Rome Day 2

We woke up really late today (11am) realizing that we had not brought our mobiles and neither of us wears a watch any more so had no way of knowing the time.
A problem later solved by doody little clocks attached to lamppost on most street corners. Romans must not wear watches either.

We found the Spanish steps after a while of watching Kate turn the map round and round and discovering her only real problem was not knowing left from right! hehe A girl thing I'm told.


Didn't think much of them really. They don't actually seem to lead to anything or have any decent explanation of what its all about. All the normally pretty fountains at the bottom were being "refurbished" as well.
Everytime anyone i know has been to Rome at least 1/4 of the things so see are busy being refurbished, dug up or covered in scaffolding. They have started putting life size prints of what is usually there over the scaffolds now which is good for those who really only want to drink coffee in amongst old pretty looking stuff I suppose.

We did find a very cute old man dressed as a soldier though :-)

With our £3 can of coke we checked out the local artists at the top of the steps. There were some very cool looking ones of locall scenes painted inside a water droplet. But since the Roses incident Kate was too suspiciouss to get one. " I didn't see him painting one though so how do I know its real and not just a blown up postcard?!"

Wandered down past the designer shops Gucci etc. Kate kept looking out for Posh n Becks "Milan isn't that far" unfortunatelyy Madrid is in a different country LOL!
What was cool though was McDonald's Golden arches were actually Golden! Fist time I have seen them anything but the usual syphilitic yellow.

Stumbled across the Piazza del Popolo next which we were pretty sure is one of the places in the Da Vinci code? It had these twin basilicas which were pretty in it anyway so we stopped and played "spot the nationality" of the tourists.

Next we set off for Vatican City crossing the Tiber which is brown and ugly. We decided to stop for something to eat before we got there and got beckoned into this little cafe.
Tourist trap strike 2 for us right there.
It wasn't terrible and we got to sit at tables outside so that was cool. Just had the little bowls of pasta they do over there 2 coffees and a salad. Kate tasted "proper" olives for fist time and decided she likes them now seeing how they supposed to tase not like the bitter supermarket variety back home.
All was well then we got the bill .... I can't even bring myself to tell anyone how much it cost. Put it this way it was grossly more expensive than a later trip out to nice restaurant with multiple courses, wine and all the trimmings.

il bastardo

After this touristy embarrassment we headed intoVaticann city (after walking halfway around the outside by mistake that is).
When we were walking up towards the main Piazza Kate was like "is that it is that the Vatican , am i really here!! &^%£&$£* ahhhh [scream, giggle]" while grabbinging my arm hard enough to draw blood.
We had gotten there too late to many of the exciting stuff but wandered round drinking "holy" water from the pedestals. That stuff is so pure and tastes much better than any bottled mineral water around there, best of all its free.

We did get to go in St Peters Basilica though (definitely in the Da Vinci code) after a little more queuing that is .......
See me trailing at the back there?
There were metal detectors to go through again but even though i set it off (my belt) the highly trained Swiss guard didn't seem bothered at all but were busy chatting. I could have had a bomb or anything :-)

After getting through we got to go and stand where the pope gives his little speeches from and look out at our flock whilst waving imperiously.

Inside was very impressively large and decorated with all sorts of finery. It was rather dark though and with there being statues and tombs (which freaked kt some) all round the sides rather spooky too.
Most of all because just like in the book monks all hooded and secretive looking would appear and disappear right next to you from secret doors and passageways you never saw. Mucho freako

Just above is the famous statue Michelangeloelo but by far my favorite was this pope dude to the left. I would swear he was trying to hail a cab and just got frozen all Han Solo stylee.

After the Basilica, we didn't get long as it was closing & missed the catacombes all together :-( we pottered down the river to the Coloseum past the forum. We passed this thing they call the Wedding cake too (white building down there). It's actually some old court type thing "liberty to the people" and all that but does look ridiculously like a cake.

Here we see the Fourm by night, a very impressive sight if not looking like it on my picture here then just trust me. We stood and watched all the funky old buildings while the sun set - very pretty with the mountains in the background too.

We got to the coloseum and it was shut .... shut hang on it wasn't even an option to go inside last time i was here! We are definitely coming back to check that out.
General sitting and enjoying the fact we were sat next to the coloseum and telling ourselves how cultured we are went on here.

By now our poor little legs weabsolutelytly screaming at us so we headed off for the hotel.
Stopping on the way obviously for a slap up feed trying all the weird and wonderful local delicacies with 4 courses and plenty of wine.
The waiter was quite cool even if they did bring the starter and main course out together. He even used a blowtorch to caramalise kt's dessert.

To top it all we were serenaded by a guitar and sax duet. The music was bad but they were very funny to watch being all Italian and flamboyant.

When we got back to the Hotel (very late/early) we had every intention to blog the day but ...... we passed out.

Always the sign of a successful day.