Our day in Rome was magnificent. They say "Rome wasn't built in a day." We had to agree as we spent the day "basilica-hopping" from one jaw-droppingly beautiful basilica to another. Docking at Civitavecchia meant an early breakfast-in-bedder and a train journey into Rome. The train was absolutely JAM-PACKED (Barcelona type of packed) full of school parties and just when the aisles were full of standing students... ANOTHER crowd got on. Crazy full. But we soon arrived at TERMINI station in Rome and a quick walk down the VIA CAVOUR brought us to ... (we very nearly missed it)...
the largest Catholic Marian Church in Rome.
Oh my word. HOW impressive was this!?
Awesome ceilings worth wrecking your neck over...
pillars, pillars and more pillars,
domes,
domes,
domes,
statues,
glorious stained glass,
even the in-betweeny arches were superb.
There is a lovely statue of Pope Pius 1X kneeling before the ancient remains of Christ's crib.
What a beautiful church.
Even innocent looking churches down side streets like the
Santa Maria Regina dei Monti...
looked like THIS inside...
Absolutely beautiful and just a minor little basilica.
Back out in the sunshine we walked past the old Roman Forum
on our way to the famous Government building often known as the Wedding Cake...
...when we saw this!!! Musee d'Orsay ON TOUR!!!!
WE couldn't NOT go in!
So we had an absolute bonus of Monet, Manet, Seurat, Pissarro, Degas
which was totally unexpected.
View from the Wedding Cake, but not from up the extortionately priced lift ...
We could easily have walked straight past this next basilica but we saw people coming out of a door so we naturally went to see what it was. Oh my goodnessssss. Fabulous Fabulous Fabulous.
Ornate ceilings, pillars, domes, you KNOW the score...
but THIS basilica had 3D work too...
...and the entire floor was made up of tomb stones.
But there was so much more to see so off we went again... past the Bank of Venice...
down a short-cut side street where once again we emergency-stopped to peep inside ordinary-looking basilica number 4 which was as jaw-droppingly beautiful as all the others. Rome. It's just amazing.
 |
| Santa Ignazio di Loyola |
The Pantheon was so so crazy busy but is so so stunning,
the ceiling dome being the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.
It makes a good photo when the sun shines.
It had also rained in through the hole leaving a puddle on the floor.
It was so busy.
So back to the station via Trevi fountain.
There were people everywhere....
but no one was tossing a coin into the water like this. What was the matter with them all?
Who actually IS this opera singer?????
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We had just enough time to mess about Usain Boltlike on the Spanish Steps before...
...oh you know what Husb is like....
why walk when you can try out the Rome Metro? HOW EXCITING!
And that got us back to Termini Station and a fast train back to Civitavecchia...and it was only 5pm.
What a Brilliant Brilliant Day.
It had obviously gone to our heads at how much we'd done in a day in Rome that we waltzed straight into the buffet for cake (piggyhollies) and were waltzed straight back out again for being unsuitably dressed.
That'll serve us right.
So as well as being a tremendous week so far, we had in summary also
*lost my plane boarding card
*broken my sunglasses
*lost a 50 euro note
*ate all the cabin biscuits
*planked on a wobbly big blue ball on a wobbly big blue sea
*spilt tea on the white sheets having breakfast in bed
*saved Husb's life when he fell on top of me falling off the pavement in Rome
*got chucked out of the buffet for being too scruffy
Wonderful stuff.
And another Dressy-Uppy night tonight to end a great day.
ROME. TOP CLASS.
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