Italy - Day 2

Sunday, 15 April

I pushed the family out of the house by 9am so we could get to church!  Actually, we would just be sightseeing, but our first stop was Santa Maria Maggiore where they believe they have the manger from the Christ Child's birth in front of the altar.  The kids were not thrilled to find Bernini's grave here, as the architect Bernini seems to have designed just about everything in Rome after the ancient Romans finished the Colosseum.

Santa Maria Maggiore

From there we headed over to the Church of the Bones - Santa Maria della Concezione, where in the Capuchin Crypt below the church you find vertebrae, skulls, femurs, etc arranged in "decorative"patterns in the crypt.  It was very strange, but we honestly did look through the crypt.  The kids even went in a second time on Monday when our tour guide took the group.  Steve and I waited on the bus!

one of the Quattro Fontane

Along our walk between the two churches we were able to take in the Quattro Fontane.  Then we were able to wander over to the Spanish Steps.  It was not yet even 11am, the steps were not so crowded, and we were able to leisurely enjoy the scene.  The only thing on our schedule for the day was our 3pm tickets to the Borghese Gallery, so we had lots of time still to explore.

At the Spanish Steps

From here we made our way over to the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace) along the Tiber River.  We followed the sidewalk along the river and managed to catch crew teams racing on the Tiber.  There was a 5K charity race also going on along the river.  Amazing what you may see when you get up early and Drag your kids around a strange city!  At this point we did have to break down and get the kids (and ourselves) a beverage from a vendor.  If you know anything about Rome, you will realize that by this time we had walked pretty far...but it was not even lunchtime yet!

We wound our way to Piazza Navona and wandered through rows of artists displaying their work and statues ready to move for a coin or two.  The fountain by Bernini in the middle of the piazza was the one that was the object of our respite in the square.  On a side street we found a cafe for lunch and everyone had pizza, except for me who had a salad! 


A more Modern Sculpture

Lunch

The sun was shining and we made our way across Rome to Villa Borghese for our visit to the art museum.  Upon arrival in the park, we had a bit of time to stop and enjoy some gelato first!  The Borghese gallery has an amazing collection of art:  paintings and statues.  You only get two hours to visit, and we found that with our tour guide in hand we were able to easily see the important bits in that time and more than two hours would have been torture for the kids!  To treat them after, we rented a bicycle built for the family to explore the garden.  The canopy on the bike made it easier to tolerate the drizzling rain that followed us from England to Italy.  Please note Steve's review of the weather showing a 20% chance of rain.

Gelato!

Bicycle Built for Five!

We left the park to head back toward our apartment for dinner.  The rain was falling more steadily and the hawkers had all pulled out their umbrellas to push on the tourists.  By the seventh one who asked us if we wanted an umbrella, I had reached my seething point and snapped at him.  On principle we were not buying an umbrella when we had four in the apartment!  Damp and cranky from hunger, we were happy to find pizza and pasta at a restaurant near out apartment and the Colosseum.  They even served gelato which lightened our spirits for the trudge up the 93 steps! 

As we all made a wish and threw a few Euro Cents into the fountain!

By the end of the day, we had walked 7.1 miles!  I have mapped it on Google Maps and if I were more astute, I would be able to add the link.  Monday would be a better day with a morning van tour of the city!