Rome Continued

       Day Two of our Roman adventure started a bit earlier but unfortunately for us it didn't help too much. As we made our way back toward the main attractions we had decided to use the public transit to save our feet a bit.  We stood, along with several others patiently awaiting the "train".  We had noticed that some traffic was being diverted but didn't think too much of it until we saw a large contingency of police vehicles.  We still waited a bit longer but finally decided to start walking.  Along our way we found out why everything was stopped. A very large demonstration march was heading our way; the Socialist Party.  We stopped and tried to stay out of the way until it passed as best we could.  It was not something we wanted to get too close to.  Finally we found our way around the march and continued on our way


     Our first stop was the church San Pietro in Vincoli or St. Peter in Chains.  This church houses two remarkable artifacts.  The first are said to be the chains that held St. Peter when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem. 

The chains of St. Peter

    
           For me the more exciting thing that this church houses is one of the only sculptures created solely by Michelangelo.  It is a huge likeness of Moses after he came down from the mountain.  It may only have been my imagination but you could tell the quality difference between this masterpiece and the other sculptures nearby.  The depth of the cuts that create shadow and light is amazing.  The odd thing you may notice about this likeness is that Moses has horns.  Apparently this was due to a translation problem that referred to the rays of light emanating from Moses' head as horns, so Moses has horns.





   
       Since we spent so much time reaching the church and enjoying it we decided that we better find some lunch. We decided to go back to the restaurant we had wanted to have dinner in the previous night but were unable to get in.  Luckily for us we got there right at opening and they were able to seat us without reservations.  It was another find through Eat Rome called La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali http://www.latavernadeiforiimperiali.com/english.htm.  This small family run restaurant was a wonderful treat after our poor experience the night before.  My choice for lunch, handmade pasta with mussels and clams...YUM!  It was the perfect meal to get my feet moving again!

   Next, the Pantheon!  We were both pretty excited to go see this remarkable place.  The only downside was that getting inside to see the oculus was impossible.  There was apparently a special event inside which now is a consecrated church so we were unable to go in.  The good news is that because the Pantheon is part of a church it remains more or less in tact surviving instead of being disassembled for building materials.

The lucky ones who were able to go inside

     We wandered from the Pantheon the Piazza Navona.  This is a fun area just to wander and look at the artisans work for sale and to people watch and perhaps enjoy a gelato while you are at it.  The most interesting feature of course though is the Fountain for the Four Rivers.  This magnificent fountain was sculpted by none other than Bernini.  The fountain needs some cleaning but it is still a sight to behold.

 

          We made our way through the narrow streets away from the Piazza Navona thinking we would go toward the Spanish Steps.  On our way we were inclined to make one of our famous rest stops for wine, water and a restroom.

 

          Fortune smiled on us when we came upon a small piazza with a fountain and a small tratoria. Il Ritrovo del Gusto had the charm you would hope for with food and wine to match!  It was so wonderful to find such a hidden gem.

       With our energy again restored we trekked on toward the Spanish Steps.  This was a fairly high priority on David's list of must sees in Rome.  I didn't mind because I knew that one of my priorities, the Trevi Fountain was nearby.  Unfortunately, after getting turned around several times and finally finding the Steps it was a huge let down for Dave.  He had not really known too much about the Steps and when we arrive I believe his words were, "Is this it?"  We were so exhausted and a bit frustrated by this time that we decided that Trevi would wait for our next trip to Rome

           We decided that we would try once more to get into the Pantheon.  It is not a short walk from the Steps back to the Pantheon and if you get turned around it is even longer.  By the time we got there we were very tired a bit hungry.  We were also disappointed to see that we would still probably not be able to get inside the building. 

           We made the best of it by picking a restaurant with a commanding view of the building and a good people watching spot and had our late evening snack.  Although the restaurant was geared for tourists it did the trick with cheese and meat and bread.

 

           It was getting late and we knew that public transportation only ran until midnight so we made our way to a bus stop.  We waited some little time for the correct bus noticing that the ones that came by were not just crowded but looked a bit like rolling sardine cans.  After seeing several of these and deciding that there was no chance of getting on even if the correct bus came we again started the long walk toward home or the underground.
        
           The only underground station we knew was across from the Colosseum.  We were so tired but had to hurry to make the last metros, so with heads up and me pushing my legs harder than I thought I could we fast walked through the crowds toward the station. The good news is that we made it and it saved us at least another 20 minutes of walking.  It was a good lesson for future trips...don't count on buses toward the end of the evening.

             This first trip to Rome was a success in my eyes.  We saw a lot but made sure we stopped to enjoy ourselves too and didn't just run from sight to sight.  The nice thing for us is that even though we didn't toss coins into the Trevi Fountain we will definitely return to Rome.