Day 12 & 13

It appears that our rainy days are behind us.  We had a rainstorm while we were in Venice but the rest of our time there was sunny, Florence was sunny and we are expecting beautiful, warm weather in Rome.  Our trip to Rome included a stop in Orvieto for lunch.  A funicular takes you up to the town but it wasn't working that day so they bused us up instead.

Orvieto is a beautiful, small Italian hill town.  The Duomo di Orvieto has a small chapel, the Brizio chapel, where the ceilings are completely covered in frescoes.  The frescoes, done by Luca Signorelli, depict the end of the world, the resurrection of the dead, Paradise and Hell.  Again, we were unable to take photos as the flash damages the paintings so we purchased postcards to share.  This was one of the most interesting churches we have seen.  The painter even put himself in one of the scenes.

Orvieto is a wine-making town so everywhere you look there are vineyards and olive groves.  After touring the church, we wandered the un-crowded streets of the town, picked up a few souvenirs and found a little place where we asked them to make us a sandwich.  We also purchased a bottle of the local wine and took our goodies back on the bus to eat during the remainder of our ride to Rome.  Paul and I loved this little town and would have enjoyed spending more time here.

We arrived in Rome which is a huge city, walked to our hotel, the Hotel Nardizzi Americana, and then up the stairs to the fourth floor.  Thank goodness there was a freight elevator for our luggage.  We are across from the Defense Ministry and we can see the armed guards and gates from our window.

We only have about 15 minutes to get settled in our room before we have to meet back downstairs for our ancient Rome walk. We took the subway to the Colosseum and meet up with our guide, Franchesca.  The Colosseum is HUGE, very impressive and awful all at the same time.  The people back then would come for a full day of games.  In the morning they would watch warriors slaying all kinds of wild animals, during the middle of the day they would watch people being executed and then in the afternoon they would watch gladiators battle to the death.  Now that is what I call a day of FUN!!  Everything was paid for by the emperor and he provided everyone with free food and wine.  All propaganda!!

After the Colosseum, we walked across the way and through the ruins of Rome.   Paul was approached by some gypsies who were probably out to try and pick his pocket.  Karin, our guide, picked up on that real quick and ran them off.  Pickpockets are a real problem in most cities in Italy so we had been warned to stay alert ahead of time.  In the Forum we saw several arches, the Temple of the Vestal Virgins, the Temple of Antoninius and Faustina, and the place where Julius Caesar was cremated after he was murdered.

The Pantheon, our next stop, has a huge dome with a hole in the top that acts as a sundial.  It is now used as a church and the hole is open so that when it rains or snows it comes into the building.  It is the best preserved building in Rome due to the fact that it was designated as a church long ago and therefore was not raided whenever the area was in turmoil.  There are numerous tombs in the Pantheon including the Tomb of Raphael.  This is an impressive structure and it is even more impressive at night when it is lit up. 

We were treated to another group dinner at the Trattoria Der Pallaro.  This restaurant is family owned and there isn't a menu.  You are basically served whatever the cook decides to fix for that day.  We had a room to ourselves and as a surprise, a choral group that was also dining there that evening came over to sing Happy Birthday to one of our group members!!

We ended our first day in Rome with a visit to the Trevi Fountain and of course we all had to toss in our coin to assure our return to Rome!!  The fountain was extremely crowded, obviously a favorite and a must see for anyone visiting the city.  Even though we were pretty full from our delicious dinner, we decided a little gelato wouldn't hurt so we grabbed our favorite flavor before walking back to our hotel for a much needed rest.