Rome in a Day…. or two!!

Nine years ago we spent two months in Italy with Michael working all over the country. The entire month of September was in Rome while Michael worked at the University here. The Rome portion of the trip is blogged about starting here……

Because we had spent so much time sightseeing back then, we really just wanted to hit the highlights during our 2 days. And the first highlight was a clothing store…..yes you heard me right….. not the Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum or the Roman Forum…..a plain old clothes shop!!! When we were here previously, I had found a wonderful store called “OVS” and they had amazing prices on men’s clothing. We had bought Michael several pairs of pants that have just now worn out after 9 years, several long sleeve shirts that lasted forever, a sports coat and some other items. So our first Google Map trip was to OVS, and we came out with more clothes to add to our suitcases!!! I did have the thought that since OVS is a national chain, they probably exist in Naples as well so we may visit one there and buy more good bargains at the END of our trip rather than having to carry them for the next four weeks!!!

Our next plan for the day was to visit the neighborhood where we had lived and to eat at the Trattoria that we had frequented. We found it easily, although about halfway thru the walk, I realized that I had not replaced the memory card in the camera, but a quick Google Map search for Electronics…….

…… allowed that problem to be quickly fixed.

We arrived at the restaurant, took a few selfies to send to friends that had eaten there with us previously……

…and enjoyed our meal. Personally, I LOVE a Margherita Pizza and a cold mug of Peroni beer…..

Fully sated, we turned our minds to seeing the actual sights of Rome, starting with the Trevi Fountain……which was closed for repairs, although I did get a nice shot of the statuary….

Next we made our way toward the Pantheon….stopping for Espresso on the way!! I love the shadows that form on these walls and would love to use it as a quilt design sometime…..

There was a War Memorial presentation going on in the building, and I was drawn to this older gentleman standing rigidly beside the memorial…..

I had to wonder exactly what his memories were of!!

One of the joys of this trip is being able to play with the new camera lens and I was happy to see how clear these photos were…..

We were ready to head back to the hotel and started searching for a nearby Metro station and found that the closest was in Spagna….okay….let’s see the Spanish steps while we are here…..

Interestingly, they have now made it illegal to sit on the steps and there was a policeman (with a whistle) making sure that the rules were followed. It did mean that the steps were much less crowded and you could actually get a photo sans people…..

I LOVE the perspective in this shot.

After cooling off (and napping) for about half an hour, we were ready to explore Rome some more, heading this time to the Colosseum. We had no desire to enter which was a good thing since the line was WAY long. I have long been enamored with the curve of this mammoth building and enjoyed taking a few photos as we walked…..

I have also had “quiltish” notions about these windows and arches ….

One final photo…..

….and we were on to the Roman Forum…..

The sun was in a really bad spot but I was happy with how the photos turned out anyway.

And before we knew it, we had walked to the forum containing Trajan’s Column….

I love the twin churches that flank the column and actually have a blown up photo version of the cupola hanging in our bedroom at home.

It was time to head back for the night, but one last photo of the funky, funky pine trees….

Okay….so today we hit the Roman ruin side of things….tomorrow it is Vatican City!!