar with
the sighs of the seasoned traveler. This has been a little gem of a
find, the rooms are big and spacious, the staff friendly and exceedingly
helpful – all have got to know us – and although we only stayed 3 nights, we
felt very welcome. Stefano at Reception
recommended a car park in town whilst we caught the Metro into
the city centre. And so we
did. (After a couple of wrong turns in
which we ended up in a small alleyway with no turning circle and all the Italians
came out to watch and suck their teeth and debate amongst themselves as to
which bit of the car we would hit on the bulging brick walls).
Catching
the Metro was easy – again once you had worked out what type of ticket you
needed and how long for. And once we
were in Rome we took the advice of Liz, a reader of the blog, and got on one of
the open top tour buses. There are
several companies that offer this service, and after looking at the routes that
they offer, we decided to go for the blue bus, as that covered the parts of the
city that we wanted to see. It’s a great
idea for getting a general layout of a city, you can get on and off where you
please, and simply catch the next one when you’ve finished sight seeing. It also has an audio guide – ours was in 13
languages which pleased the boys no end as they messed around with the
settings. Mine seemed to be permanently
stuck with Italian in one ear and English in the other, but I got the general
idea.
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| The Colosseum |
It was
fabulous. Coming from the UK, we get a
bit blasé about antiquities and ruins and ancient history. But Rome is simply
breathtaking. Even the oldest smallest
pillars had intricate carvings, there were thousands of statues from those
framing St Peters to those above shop doorways.
The Pantheon with its open air domed ceiling was a marvel. The Circus Maximus, now a dust bowl, still
evocative of days gone past. The
Colosseum, and small Roman ruins, open for all to walk by and stop, and
look. Paintings, glorious in their size
and colour. Great mansions like the Villa Borghese, and gardens, and hundreds
and hundreds of shops and restaurants.
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| Trevi Fountain, under scaffolding |
A few of
you have been asking how my ankle has been faring. I tore my Achilles tendon over a year ago and
have subsequently developed acute tendonitis in my right ankle. This manifests itself as a large painful lump,
with swelling which goes up and down, depending on how much exercise I have
done. I have had a number of physio
sessions, and two saline injections under local anaesthetic to break down the
scar tissue, which seems to have alleviated the pain. But there is no doubt that the travelling and
walking is paying its toll.
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| Strapped up for Day 1 |
The night
we arrived in Rome, I was slightly alarmed to see that my good ankle had developed
a small painful lump on the tendon. This
was clearly the result of a year of over compensation, but did not bode
well. Hence our decision to do the bus
tour. Underneath my well padded leather British
Knights trainers were heel inserts and both feet were strapped up in support
bandages. But that evening it was clear
that I was in trouble. And what was
worse was that the next day we had booked to see the Vatican Museum and the
thing that was on my bucket list, the Sistine Chapel. The Vatican Museum is
vast, our rather enthusiastic receptionist told us it was roughly 7km of
walking (unverified) and I needed my hiking feet. So G and the boys brought back two buckets of
ice from the bar and we wrapped my ankles in ice and towels, and I slept in ice
all night, waking up to a slightly soggy bed, but no lump on the good ankle.
The Vatican
City was simply astounding. Every room in the Vatican Museum assuaged your senses in a way that is
incomparable – from the Egypt room, to the Animal room, to the painted frescos
on the ceilings in the Geographic room or the carvings on the walls, there was
simply a brain overload everywhere you looked. And after a long walk, through corridors,
up and down stairs, I drew a deep breath before I entered the Sistine Chapel.
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| Egypt Room - mummified woman from Phebes |
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| Adam and Eve in their Earthly Paradise (Wenzel) - Middle Son's favourite of the day |
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| The stunning ceiling in the Geographic room |
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| Three little cherubs (not mine) |
As an art
student at A level, I studied Michelangelo, and one of my favourite books to
date is The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone. The Sistine Chapel was worth it – the agony
of getting there was worth the ecstasy of being there. That’s all I can say really. It is not often
that I can’t put into words what I felt, but this is one of those times!
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| My three little cherubs outside St Peters |
Our last
night in Rome before setting off to Naples was spent in a restaurant local to the hotel and the boys let off
steam from all the culture in the play park and enjoyed showing their ‘jumping off the swings mid air’ skills
to some local kids who were there for a birthday party. Amazing how they
managed to converse – Little Man using exaggerated mime, and the younger kids
using broken English, whilst the teenage girls giggled coyly at our elder boys.
G and I sat
and watched them as we washed down our pesce alla griglia with grappa and
limoncello.
As I said, when in Rome, do as the Romans. And so we did.
