I’m a bit behind on my travel blogging. I’ll skip over a couple trips all together, but our winter adventures in Italy deserve a little more attention than they have received so far.
We arrived in Rome on Christmas Day to find the metro closed. No signs, no information, just a big metal gate closing off the entrance. Luckily our hotel was within easy walking distance of the train station.
Speaking of our accommodations, Albergo Ottocento is a nice, well-located boutique hotel within walking distance of many places of interest in Rome. And walk we did. The Christmas tree on the Spanish steps was a bit of a disappointment, but the sunset view from the top wasn’t.
The next day we headed over to the Vatican to see their tree and giant nativity scene*, and happened to catch a glimpse of the pope speaking to the crowd from a comically far-off window. I think he was discussing his new plan to get child molestation down to acceptable levels.
We saw a lovely art exhibit at the Chiostro del Bramante and then did some more wandering, including through the Christmas market at Piazza Navona. It was giant and loud and bright and tacky; nothing at all like a German Christmas market but fun anyway. A passing tourist’s remark about the “Panthanon” sent me into a giggling fit that could only be cured by a Campari-laden cocktail at the oh-so-charming Caffè della Pace.
More art at the Villa Borghese, which is a nightmare of rules (reservations required, you get kicked out after two hours, the required bag check refuses to take coats) but they get away with it since their art collection is so wonderful. Bernini statues, I will never get tired of looking at you. There was a special Carravagio Bacon exhibit going on; while I enjoyed the paintings I came out still having no clue what the justification was for putting those two artists together.
I get to the important stuff in part 2 of this post – coming soon.
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* My husband was surprised to see that one of the wise men was black. Guess it’s not like that in Montana.
I love your take on the Pope’s talk: “I think he was discussing his new plan to get child molestation down to acceptable levels.”
@Adam – I understand each priest is only allowed one per month.
The Black wise man is named Balthazar (the other two were Melchior and…ummm…. Jim, if I’m not mistaken). On the Strasbourg Cathedral, his statue has a puppy for some inexplicable reason (I hate to self-link, but there’s pictures here: http://strasmark.blogspot.com/2009/06/notre-dame-and-apocryphal-puppy.html )
Nice depth of field on that Piazza Navona shot — I dig it.
Oh, and I think Jim’s middle name is Caspar, isn’t it?
We just spent a marvelous Christmas Day in Rome. For anyone else reading, the Metro and busses run in the morning on a reduced schedule until about 2 pm. We are runners, so for us, the reduced traffic made it a great day to see lots of Rome by foot. We only took the bus to St. Peter’s Basillica, where we saw the Pope as well as heard the choir for Mass in the Basillica. One of the most fabulous places was the church – St. Ignacio Loyola. Wow!