19 May - All roads lead to Rome and trains do too it seems

We woke up fairly early and went down for breakfast in the dining room. it was very pleasant. we asked at the front desk about getting a water taxi to the train station and they said they would call one for us. Great. upstairs to take care of everything there make sure we were all packed and not forgetting anything. our suitcases were very full, actually over filled with all the different souvenirs we had picked up over the last 14 days.

We brought our things downstairs and payed our bill and waited for the taxi. Being rather anxious about getting to the small boat ramp on time asked them if they could bring our luggage there earlier so that we would be at the stop when the boat got there. The hotel staff were a little short,  I would say, with us and did arrange it, but as we left I heard one of them say "Americans".
Well, I guess we were Americans from North America, but never having travelled in Venice by water taxi to the train station and not knowing how long it would take us to get there, we were a little anxious about not being late. In Canada you were supposed to get the the station early so we just wanted to get there early enough to make sure we knew what was going on.

The taxi boat came and drove us through our last canals and pulled up to a pier and gave us directions through a small laneway. there was a young man who helped us with our luggage and we paid him but it was a short trip and we were in the train station.
In Venice, or actually Italy, it seems one does not get to the train station until 5 minutes before the train is about to leave. especially if you already have your tickets.  There are no benches to sit on and wait and the coffee shops which are only a few are small with only a few tables and chairs. We ended up hanging around for an hour filling the time with looking at the schedule to find out which track we would be on, looking in the few shop windows and trying to get comfortable sitting on the foot rests outside of the shops. Really not that comfortable.  I understood then the slight annoyance of the hotel staff with us rushing off to the train station early. Well now we are world travellers and so we know better.
The train left right on time as all trains do in Italy and Margie and I were seated beside each other to start with . crossing the bay on a long bridge to the mainland where we then had to sit in different spots on the the same car after the first stop as I had initially screwed up our reservation and then when I tried to fix it could not get two seats together to Rome. Another notch on my knowledge of world travellers belt. I read and sorted out photos and my camera while taking pictures of lovely Italy.
We  got to Florence, our second stop, and the family that was sitting with Margie left, so we can sit together again. After a quick stop the train was off to Rome. It only take 2 hours to Florence from Venice and 2 hours from Florence to Rome so we are there pretty quickly. We caught a cab which drove us past many ruins and impressive buildings and when we arrived at our hotel it was only about a 15 dollar ride in total. Amazing.
Our hotel, the Mercure was same hotel chain as the London Mercure,  which we enjoyed very much. What is lacked in character , like the Giorgione , it made up for in Location.


the Hotel was very close to the Coliseum which is why we chose it, that and it had a roof top pool with a view of the coliseum.   We had google mapped Rome prior to the trip and knew what things we wanted to see so once we got settled, we went for a little exploratory walk through a lovely park right beside the hotel. We tried to stay in the shade as it was still quite warm and once through the park up the road to a very large church.

The Santa Maria Maggiore, with a tall column with a statue of Mary on it out front. By this time on our trip we had seen some pretty impressive churches, basilicas and St. Peters which of course is incomparable to any other church.

This church was one of those sights to see in Rome and we were not disappointed. It was very large and very lovely and we enjoyed it very much. We lit a few candles and said a few prayers for our families and friends and enjoyed the interior marbles, paintings, ceiling and the peace and quiet that filled the space.

We decided to try and find a hop on hop off bus to ride around in, so we headed west around the back of the Santa Maria Maggiore and discovered that we were too late to buy tickets for the HOHO bus that day. Well a little walk would not hurt us would it. after all we had been on a train for 4 hours that day just sitting.

We headed up the Via Agostina Depretis  about 4 blocks  to the Quattro Fontane on the Via del Quirinale.   According to Wikipedia The Quattro Fontane (the Four Fountains) is an ensemble of four Late Renaissance fountains located at the intersection of Via delle Quattro Fontane and Via del Quirinale in Rome. They were commissioned by Pope Sixtus V and built at the direction of Muzio Mattei, and were installed between 1588 and 1593.

We did not know about them until we got there and were very surprised to see them. Each one was built into the corner of a building,  All were very cool.   
There were more and more tourists on people as we went along. the went down the Via Del Quirinale past the government palace. they looked like there might be some nice gardens in there but they did not let us in to see. We Continued down the street to the  Via del montecavalo and went down this till we got to a corner with a small coffee shop. 

 At this point we thought well lets take a break and find out where we are.there was a very small car parked right across the street from the coffee shop and I wanted to take a photo of it but some young men were in the way so I waited  until they would move off. one of them saw m standing there waiting and kinda motioned what? so I printed to the car. He gave me a funny look and point dot himself? and I motioned sure I would take his photo at which point his friends all wanted to get their photo taken by the little old lady too so I took their photo. They were very cute young men out having a nice time and you can almost see the time car behind them.

 We went in for a coffee which was very good and then proceeded to the Trevi fountain which was only a block  and a bit away. There are little shrines on buildings all over Italy. some large  some small but all lovely.  the Italians love to decorate their buildings and I for one love it.
The Fountain was very crowded and I could not really get a good shot of it so hoped I could come back another time and try again. We had been warned about pick pockets at crowded sites so kept a real tight hold of both my purse and my camera. 

From the Trevi fountain made famous by the movie "three coins in the fountain",  we wound our way up to the Spagna piazza to the Spanish steps which was about another 4 blocks away. There were lots of tourists so we just went where everyone else was going.and it did not take too long.  The steps were being worked on so only one section was open. I got my photo taken my a picture of Sophia Loren although I really wanted it with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory peck from "Roman Holiday".
We took several photos along the height of the steps all the way to the top and the church that was there. We did not get into the church but proceeded along the road looking for the Villa Medici. Unfortunately it was closed by the time we got there.  We were enjoying the funny little cars for the Police?  and the great views of the city with a the sun just getting ready to set when Margie realized she had forgotten her jacket in the cafe where the great coffee was.  

We headed back down the road which was very steep and  noticed the flowers blooming along the way.  It was not nearly as crowded going this way as the steps had been. back to the Trevi fountain where we could actually now get close too land so got some great photos. Back up the little street to the coffee shop which still had her jacket she and sound.  Oh joy. We decide d to call it a day and try to find our way back to the hotel. A quick stop at a pharmacy so Margie could pick up some tylenol  as her feet and hips were killing her. Cobble stones!

We headed back and we went a little more south and came out of the narrow streets with this very large and impressive building in front of us. A museum we thought...  Wikipedi says "The Vittorio Emanuele II Monument (Italian: "Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II"), also known as the (Mole del) Vittoriano, Il Vittoriano, or Altare della Patria (English: "Altar of the Fatherland"), is a monument built in honor of Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a unified Italy, located inRome, Italy. It occupies a site between the Piazza Venezia and the Capitoline Hill.  It's currently managed by the Polo Museale del Lazio, the Italian Ministry of Defence and the Museo Centrale del Risorgimento Italiano (Museo central del Risorgimento del Vittoriano)  We headed over the road and took some nice shots of the statuary around this museum. They really know how to cover their buildings in statuary in Europe. Canadians do not do this so much so we love to see it when we travel.

Crossing the roads is always a challenge for us in each new place we visit. we usually just wait and go with the rest of the folks . It is better to be part of the herd in this instance, much safer, like in the shoal of fish with the safe ones in the middle.
We decided if we had time we would come back the next day to go to the museum but as there were quite a few things on our list to see we might not get to it. oh well another reason to come back to Rome.

The ruins of the coliseum below us were our companions as we walked along back towards our hotel. There are ruins everywhere in Rome. Well, excavations of old temples and buildings but the most impressive were the ones at the coliseum. We ooooed and awed and talked about our tour of the coliseum in the morning  which we were both looking forward to very much.

As we walked over toward the coliseum a full moon was peeking through the arches . How cool was that! We of course tried to get a great photo of that.  What a wonderful memory of Rome. a beautiful sunny evening and even though there were a lot of people out and about I never felt crowded or threatened.  It was lovely. I did do a quick photo shoot  with the invisible man. my Roman boyfriend.

We were starting to get a little peckish and decided to try a little restaurant right across the street from the Coliseum. this may have been a mistake. there were no seats inside as they had reservations for a large group and so we were sat outside on the patio. at first this seemed alright but as the sun set and it became quite cool and busier on the street we asked if we could move inside. NO. I ordered a veggie burger and got a very green, very soft, could have been spinach, burger thing that did not taste very good but I ate it. The adventures of ordering unknown dishes in far off places in a foreign language.
 Back to our hotel and a warm shower which Margie has now given up trying to figure out first. Falling asleep right away was easy as we were very very tired travellers.