We had a lazy morning for our last full day in Florence. It was raining and we were tired from the day before. We ended up walking over to the Pitti Palace, the Medici Summer home. It was a good inside activity. Came back to have lunch as we still had quite a bit of food to finish up.
Then it was off to see “The David”. Michaelangelo’s famous statue. We didn’t see it the last time we were in Florence so we wanted to make sure and see it this time around. It really is something to see. Very impressive and we were all glad we went. Tickets were sold out for the day, so good thing we already had tickets.
We had made reservations for Trattoria Anita for dinner that night. Will and I had gone there 9 years ago and wanted to go again for the Florentine steak. Another great evening and somehow we managed to miss most of the rain. Good food, good company and some wonderful nighttime views of the Pointe Vecchio.
Got on our train to Rome the following morning. Only about an hour and a half from Florence to Rome. We were meeting our host at the apartment. It took us a little bit to find the bus tickets, but we were finally able to find a kiosk and get the 7 day pass. Found our bus and the apartment easily. The stairs into the apartment are a little sketchy, but the apartment itself was really nice. It was a little rainy that night, so we just picked up stuff from the grocery store and stayed in.
We had a fairly early start in the morning as we had tickets for a guided tour of the Borghese Museum. As they say, if you only see one museum in Rome make it the Borghese. We had been there before, but thought it was still impressive the 2nd time around.
Afterwards we took a walk through the large park and made our way to the Piazza Popoli.
It was sprinkling off and on. So, grabbed some lunch and then gelato from Grom. Both the gelato and their cones are gluten free. Jumped on the metro to check out the Spanish Steps. It started raining and people started clearing out. So, we figured maybe the Trevi Fountain would also not be crowded. In spite of the rain, there were still a number of people there. However, there didn’t seem to be too many people willing to pay the additional fee to get close to the fountain. At that point, it was time to just head back to the apartment and dry off.
The rain cleared and we went out again that night. We found a place where I had some good oxtail stew with tomatoes.
We didn’t have any plans the next day. So, we headed to the Pantheon. We didn’t take into account that it is still an active church and wouldn’t open up for tourists until noon. So, we headed on to the Piazza Navona. It has some nice fountains and before when we were in Rome there was a museum underground where they had been doing some excavations. The museum had exhibits about the games that were held in that Piazza during Roman times. Unfortunately, it was temporarily closed.
Stopped for a nice lunch and walked onto Castel Angelo. This place was originally built as a mausoleum for Hadrian. Over the years it was turned into a fortress and now a museum. It also had a safe passage for the Popes to escape the Vatican if needed.
Left there to again see about the Pantheon. It was still packed with people waiting to buy tickets and waiting to get in. It was just a zoo, so we just passed on that.
The guys had made dinner reservations at Pierre Luigi. A very nice restaurant that we happened to be staying literally upstairs from. The waiter recommended some appetizers to go along with the fish we were selecting and I also got the seafood pasta. Everything was amazing. They had cooked the sea bass encrusted in salt. I’ve never had fish so tender. We all agreed the restaurant was expensive, but so worth it.
We had an early morning the next day as we had a tour of the Vatican. On the bus the transport cops came on and started checking tickets. We were fine with our 7 day pass, but they pulled a number of people off the bus to issue fines.
The Vatican was a long morning with crowds galore, but our guide Stephanie was great. We did the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. (No pictures are allowed in the Sistine Chapel.) Will and I had been to the Vatican before but the Basilica is still something to see. Stephanie was explaining the scale of the building itself. The place is huge and we hadn’t really processed that before.
Tried the Pantheon one last time and it was still nuts. Apparently, October is now peak season in Rome. So, everything was super crowded. If you didn’t have tickets already, you either weren’t going or you were waiting in long lines to buy tickets and to get in.
Will and I stopped on the way back to the apartment to check out, “Welcome to Rome”. It was a media presentation on the history of Rome. It was pretty interesting and gave us a better understanding of what was built when and how the city was laid out.
The next morning we had a tour scheduled for the Colosseum. We had time before the tour started so we did a walk around the Colosseum. Then we met up with our guide Patrick. We had gotten the special ticket for the arena area as well. This is the level where the gladiators fought. It was nice to go in that way because it’s a limited number of people. When our arena time was up, we had to walk back out, pick up some additional people, and go through the main entrance. Patrick gave some additional insights into the structure of the building itself and how the seating worked for varies classes, etc.
The tour continued on over to Palatine Hill. There we saw some of the ruins of palaces and upscale homes.This is also considered the birthplace of Rome.
Then through the Forum, known as the birthplace of Democracy. It was a long but interesting tour. Glad we were there in October when it wasn’t so hot.
After lunch, we made our way to San Pietro in Vincoli (“St. Peter in Chains”). There is a large sculpture by Michelangelo, the Moses. And there are also the sacred chains that supposedly bound St. Peter in Jerusalem.
The next morning we said goodbye to Rome and headed further south to Sorrento.