Italy 2019 - Day 3 / Rome

Steps today: 22 035.

(light blue = on foot / dark blue = bus, metro, train etc)

The forecast called for rain in the morning, so we started the day with an inside activity: Galley and Palace of Doria Pamphij.

We enjoyed it, lots of nice things to see, but we grazed over it more than going into great detail.

It was a perfect way to stay out of the rain; we never needed our umbrellas since most of the downpour happened when we were in the palace; we only needed our hoods for a few minutes once we were done with the palace.

In hindsight, I wish I had left the umbrella and rain jacket at the hotel, but of course had I done that, we would have been caught in the rain!

One of the sights I had on my list was the Basilica Saint Maria Sopra Minerva but it's closed indefinitely so all I got were shots of the Elephant Obelisk out front.

Afterwards, we popped into the Pantheon for a quick visit.

It was really crowded!

We then stopped for a drink to admire the façade. As we sipped, our thoughts naturally gravitated over to our poor little JR and the tears started to flow again. It’s so hard, but we have no regrets about making The Decision.

Once we gathered our thoughts, it was time for lunch and we headed over to a place I remembered from previous visits. It was super good, but nothing like what I remembered. I am sure they changed the menu since the last time (2013).

After lunch, it was off to Catel Sant’ Angelo. I wanted to go inside and get views of St Peter’s from the roof, but the line-ups were too long. Instead, we just walked the perimeter.

Next, Saint Peter’s to visit the Cathedral and climb to the dome. OH. MY. GOD.  The people!!!  The line-up was HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS long. I am sure by the time we arrived (around 1:30) the line up was 4-5 hours!! It was unbelievable. I don’t have that kind of time to waste and I felt sorry for all the people melting in place because they were totally missing out on all the other sights Rome has to offer. It's too bad we didn't make it in, but we've toured it twice before so it was not a total loss.

Instead of St Peter’s, we headed off to the San Giovanni in Laterano church, which was fantastic.

(we lit another candle for JR)

We also took a quick glimpse at the Scala Santa across the street. We lucked out! the last time we were there the stairs were full of pilgrims, this time, we had them all to ourselves.

One of the sites on my list was the San Pietro in Vincoli church because the last time I was there I did not get a good picture of the chains (the chains used to bind St Peter) so I’ve been wanting a do-over. It was great and I also got to admire Michelangelo’s majestic sculpture of the tomb of Julius II again. That never gets old.

The weather is great in the shade; absolutely perfect! In the sun? Hate it. too hot for me! So after all that walking, we needed a drink break. Easy decision….  bring on the Aperol Spritz! and also, since we were not distracted with sight seeing: more lamenting over JR.

After our break, a quick detour to see the Galleria Sciarra

And then we headed over to the Trevi Fountain… completely inundated with tourists!!  As usual.

Then it was time to start thinking about supper. We wandered around reading menus for about a half hour and finally decided on a “simple” sidewalk terrace near Piazza Barberini for a little pasta. It was great.

After dinner, we strolled around a more chic area of town, then bussed it back to the hotel.
It was around 7:30 by then, still early, so we headed off to the outside café across the street from our hotel where we have breakfast for a night cap… and naturally, some more reminiscing over JR.  We miss him so much!

We also both agreed that out lover-affair with this hotel is over. It’s not horrible, but all the little details are adding up. Silly things like flat pillows and towels that are not that absorbent…  nothing major that will ruin our vacation, but I’m sure there are some better options out there that would not have cost us an arm and a leg!

Now, time for bed! Good night.