Trip Report, page 3
After lunch, we headed for the Piazza Navona and Campo de' Fiori neighborhoods. The former is a
lovely square, with the 17th century church of Sant'Agnese in Agone on the west side. We took one
of our landlady's suggestions to walk over for dinner in Trastevere to the Cave Canem restaurant in
Piazza di San Calisto. Yes, that does mean "beware of dog" in Latin… but the meal was certainly not
to be wary of – it was perfect! A lovely little neighborhood trattoria, with house wine in a charming
ceramic jug and not that expensive either.
Monday, 22 October (Rome)
Armed with our Roma Pass, we headed out early for the Colosseum and Palantine Hill. We bypassed
a very long line of tourists waiting at the Colosseum to buy their tickets, and walked right in with our
pass to this amazing first century amphitheater. The weather continued to be sunny, but cool –
perfect for fall sightseeing.
We returned to the apartment to cook some very nice veal scallops, along with fresh pasta and wine,
for lunch. We then walked to the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, a 4th century church that is
one of the oldest in Rome. A little more window shopping (and gelato, of course – at a chain called
Blue Ice; not bad – but better ones ahead!). Back to the apartment for a dinner of insalata mista and
linguine carbonara; the latter was thanks to a small collection of recipes which was provided in our
kitchen by our landlady.
Tuesday, 23 October (Rome)
Another great day, with better weather... warmer and sunnier. We visited the Borghese Gallery,
located in one of the largest and most beautiful parks in Rome. The villa and grounds are truly
impressive! While the entrance fee is covered by the Roma Pass, one can only visit with advance
reservations made either on-line or by telephone. The reservation entitles a visitor to a two-hour
non-guided tour of the gallery at a specified time slot, with the necessity of arriving 30 minutes early
to insure entrance.
The marble statue of Apollo and Daphne by Bernini was remarkable as were many of Bernini's other
pieces on display. But the rooms of the museum itself were almost unbelievably ornate... well worth
the entire trip to Rome! We got there and back by local bus which was an adventure in itself, since
we forgot to plot the return trip on the computer at home and found that the bus did not follow the
same route back. However, we did find the return bus stop (several blocks away from our arrival bus
stop) thanks to the bus route maps on display at each covered bus stop.
We then had a wonderful lunch at Enoteca Corsi, a small lunch-only restaurant located near the
Pantheon The food, service, and atmosphere of this wine-shop and restaurant really were fabulous!
George fell in love with the waitress. We followed lunch with gelato, of course, from one of our two
favorites, that we promised to mention: Gelateria Caffe Pasticceria Giolotti located north of the
Pantheon.
Wednesday, 24 October (Rome)
Our original plan was not to visit the Vatican on a Wednesday, due to the size of the crowd that is
normally there on that day for the weekly papal audience. However, knowing that we might have to
stand outdoors in line for the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica, and owing to the sparkling
sunshine, we opted to go anyway.