Rome Day 4

16th Dec 2009

Ahhh~ waking up in the morning and having a view of the beautiful Villa Borghese is truly magical! One could only imagine how beautiful it gets during other seasons especially spring and autumn. The plan for today will be to visit the Galleria Borghese, which housed a vast number of beautiful sculptures and next to the Ancient Rome. Day 3 of Rome was truly a better day compared to the rest of the days here although not without its small regrettable flaw... The metro is on strike today, which means no train service for the day!

I am still not keen on drinking from the fountain...

The initial plan for the day is to visit the Colloseum, the Roman forum/Palatino and the surrounding churches. Since those guys in Metro have spoken, we need to change our plan and quick. After some quick shuffle, we decided to do the DIY walking tour that I have scheduled for Day 5 instead and it would cover the Piazza di Spagna where the famous Spanish steps is located all the way to Castel Sant Angelo or “Castle of Angels” in English. Its OK, its still a beautiful day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. ;-)

The scenery in Villa Borghese got both of us going (Walking) without complaining.

The walk to the Galleria Borghese from Rome Marriott Grand Flora Hotel is roughly around 15minutes, depending on your walking speed but with the beautiful scenery in sights along the walk, my wife and I for once are not complaining. It will be perfect if we have some music in the garden, don’t you think so? Well, our wish is granted as there is a street performer making music with his saxophone and not just any songs, it was the classic "The Moon Represents My Heart" or “月亮代表我的心” by the late Teresa Teng. Its kind of unorthodox to have chinese classic music in the garden but the fact that it’s a familiar romantic song sets the mood and scene for a romantic walk for two.

The Villa Borghese is beautiful.
I guess I would've loved it even more during autumn.

This place would be a perfect place to walk Bon Bon.
He has no idea how much both of his pawrents missed him.

When we reached the Galleria Borghese, we realized that there is a visitor capacity and we are politely asked to enter at a slightly later slot. Not wanting to waste time waiting, we headed off to the surrounding areas for sightseeing and to take some shots.

One of our chirping shots taken in Borghese Park

One of my wish (LTs) is to be able to hold her like this when
both our hairs turned gray and traces of life running through our faces.

No cameras are allowed in the museum so there are no photos to show. However, there are some photos that you can take a look at from Wikipedia. Several of the interesting works (I am more into sculpting and frescoes) that I would highly recommend are those by Gian Lorenzo Bernini – Apollo and Daphne and The Rape of Prosepine. Gian Lorenzo Bernini is truly a genius! There are in total, two levels in the museum and you could spend a considerable amount of time here if you go through each item on display. We only allocated 2 hours here. After we are done with the museum, we had our DIY sandwich at the garden yard behind the museum. The sandwich is delicious and the fruits are sweet, the only down side is that we are crazy to eat in the open when temperature is 2 °C, which we continue doing throughout the trip.

I know... We made it as though its not cold out there...This was taken at the fountain
behind the Bourghese Galleries.

Errmm... I missed the strawberries.

We headed back to our hotel to drop of some heavy items and then proceeded to go on our own little DIY walking tour.

[Tips: Do note that the location that has no indication of entrance fees is FOC]

Rome Marriott Grand Flora Hotel is located on the Via Veneto itself and is within walking distance to the Piazza di Spagna. The journey took about 10 minutes and prior to reaching the Piazza, you will be greeted by this huge impressive Baroque church, Trinità dei Monti with (ironically) an Egyptian obelisk directly in front of it. What make this church even more beautiful are the flights of stairs connecting it to the Piazza di Spagna famously known as “The Spanish Steps” As you have already known, it is winter time during our visit and the steps are not crowded with people, which makes for perfect photo shooting. From other photos that I have come across, the stairs are literally pouring with people, shoulder-to-shoulder… I shudder to even think of walking in those crowds where God knows who the pickpockets are, helping themselves to this human buffet.

The Trinitá dei Monti at Piazza Spagna.

Photo of me with the woman that I chose to spend
the rest of my life with... For better or for worse

Thank goodness that the Spanish Steps is not crowded during winter.

Descending from the Spanish Steps into the Piazza di Spagna, the first thing you will see is an old Baroque fountain called the Fontana della Barcaccia or the “Fountain of the Old Boat”. There are some horse carts here that will willingly take you on a ride but after hearing some tales from Romebuddy.com, I decided that it is not worth the risk, plus not worth the endurance of having a horse arse right in front of your face. If you venture directly beyond this fountain, you are about to reach the Via Condotti or the shopping streets in Rome housing most of the world’s biggest fashion brand. I of course decided to detour and turn left instead in the direction of the Trevi Fountain. The distance from here to the Trevi Fountain is not exactly that far… perhaps 600 to 800m? Either way, it is not far and very walk-able, not to mention enjoyable too.

The Fountain of the Old Boat at the base of the Spanish Steps.

Beautiful hardwood door.
I sure would love one of these for my future home.

As we are nearing the Trevi fountain, the crowds are noticeably thickening even during winter. I am truly awed by the size and craftsmanship of this fountain! If I could have it my way, I will declare this fountain my personal property and swim in it… IF. There is a traditional practice of tossing coins in this fountain (It definitely has to be some marketing ploy propagated by the 1954 movie “Three Coins in The Fountain”) i.e. to hold a coin in your left hand and toss it over your right shoulder and vice versa. This act was believed or rumored to ensure you a return trip to Rome. Anyway, this fountain alone generates an estimated €350,000 – 400,000 a year… How’s that for a Return-On-Investment?

The beautiful Baroque facade of the Trevi Fountain
makes a beautiful holiday postcard.

Make sure you enjoy a cup of these fabulous
gelato when you are in Italy. It is a MUST!

Next, we headed to Piazza Colonna where you will see the Column of Marcus Aurelius (One of the “Five Good Emperors” of Rome). After snapping a couple of photos, we headed to our next intended attraction, The Pantheon. Marcus Agrippa built the Pantheon to house all the pagan gods of Ancient Rome but was subsequently converted to a church in the 7^th century by Pope Boniface IV. The most distinct feature of this structure is the unreinforced concrete Dome with an oculus in the centre, which is an opening to allow the sunlight to enters the dome. The famous painter, Raphaelo Santi was buried here (I wonder if the statement that his remains has been relocated is true according to the movie “Angels and Demons”).

The Pantheon

The Oculus in the middle of the Pantheon's dome.
The sunlight was not as strong hence didn't get the light beam
from the oculus itself.

As the sky started to look light it is going to get dark pretty soon, we quickly move on to our next location, the church of Santa Maria della Pace. According to sources from Wikipedia, the current building was built on the foundations of the pre-existing church of Sant'Andrea de Aquarizariis.

A shot of Sant Agnese in Agone at Piazza Navona
against a beautiful sky to made for the one taken under bad weather condition in Day 2

A Shot of Santa Maria della Pace

I just snapped some photos without entering the church as I wanted to take a photo of the Castel Sant Angelo and the Ponte Sant Angelo (“Bridge of Angels”) during the blue hour. This building was really built by the emperor Hadrian for the purpose of a royal mausoleum to house his family and his remains, but was later used as a castle and now, a museum with a café to boot. Legend has it that the archangel Michael was seen on top of the building sheathing his sword signifying the end of the plague of 590, which resulted in the castle having its present name. The entrance to the castle is a MUST! You are missing out big time for not paying the €8.50 entrance fee especially if you wanted a picture perfect vacation photo. I have to admit that the museum itself was nothing much to rave about (There’s a toilet and café in the building), but one should not overlook the view from atop the building. From the top of the building, you will be rewarded with a perfect view of the surrounding and more importantly, you will be able to see St. Peter’s Basilica from here and it is simply breath taking!

[Tips: Remember to bring a tripod to take that beautiful night shots of the streets and St. Peter’s Basilica]

One of the angels on top of Ponte Sant Angelo.

Statue of Angel against the Castelo Sant Angelo.

Remember to bring your tripod. You don't want to miss this shot!
Castel San Angelo view from the start of Ponte San Angelo

St Peter's Basilica from Ponte San Angelo 

View of St Peter's Basilica during dusk. Taken from the roof of Castel San Angelo. Don't miss this!

The huge archangel Michael's statue sheathing his swords on
top of Castel Sant Angelo, whereby it derives its name.

Part of the plan after Castel Sant Angelo is to visit the Piazza del Popolo, but we are all tired and hungry so the next best thing to do is heading back to our hotel and make dinner. So I guess that is a good reason for me to want to return to Rome again.

**Note: All rights reserved. If you like any photos found in this blog or would like to engage me in any assignment, please e-mail me for more details at seage79@gmail.com.