Day Eight -- November 4, 2012

Woke up to rain today and it is a Sunday to boot so we decided to just make it an easy day.  We took the Metro back to the Piramide stop so we could walk around the Testaccio neighborhood a little more.

I wanted to go back to the Protestant Cemetary and look around a little more.  We found this beautiful tombstone called the Angel of Grief which was designed by the American poet and sculptor, William Wetmore Story, for his wife Emelyn in 1894 -- he died eight months later and is buried with her.








We went back to the Bar we went to earlier in the week for a cappuccino, tea and roll.  We walked down Via Marmorata to the Tiber and back through the middle of Testaccio, but it was mostly closed down because it was a Sunday.  We were somehow pulled back to Eataly and found our way there through the tunnels under the train station.  Even though it was a Sunday it was as crowded as it was Friday night.  We walked around looking at the food and decided to split a bowl of pasta bolognese with red wine at the Ristorante "Della Pasta".  We then grabbed a cute little shopping cart and worked our way around to buy some prosciutto di San Daniele, some fontana cheese and some fantastic smelling orange soap from Sicily.

We took the Metro back to the apartment and dropped our rain coats off because it was around 70 degrees and humid.  We went back to the DESPAR grocery to buy some beer, wine, lemoncello (Mike was starting to feel like he was getting a cold), marinated olives and artichokes, and fresh bread.  We stopped at the Tavola Calda near our apartment and bought two chocolate filled beignets for desert.

We very much enjoyed our picnic dinner and then just relaxed by reading and answering some emails while watching the endless election coverage on TV.

Day Nine -- November 5, 2012

We were hoping to go to Orvieto today, but it was still very cloudy when we woke up so decided to wait until tomorrow.  Even though we were worried about the crowds, we decided to go over to the Vatican Museum today.  After breakfast in the apartment we headed down Corso Vittorio Emanuele looking in all the store windows along the way.  We stopped for a cappuccino and tea before crossing the Tiber and finding the nice pedestrian-only Borgo Pio.  We found Restorante I Tre Pupozzi just as it was starting to rain hard and went inside to split an Insalata Capricci and a cacio de peppi pasta with beer and wine and a lemon torta for desert. 

The rain had stopped again as we headed towards the Vatican around 2:00 PM where we passed four tour buses dropping off their passengers on the way to the main entrance.  We were falsely lulled into thinking things would be okay since we just walked in the front entrance and picked up our tickets and walked up the big curving ramp into the museum without seeing too many people.  We started out following Rick Steves' tour of the Vatican Museum and made it through the first four or five rooms before the crowds just kind of overtook us and there was no more stopping to look at things -- it was just following the people in front of you so you didn't get pushed down and walked on by the people behind you.  All along the way you could see people raise their arms above the crowds taking pictures of random things, not aiming or knowing what they were taking pictures of but having to have pictures to show their friends back home!  The crowds finally pushed us through the Raphael Rooms where we had to go up and down stairs to finally end up in the Sistine Chapel.  We had thought the Sistine Chapel was crowded when we first visited in 1999, but this time it was just amazingly horrible.  The entire chapel was packed with people standing shoulder to shoulder and the roar from all those voices in that small enclosed space was incredible.  No one was moving and no one was even looking up at the ceiling, they were just standing there talking.  The guards had to make continuous announcements on their loud speaker asking people to please be quiet and to please stop taking pictures.  Luckily Rick Steves book showed us a shortcut directly to St. Peter's Basilica saving us the 30 minute long march back through the museum.

The shortcut out of the Vatican Museum funneled us directly into St. Peter's Basilica without having to go through the metal detectors or security.  There were allot of people in the church, but it is SO HUGE that we could at least move around easily and breath.  Large areas inside the church were roped off and chairs were being set up inside these areas making us think something was going to happen in the near future.  After walking around the church seeing Michelangelo's Pieta, the dome, the main altar, etc. we headed out into St. Peter's Square where even more chairs were being set up.  We noticed that there was a line of people extending all the way around the square (which is gigantic) and we wondered if they were just waiting to go through security to go into the church or if they were waiting to attend some kind of special ceremony (the papal audience is usually Wednesday morning).

We definately needed our gelato and wine at our usual place at Largo di Torre Argentina where we bought a beautiful apple tart for desert since we had decided to eat a "picnic" dinner at the apartment again.

Day Ten -- November 6, 2012

We woke up to sunshine so decided this was a good day to go to Orvieto.  We risked our lives crossing the busy wide Corso Vittorio Emanuele in a cross walk to catch the #40 bus (known as the pickpocket express) to Termini train station and caught the 10:36 train.  We again enjoyed seeing the very green hills dotted with olive and sheep farms for the one hour trip.

We arrived in the new town at the foot of the hill at 11:42 and wanted to get to the Duomo on top of the 1,000 foot high tuffa mesa before it closed at 12:45 so we went straight out of the train station, across the piazza and bought tickets for the exciting fuiculare ride to the top.

A sheer tufa outcrop, the remains of ancient volcanoes fractured by millennia of ice, sun and rain, rises abruptly from the plain and supports the spectacular medieval city of Orvieto.  On top of this unique crag, the town, made out of the same tufa, looks much the same as it has for the last 500 years, crowned by its stupendous candy-striped cathedral.

We got to enjoy the gleaming mass of mosaics, stained glass and sculpture that make up the facade of one of Italy's liveliest cathedrals in the noon-day sun and it was pretty awe inspiring.

Since the outside of the cathedral reminded us of the Duomo in Siena we expected the inside to be just as beautiful, but it was actually kind of plain.  The biggest draw inside the Duomo was the Chapel of San Brizio where you are surrounded by frescoes with vivid scenes crammed with figures depicting the Apocalypse -- lots of hell and damnation!

From the Duomo we walked to a park on the very edge of the cliff to find a spectacular viewpoint over the valley below.

We wandered around Orvieto's Medieval historic center which is full of shops selling ceramics.  The town is divided into four quarters and the residents of these four districts compete in a lively equestrian competition on Piazza del Popolo during the annual Corpus Christi celebration -- much like the Palio in Siena.  We found  the pretty L Antica Piazzetta where we split an excellent pizza diavola (with pepperoni) wine and beer and a tiramisu for desert.

On our way back to the funicular we walked around the Rocca (Fort) which dominates the eastern end of Orvieto.  It was built by Cardinal Albornoz in 1364 to bolster the power of the papacy but the locals destroyed it soon afterwards.  Not much remains today but the ramparts are an excellent vantage point from which to enjoy views over the plains below.

We caught the 3:24 regional train back to Rome Termini train station and took the #40 bus back to our aparment.  We went into the Antico Caffe Castellino near our aparment for our afternoon gelato, wine and beer break and bought a strawberry beignet for desert since we planned on finishing up the last of our "picnic" food for dinner in the apartment.  We watched some of what we hoped would be the last of the election coverage before heading to bed.



Day Eleven -- November 7, 2012

Mike was up coughing allot last night so we decided to stick around Rome today instead of going to Ostia Antica or Tivoli.  We were happy to see that Obama had won the election, even though the votes in Florida were still uncertain.


We made our way over to Campo de' Fiori (Field of Flowers).  Once a grassy field (hence it is called a campo, not a piazza) where public hanging took place, today it is the site of one of Rome's largest outdoor markets.  The stalls are shaded by ombrelloni (big white canvas umbrellas) and it is wonderful to stroll among the heaps of fruit, vegetables, packs of herbs and spices and even shiny kitchen and cooking equipment!  A statue of Giordano Bruno, an intellectual heretic who was burned on this spot in 1600, marks the center of this great and colorful square.

We made our way through some of the surrounding narrow alleys where the street names are a record of Rome's retailing history:  Via dei Cappellari is where the hat makers worked, the nail makers were on Vicolo de' Chiodaroli, the crossbow makers on Via dei Balestrari, and tin washbowl makers on Vicolo de' Catinari.  We ended up near the Tiber River on Via Giulia and decided to have lunch at Taverna Giulia, a Ligurian restaurant I had read about.  We enjoyed splitting an order of Trofie al Pesto (a Ligurian hand-formed pasta with fresh pesto sauce, green beans and potatoes) with a nice bottle of Frascati wine.

We crossed the busy Corso Vittorio and wound our way down Via del Coronari whose name comes from the rosaries once sold in shops here to medieval pilgrims en route to St. Peter's (corona means a string of beads and was another word for rosary).  The street now is lined with antiques dealers selling Roman columns, marble busts, and one store was full of silver and gold-plated serving dishes.


This side street goes up Monte Giordano, an artificial hill made of rubble from the ruins of an ancient river port.





We walked through Piazza Navona which used to be full of street performers and artists selling their original paintings and is now full of tour groups and people selling posters -- most of which have nothing to do with Rome!  We then walked back through the crowded area around the Pantheon, making our way back to our apartment for our afternoon gelato break.

We kept passing this fountain on our way to and from our apartment and I found out it was called Il Facchino (The Porter) and is one of the talking statues of Rome.  Irreverent satires poking fun at public figures would have been posted beside Il Facchino in the 14th and 15th centuries.  The statue depicts a man wearing a cap and sleeved shirt carrying a barrel of water from the Tiber to sell on the streets of Rome.



We decided to go back to the Corre del Grillo restaurant in the Monti neighborhood for our last dinner in Rome.  We split a misto salad and had a whole sea bass and baked potatoes with a bottle of white wine.  We had seen the waiters bringing a whole grilled fish to the table and expertly skinning and de-boning it on every trip and decided we just had to experience it ourselves.  Our waiter was an artist at taking the fish apart and the fish was very tasty also. 



Day Twelve -- November 8, 2012

We slept late on our last morning in Rome because we had requested a late check out.  After breakfast and finishing packing we headed out to see the Victor Emmanuel Monument.

This 200-foot-high, 500 foot wide monument built in 1870 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the country's unification was right across the street from our apartment and we had passed it several times a day for our entire stay, so we decided it was time to climb it and see what it was all about.  It occupies a site between the Piazza Venezia and the Capitoline Hill.  The monument is built of white marble and features stairways, Corinthian columns, fountains, an equestrian sculpture of Victor Emmanuel (the first king of a unified Italy), and two statues of the goddess Victoria riding in a chariot.  The base of the structure houses the museum of Italian Reunification.  In 2007, a panoramic elevator was added to the back, allowing visitors to ride up to the roof for 360 degree views of Rome.

The monument holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame, built under the statue of Italy after World War I.  The tomb and the eternal flame are guarded twenty-four hours a day by two soldiers and we felt so sorry for them as we would walk by in the rain and see them standing there with only rain ponchos on for protection! 

We had to walk about half-way up the monument and then took the fast glass elevator the rest of the way.  We were lucky enough to be up at the top on a petty clear day for this view over Rome -- you can even see the dome of St. Peter's on the left-hand side of this picture.  There were placards at the top with drawings of the Rome skyline so you could pick out the domes and roof tops in front of you.



From the back of the Victor Emmanuel Monument you have a great view of the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. 

We walked around our neighborhood a little more before going back to the apartment to finish packing and check out.  Somehow we made it across the very busy Corso Vittorio Emanuele street dragging our suitcase behind us to get to the taxi stand at Piazza Venezia.  We took a taxi to Termini train station and caught the Leonardo Express to Fiumicino Airport (a.k.a. Leonardo da Vinci) for our nice short flight to Paris Charles de Galle Airport.  We landed in Paris at 8:10 PM and took the free CDGVAL shuttle to Terminal 3 - Roissypole.  It was just a short walk to the Hilton Paris Charles De Gaulle and we go there sometime after 8:30 PM.  Even though it was kind of late we were hungry, so went down to the bar and split a club sandwich with fries (French fries?) and a wine and beer.  We were very surprised when we bit into our sandwich to find out it had a fried egg in it!

Day Thirteen -- November 9, 2012

We had been playing around with the idea of taking the train from the airport to Brussels, Belgium for the day, but Mike's cough was still pretty bad so we thought it would be better to sleep in and just go into Paris for a few hours.  It was cloudy and chilly out but was not supposed to rain, so after a quick breakfast in the eighth floor Executive Lounge we walked over to the RER train station right behind the Hilton and caught the next train into Paris.  We got off the train at the Saint Michel/Notre-Dame station and made our way through the underground tunnels to Place Saint Michel for lunch.  We love the salad Nicoise at the Saint Severin restaurant at 3 Place Saint Michel so we walked there for a nice lunch of salads and wine in their non-smoking enclosed patio.

We then walked down Boulevard Saint Michel to the Cluny Museum which is the National Museum of the Middle Ages.  The museum is located on the site of a Roman bathhouse, which was in the center of town during the Roman years.  Several of the rooms have the original 40-foot-high Roman vaulted ceilings and the sheer size -- constructed in 200 A.D. when Rome as at its peak -- gives an idea of the epic scale on which the Romans built.

The museum has medieval altarpieces, weaponry, crowns, a beautiful chapel with an elaborate stone ceiling and lots of statues, but the highlight is the Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries.  These six mysterious tapestries were designed by an unknown artist before 1500 AD and are loaded with symbols -- some serious, some playful -- and deal with each of the five senses:  Taste, Hearing, Sight, Smell and Touch.  The series ends with the most famous of the series, A Mon Seul Desir (To My Sole Desire).  The room where the tapestries were hung was very beautiful and had a bench in front of each tapestry so you could really take in all the details.

We walked around the Left Bank a little more before heading back to the RER station and heading back to the hotel to repack and rest up for our long trip home tomorrow.  We were able to print out our boarding passes at the computer in the Executive Lounge while we enjoyed a drink and some snacks.  We didn't feel like a big dinner so just went down to the bar again for a  chicken Caesar salad and some wine.

Day Fourteen -- November 10, 2012

Going home today.  We woke up pretty early and went down to the Hilton's nice big free buffet breakfast downstairs at 6:30 AM.  We finished packing and checked out around 7:45 AM so we could make the short walk to the CDGVAL train to take us to Terminal 2E.  We again were sent to the Priority check in desk where there were no lines.  We were told to go to Gate M43 which we had never heard of.  When we got to the security area we saw that we did not have to go through security to get to Gates M which was confusing.  We followed the signs and came to an area where we had to board a train to get to Gates M and finally went through security in what appeared to be a brand-new terminal.  After security we went into a large commercial area that was very new looking.

After we had our last cappuccino and tea in Europe, Mike sat down in one of the beautiful leather chairs in the main part of the terminal to rest while I went and bought some water for the airplane and looked around in all the beautiful and expensive shops.



We made our way towards our gate before our 9:55 AM boarding time and again received Priority Boarding.






Our flight took off close to the 10:40 AM take off time and we occupied ourselves with reading and watching "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" and "Magic Mike" for the eleven hour flight home.  We could see lots of clouds from the airplane window as we were coming down the West Coast so we were very happy to hear that our friend Paul was waiting for us in his airplane at the San Carlos Airport when we landed at 1:00 PM.  We had a wild cab ride to the airport and a very nice flight home in Paul's beautiful Cessna 210 and were reunited with our lonely cats and piles of mail and catalogs in no time.