We left fairly early from the Cinque Terre headed towards Florence to catch our train to Rome. The drive was fairly fast since we had opted not to stop at Pisa or Lucca. Beautiful coast country until you turn east to Florence. Mary napped part of the time so I just enjoyed the views.
Arriving at the airport where we returned the call we had to wait for a shuttle that took us down to the train station. 10 or 15 other folks waited with us and Mary realized that she had left something in the car. I hustled back and got to the car just before they moved it to another location. Hustled back and got there just before the shuttle.
I thought I was being smart when I booked a weekend train since it was 2 for 1 tickets and found the first class cabins were nearly as packed as second class.
Arriving at Roma Termini we headed out for the two bedroom apartment that we had rented. It was very nice though sparsely furnished. The building had a, again, sparsely furnished roof as well, but provided nice views of the eternal city.
We walked down to the Coliseum, then on to Roman Forum, the Circus Maximus, a walk along the River Tiber and finally a lunch on the west bank.
Our second day, June 2nd, is Italy's Republic Day. The day before we had seen bleachers erected along the Via dei Fiori Imperiali in preparation for a huge parade on the 2nd. Loads of folks out enjoying the holiday.
As we walked on this very warm day (in the 90's), we found a line of at least a hundred people standing at we found out to be a open house at the Quirinal Palace (President of Italy's home). Being a Sunday there were lots of elderly ladies dressed in black in line.
We moved on to the Pantheon where the line was so long we passed and moved on to the Piazza Novona. It dates from the 1st century AD and has lots of restaurants, shops and some of the most impressive statues and fountains.
The most impressive is Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or Fountain of the Four Rivers from 1651 by Bernini.
There were so many people there that there was absolutely no way to work down to toss a coin in the fountain to guarantee a return trip.
We retraced our steps back to the Quirinal Palace where there were now ambulances and several EMT's attending to folks that had fainted due to the long wait and heat of the day. Very scary for those folks.
On Monday the 3rd we headed towards the Vatican passing by the Castel Sant'Angelo on the Tiber. Mary didn't feel like going through the Vatican museum to see the Sistine Chapel but we did join a long, slow line to go into Saint Peter's. I got up to the metal screening machines and had to go through like three times before I got all of my metal out of my pockets. It was a bit embarrassing.
On the 4th, which was our last day in Italy, we visited the Capitoline Museum in a building designed by Michaelangelo. Many beautiful statues and the plaza overlooks the Roman Forum. Then took a tour of the "wedding cake", better known as the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II.
The next morning we walked over to the train station and caught our train to the airport ending a great month touring Italy.
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