I slept like a rock. This was the best bed ever. I woke up about 6:15 and read awhile and then went out and wrote on the patio. At eight I went out for a 20 minute run down our shortcut to the main road then around under the tunnel and up into town. I love walking through Tuoro in the morning with all the hustle and bustle of a small town coming to life. I was back by 8:30 and had more time to write and as I looked up I saw a lovely yellow bird singing up on an antenna less than 15 feet away. I even got Christine out in time to see it before it flew away.
180 degree view from our patio–far left
center
right
far lright
Packing on the bed
Out to the patio
Out the door
Great little shower
Breakfast inside
We had breakfast in the inside room because the family that sat next to us at dinner was at our table. This really threw off our server Katrina. We all winced when one of the kids went up and plucked the harp!
Christine waving from our room
The dining area
The pool
Lunch and dinner outside
Our walk up to our room
Flight one
Hall with the loose tiles
Flight two
Floor three
Last flight
Coming in the door
Tuscan timber ceiling
How can it ever fit?
After breakfast we all packed, paid the conto, and were on the road by 11 even though the luggage had grown a bit and Gary had to reprint his rental car infor by sending it up to Stephano’s computer. The Irish couple from Cork had failed their mission to get a schedule so we would just have to figure it out on the fly.
We stayed on the main road and then got on the A1 to Orvieto. I think the entire drive took just about an hour. We got off the road which was a toll road (3.50), filled the tank, found the train station, asked a carbineiri where the Hertz place was (across the street) and headed up the hill to have a look at Orvieto
Orvieto
Gary and Peggy had been there before. They had seen the cathedral but had never been in it. Apparently it was closed. At any rate we probably had about a half an hour tops to see what we could see, so Gary headed into the Centro Storico.
Discovering the Orvieto cathedral
We cruised through some of the narrowest streets ever but then we burst out in to the main piazza and there was the basilica with its gorgeous façade that Peggy had been raving about. It was open and it was a mind boggler. The columns and throughout were made of this beautiful green marble interspersed with white. It was as unique of an interior as I have ever seen. It was also amazing as there were so few people and virtually no chairs there. We walked up toward the altar and went into a chapel on the left but I don’t know if we knew exactly what we were seeing. Peggy just loved it and she went out to the car to watch the stuff so Gary could come it and look around. This would definitely be a place to come back to. We probably were only there about 20 minutes or so before we headed back down to turn in the car.
We dropped the girls off at the train station and drove over to drop off the car at the Hertz place but no one was there. Gary went into the beauty parlor next door but they wouldn’t let him call the number that was on the door. So I walked back over to see if we could figure out how to use Christine’s cell phone to call. By the time we got the country code and called when the woman she was back in the office talking to Gary. I walked back over there and Gary was all done at the exact price he was expecting.
Christine had bought the tickets at €7.10 each and we lugged all our stuff down and back up to track two. Gary got us all some gelato and Christine figured out how to use the automated toilet across the tracks for €.20.
Gelato at the Orvieto train station
We were scheduled on the 1:26 to Roma and it came right on time and we got on and it took off in no less than three minutes. We left our luggage out in the open area by the door at the front of the car and found seats. Gary went out exploring and found a cup of hideous coffee and a sandwich. When the train food dude came by I got Christine a coke. I took a nap and the trip went by pretty fast. Gary or I would jump up any time we pulled into a station to be sure our bags didn’t fly out the door.
Train to Roma
To the best of my recollection we pulled into Roma Termini at 2:50. We went out a side door and after a little discussion got one cab to take all of us and our luggage down to the Albergo del Senato. It all went very smoothly and we were checking in at just a little after three.
Our rooms were both on the third (fourth) floor and both had absolutely stunning views of the Parthenon right out our window. Thank you Lord for working that one out. I was hoping a fax would have come from the Vatican about the group tour I tried to sign up for, but it hadn’t come. At least I still had the Scavi tour for tomorrow, but Peggy’s number one desire was to see the Sistine Chapel.
Afternoon Rome Walk
We got settled in and then decided to start walking around to see some of the city.
Late lunch near the Pantheon
We first checked out the Pantheon which was crawling with people, then we walked down to the place where all the cats are then through the Jewish section, past the theatre of Marcellus, into a church nearby that I don’t remember the name of and finally we found a opening to the gate and entered the fabulous forum.
I wanted to end from up above by the Capitoline museum, but I didn’t hit it quite right. Where we entered was close to parallel to the Mamertine prison, but just on the opposite side of the forum. We filtered over and up under the arch that is right there then up a bunch up stair and into the Mamertine Prison.
Mammertine Prison
Very moving but I don’t remember it smelling so funky. After leaving there we hung out on some stairs around the corner and then went over to the spot Christine and I like to go and hang out at and watch the crowds pass by.
Gary and Peggy liked it too. Christine was fascinated watching a kind with a professional looking video camera filming this one little boy over and over again. It was kind of weird.
We sort of retraced our steps to go back to the arch that depicts the plundering of the temple in 70 A.D., the one that has the video camera on it. We walked all the way back to the Coliseum, then bought these delightfully frozen waters for €2 each, and headed back toward home along the main. It was cool to see the building that had the huge maps of the Roman empire depicted on it.
We walked up to via del Corso and walked along it for a while see if any stores were selling man capris, “man pants.” We didn’t see much and eventually cut over to get to the Pantheon. It wasn’t too bad but we came in lower than I really wanted to.
Abasciata di Abruzzo
Gary had gotten all excited about having dinner at a place quite a way away that his dad remembered going to over twenty years ago called Abasciata di Abruzzo at Via Pietro Tacchini, 26 (Parioli). It was about a €15 cab ride and we had reservations at 8. We sat outside and got a meal that had several antipasto selections and then a selection of primi piatti that you get quite a bit of. The must fun part was the basket of seven or eight different types of sausages that you cut yourself.
Meaty!
But it was all pretty forgettable and very expensive at €80 per couple.
We had the cabby drop us off at the Spanish Steps and then we walked over to the Trevi Fountain by my winding way which I was not too sure that anyone really appreciated. We did find the fountain and I threw a coin in as Jeannine Somers had told me too. We wandered back toward the hotel past a whole bunch of Africans mostly selling purses and a hundred other things. Then heard a band concert going on on a nearby piazza and wandered over to find it. When we had seen the set up earlier I thought it might have been some kind of a high school band from the states performing to give them a reason to take a trip to Rome. But I think it was an Italian group that was amazingly good and the acoustics in the square were amazing.
Della Palma
We then wandered up to the gelato place that was Rick Steve’s favorite Della Palma. It looked like they had 30 kinds of chocolate. Christine had a Peach and Limone and I had Fragola and I don’t remember.
The crowd in the Pantheon square was really buzzing. We saw a group sing acapella under the portico and wandered around a bit and finally went up to our room, 307, looked out for a while and then started getting ready for bed.
I decided to look through my papers about the Scavi tour and then I made the discovery that I was supposed to pay for the tour over a month ago so I would surely be cancelled. So basically the situation was that I had nothing. No Vatican tour, no Sistine Chapel tour, no Scavi tour, no nothing. Can’t trust me to do anything. So needless to say I did not sleep well wondering what we were going to do. I at least thought we could stand in line and get into the Vatican museum that way. But I knew that God would somehow miraculously take care of us. I still though did not like how I was feeling about it all.
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