Oh No, Do We Sound Like That?

For dinner we decided to go just around the corner to a very popular little Trattoria. It had an extensive menu with some good local dishes, not just the touristy regular offerings.

Wild Boar Ragu, Grilled Vegetables, and Grilled Fillet Steak with Rocket and Parmesan

Now as it so happened they had sat us down next to a table of four Australian's, two couples. Gees, the Australian accent, I hope we don't sound like that! It was like being seated next to Chips Rafferty and Barry Crocker trying to sound as Aussie as they could....it was enough to bring you to your knees.

Footnote: While talking about a Barry...Barry White seems to be very popular in Rome, we kept hearing his music and the waiter kept using lines from his songs when flirting with the Australian women next to us, what a laugh.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Rome In A Day, Well Almost - Part Two

Then it was back to walking along the river, past Isola Tiberina (an island in the middle of Fume Tevere) then a walk past all of the old roman ruins up to the Colosseo (the Colosseum).

Isola Tiberina

Bridge Across To Isola Tiberina

Arco di Giano

Santa Maria in Cosmedin

Circo Massimo - Chariot Race Anyone?

Looking Towards The Palatino

Arco di Costantino and The Colosseum

The Colosseum

When I was walking around the Colosseo the feet started to protest, the soles of my feet were starting to burn and I still had a little bit more to see as I started northwards on my way back to the hotel. But it was so easy to ignore the onset of two club feet when there is so much incredible architecture and history to take in.

As I walked along Via dei Fori Imperiali towards the Colonna Tralana and Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II I was able to see many of the magnificent roman ruins on the left hand side of the road.

Approaching The Back Of Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II

Colonna Tralana and Surrounds

The Amazing Ruins

I Actually Drew These Columns For A History Assignment When I Was 10.

Amazing Sights Everywhere

Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II

So it was back to the hotel.....20 minutes later I was back in the room telling Lesley everything I had seen, oh and about my sore feet...hmm, no sympathy for self inflicted pain, but what a day!!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Rome In A Day, Well Almost - Part One

Tomorrow we are off to Corfu for 12 days, so the idea of today was to put on the walking shoes and see as much of Rome as possible before the feet packed in. Incidentally we are coming back to Rome after Corfu for a further 4 days, so this exercise does look to be a bit masochistic, but what the heck....

If you have not realised this was one of those "Glenn Solo Feats" again. It all sounded far too strenuous for Lesley's liking so she just chilled out back at the hotel and caught up on some reading.....in hindsight I think I know who the sensible one was.....my feet are killing me!

So after a morning of roaming the shops with Lesley for two hours Lesley suggested that I should go out and do some sightseeing if I wanted.......and I wanted!!! So off I went.

Now I set off without any real plan in mind, so looking at my tourist map I decided to go to Piazze della Repubblica that we saw yesterday, through to San Carlo Quattro Fontana where there are four fountains each embedded into one of four buildings at a road intersection, and then onto the famous Fontana di Trevi.

One Of The Fountains At San Carlo Quattro Fontana

The Fontana Di Trevi

I must admit I was quite surprised how small the piazza is that the Trevi Fountain is in...I was expecting something a lot lot bigger, but the fountain is still quite spectacular.

Looking at my map it looked like a couple of Palazzo's, and an old Roman Temple were on the way to the Pantheon, and all not too far apart, so the next part of the journey was decided.

Palazzo Montecitorio

Ummm, I've Forgotten

The Pantheon

Templo Adriano

Amazing Engineering

I must admit after a while one Plazzo looks like another and you find yourself walking past them with barely a glimpse...I think 2 months in Italy has made me a bit immune to a lot of these magnificent buildings, there are just so many of them.

I still had heaps of energy to burn and the feet weren't struggling one bit so it was off to the Palazzo Madama and the Piazza Navona with its great fountains and the artists market.

Piazza Navona

The Central Fountain

The Northerly Fountain

The Artist Market

I was still cruising along quite nicley so decided to head towards the Fume Tevere (the river) and check out the Palazzo del Trubunali, the Castel Sant' Angelo, and then cross the river on Ponte Vittorio Emanuelle II and go and visit the Pope at the Vatican.

Palazzo di Giustizia and Ponte Umberto I

Castel Sant' Angelo and Its Bridge

Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II

Basilica San Pietro

Well the Pope wasn't home today so it was time to move on....this place must look incredible when the Pope is giving a speech and there are thousands of people filling the piazza.

Next, I headed south following the river towards Campo de Flori, a great Piazza that often has a market in it, then past another couple of Palazzo's, see what I mean about becoming complacent about these, I haven't even bothered to name them!

Campo di Fiori

The River Walkway

The walk along the tree lined path beside the river is very pretty and lovely to do on a hot day with a nice breeze like today.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Arrivederci Firenze, Ciao Roma

So today we finally said goodbye to Florence after 4 weeks of using her as a base for exploring Tuscany. Using the fast train we were in Rome in just over one and a half hours, and within 15 minutes of getting of the train we were in our room at the Hotel Ariston just near the station. We had read mixed reviews on this place, but the rooms are really nice, and staff have been great, so we are happy.

Bedroom

En-Suite

We decided to explore around the hotel area for a few hours and also do some shopping. We did not want to waste too much time as we only have two nights (nearly) in Rome before flying out to Corfu on Sunday morning on a 6.30am flight, boy that is going to be hard getting up at just before 4:00am so that we can make the flight.

Piazza della Repubblica

Santa maria degli Angeli

Santa Maria Maggiore

We managed to get in a few of the lesser known sights that are close to us, and Lesley managed to buy herself a dress for Corfu.

This evening we took it easy and went down to the bar for drinks and of course those legendary free nibbles. The bar was having happy hour between 5:30pm and 9:30pm, and we were the only ones there. We had a really good chat to the barman who actually seemed glad of the company, and at one stage bought us out a couple of complimentary Limencello's. We had that many nibbles by the time we left we did not need to go out and eat!!

Lots Of Free Nibbles And No-One To Eat Them!

Settling Down With A Couple Of Campari Spritz's

So after quite an eventful day, with travel, exploring, and our evening "meal" we went to bed very happy and exhausted.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Osso Buco Then Florence At Night

Some say Osso Buco is a Milanese speciality dish, well we went to Trattoria Da Gerabardi here in Florence, and ordered it, and boy was it good!!

Osso Buco For Two

Nice Setting

As the weather was not as hot this evening, quite pleasant actually, we were happy to sit inside in their very quaint restaurant, it was really nice, a lot nicer than sitting outside.

Trattoria Da Gerabardi

We cannot have a meal without dessert, so Lesley went for her favourite, the three tastes of Panacotta, and I went for a home made Tartufo...delicious....the only problem now was we were far to full....so the only thing to do was walk it off.

The Duomo

Piazza della Repubblica

Not A Bad Crowd For One Busker!!

Florence at night is fantastic, it is just warm enough, the streets are reasonably quite, and the city just looks beautiful all lit up.

Palazzo Vecchio

Neptunes Fountain in Piazza della Signoria

Anyone Seen Hannibal Lecter?

It was actually quite a long but very relaxed walk. All the way down past Ponte Vecchio, along the river, and then weaving through the streets back to Piazza San Lorenzo.

An Empty Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio at Night Looks Great

Very Quiet Streets

Piazza Santa Croce

San Lorenzo

After quite a while walking around taking in the night sights it was time to head back to our room and bed....ahhhh, what a great evening.

 

Posted with Blogsy