We had heard a rumor that Pope Benedict XVI was going to be appearing at Saint Peter’s square on Sunday morning so we all trouped off to be there at 8:30. Unfortunately, our information was incorrect and he was not there, so Roy and Diane decided to attend the 9:00am Mass there and Michael and I went for a walk around the area and then back to our “big donut” shop and had donuts and coffee.
Vatican City is surrounded by a wall and we walked around it for a bit….
As we were leaving the area, we were surprised to see that the line to the Vatican Museum was completely around the block….which means that the wait was about 2+ hours…..
It is obvious that these people did NOT read Rick Steve’s book that you should arrive at 2:00 pm to avoid all of the lines!!
We all re-grouped at the apartment and had a nice lunch of fresh tomatoes, Buffala Mozzarella cheese drizzled with olive oil and bread.
We decided to go out for a walk, leaving around 2:00pm. The first stop was in Spagna at the Spanish Steps. We spent a few minutes looking down at the steps but couldn’t be bothered to actually climb them. We had fun watching one particular hawker……he carried a bunch of red roses and he would go up to a woman and “give” her 3 roses. Then, as the male partner would thank him for the flowers, the hawker would shake his hand and request money from him. Most people would then return the flowers, but we did see a few people walking around with flowers in their hands!!
We continued past the steps and into the Borghese park which is 3 squares miles in size. The first thing that we heard was a wonderful trumpet player who was Busking on the side of one of the walkways. We sat down on a bench across from him and enjoyed listening……
He started playing a song that Roy and Diane loved (however, they cant remember the name of it right now), and they started dancing. Several people clapped for them, a bunch took photos and EVERYBODY smiled!!!!!
We continued walking for about 2 hours and really enjoyed watching the families at play. Some were riding bikes, roller-blading, riding in pedal carts, playing soccer and just having a great time!!!!!
We loved seeing these statues….
…..and these two lovely ladies….
We probably walked about 3 miles but thoroughly enjoyed seeing how families spend a Sunday afternoon in Rome!!!!!
For dinner we ate at our own “personal” restaurant across the street and had an excellent meal. My favorite part was a lasagna that is SO light and creamy. I counted eight layers of a super thin noodle!!!
We ended up with Gelato and then waddled our way back up the stairs!!!