Leftovers

Day 6

I find it amazing to say that day 6 has brought us to a day where we've seen everything on the must see list and now we're just checking out extra, leftover places that we were okay without seeing.  Not to say we didn't see anything worth seeing as we still found a few interesting stops.

We took a different metro line, Line B.  It's confusing.  You have to pick the right entrance for the direction you want to go.  Northbound one entrance, southbound a different entrance.  We lucked out on the way there but were really lost on the way back.  We did eventually figure it out.  Also the stations were nuts.  There were sooo many people and then we were pushed towards the wrong exit and ended up walking in circles to get out.  We finally found an escape and the fresh air was a nice find!  We made it back to the hotel without any issues, well except that I was awake enough to notice that there was a big gelateria a block away from the hotel.  Which I hadn't noticed until tonight.  And maybe that's a good thing, otherwise I might have had gelato for a pre-bedtime snack every night...  I have had gelato every day, sometimes twice a day.  What can I say?  It's delicious and I won't be able to indulge at home.

Anyways, enough on the gelato.

Circo Massimo

Today we started back at the Forum and Colosseum.  We headed for Circo Massimo, where they did chariot racing I believe.  All that's left is a big green dip in the land with a few remnant buildings.  That they may be rebuilding, I'm not sure how much but there was a guy there working and some new archways.

Fresco in restaurant

We passed a few little piazzas and more churches.  It's Rome, 80% is churches and piazzas.  One tour told us that there are almost 1000 churches in Rome, and that doesn't include outlying areas.  Even the place we went for lunch was a converted church.  The waiter told us to check out the original fresco's from the 1700's.

We found the Campidoglio, Capitol hill.  This is where the senate used to sit and has since turned into the Mayor's offices and more museums.  It had some really good views of the Roman Forum.

124 stairs at Capitol hill

Attached to Capitol Hill, and up 124 stairs, was Santa Maria in Aracoli church and Il Vittoriano, which we wandered around the exterior previously.  The church was okay, but not too spectacular.  I've seen way too many churches, no gold ceiling and I've lost all interest.

On the rooftop on Il Vittoriano

Amusingly Il Vittoriano is open to the public.  The first time we were here it was empty and desolate, aside from the two soldiers guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier.  Today it was covered with people.  It's free and something different to see so it was popular.  You can also pay to take the elevator up to the roof, which we did.  The city views were impressive from up there.  You could see the mountains surrounding the city even.

Isola Tiberina

After we found Isola Tiberina.  I had read about it on the internet by chance.  They described it as a hidden gem of an island.  Yeah, it's not hidden.  Not even a little bit.  It's on all the maps and many guidebooks include it.  But it is a tiny little island in the middle of the Tiber river.  It does however have a gelateria, a sandwich shop and a pharmacy.  As well as a theatre and a church.  It's small but popular.  There were many other tourists there with us.

We ended our day in Trastevere.  I've heard that it is an interesting place to go and this is where the Romans spend time eating and visiting.  We did figure out the answer to why, because it's not touristy at all.  This is where the Romans live.  There are a few little touristy spots but they're a bit of a reach.  We did find more homeless people while getting lost.  Tourist map misled me.  We did get a lovely walk along the river before we made it back to a familiar location and took the metro back for a semi early night.