7 November 2015 - Villa Borghese and a night walk

Luke seems to have a cold which is one of those whole box of tissues in a day type so we let him have a fairly restful day at home.  

Morning reflection:Ponte di Vittorio Emanuelo II

Tim, Annika and I went for a walk for groceries just as the crowds were gathering and had to skirt around the Vatican to avoid bag searches, etc. on the way to the supermarket. I guess that's a Roman problem - having to avoid the Vatican to go shopping!! We found oatmeal and rice puffs (non sugared ones) which is great as we dislike sugary breakfast cereals and have enough Italian bread over the course of the day.  We went the long way there so we could walk by the river and go across two bridges: Ponte Sant'angelo and Ponte Vittorio Emanuelo II - just because we could!! ... and down on the river path, also just because we could!!

Ponte Sant'Angelo

Baroque angel on Ponte Castel'angelo

We spotted a souvenir stand where all items were 1 Euro, so we had a bit of a shuffle through and selected some small "goodies"  including a few mini gladiator helmets which the boys really liked! On our return, Luke was still pretty quiet but managed a bit of school, as did the others.

Ponte Sant'angelo and Castel Sant'Angelo

Statue on Ponte di Vittoirio Emanuelo II

Dachshund handbag!

After lunch, as the kids were content to stay at home, all three of them, so Karl and I went for a walk to Villa Borghese.  To get there we walked through the huge arches at the head of Piazza del Popolo!  Yet another Egyptian obelisk is in the centre of this huge piazza, in the middle of the Fountains of Lions, which is under renovations.  The huge marble fountain at the base of the hill is grand as well.  The balcony of the Villa Borghese gardens overlooks this piazza and we were eager to head up and check the view!

Grand entrance to Piazza del Popolo

Egyptian obelsik - one of 13 in Rome - 8 pilfered, 5 replicas

Twin churches, the road between leads to the Spanish Steps

Grand fountain at the foot of the Villa Borghese hill

Looking down from the balcony of Villa Borghese to Piazza del Popolo

The view was lovely over hazy afternoon Rome semi silhouetted in the bright light and we can now name many of the domes and structures we could see!

Hazy view over Rome

Ah, autumn!

Arty shot!

Archimede

Leonardo da Vinci

Helen the blogger! - not Italian, not famous

Loving Autumn

Interesting flat topped trees - like umbrellas!

The Villa Borghese gardens are extensive and half of Rome seemed to be up there enjoying themselves.  There are many options for recreation apart from walking under the shady trees and we dodged Sedgeways, bikes, carts, rickshaws and prams to name a few!  There were avenues of marble busts of famous Italians, some headless but many not! Archimedes was one of them!  It turns out he was born in what is now Sicily, so the Italians have claimed him as their own, whereas we thought he was Greek!

Vatican guard - fancy costume!

Dinner, as planned, was early so we could go for an evening walk to see the Vatican all lit up.  We plan to go to the Colosseum when Luke is a bit more well.  Wandering through the underpass we walked past a piano accordian player and violin player whose folk tunes echoed around us: A lovely aural memory. We went to Carrefour for our ice cream treats and walked back to St Peter's Square and sat by the fountain there to eat them.  It is so lovely at night and there are few people.  The yellow lights give the porticos and huge columns an almost sepia appearance.

St Peter's Basilica at night

Ice cream time by the fountain.

In the portico dwarfed by the huge columns

Entrance to the portico at St Peter's Square

Not many people left in the square!

So, for us, it is back to the Vatican tomorrow to join the throng of people to hear the Pope's address, "the Angelus" and guard our valuables extremely closely as pick pockets are reputed to be rife.