2004 Europe

Spanish Steps, Rome



May 28 – Second day in Rome and another early start. We’re going to head to the Villa Borgese to see the art collection. Unfortunately when we got there they were sold out for the day and we had to settle for a walk on the grounds and a look at the outside. Undaunted we headed for the Plaza de Espana and the Spanish Steps. In the picture above, Diana, Larry and Janice are standing together in front of the steps. The lady in the pink hat and scarf is Hilda. Joe Calwell, our tour leader, is directly to her right and standing next to him are Carol and George.



Author’s Note: Joe’s European Experience Tour is a fantastic adventure. His knowledge and his skill as a tour guide/coordinator are first rate. If you want to see a large portion of Europe and come away with a better understanding of why they are the way they are, this is the tour for you. Not to mention acquiring a great heap of knowledge about the culture, art, architecture and history of every country you visit.



There was a large crowd there, sitting on the steps and walking around. It was great people watching. There was a street vendor roasting chestnuts (below), very reminiscent of Christmas in Pennsylvania, except for the air temperature. I bought some and they were pretty good. They were a little under roasted so they didn’t quite have the nut-like flavor I prefer. Roasting chestnuts is easy but getting them just right is an art.



After that we joined up with Larry and Janice, who live in Yorba Linda to take a taxi to the Pantheon (below). The Pantheon has been around since the first century BC. It is named the Pantheon because it was originally a Roman temple to all the gods, Pantheon of heaven. Most pagan sites were destroyed when the Roman Empire crumbled but the Pantheon was saved from destruction by the fact that it was converted to a Christian church very early on. It is still serving that function today. It’s a large round building under a dome with a hole to the outside at the center. The front façade looks like the Parthenon with an angled roof and until the building of the modern domes like the Astrodome and Superdome it was the largest dome every built. The first king of Italy, Victorio Emanuele, is buried there as well as several others.



After spending some time inside the Pantheon we walked across the square and had a snack at McDonald’s. They had the same Caribi sandwich I ordered in Chivitavecchia, the port of Rome. It has jerk chicken, lettuce and tomato on a pita like bread. Our lunch cost us 10 Euro. Lunch at the café next door would be 30 Euro plus. We sat on one side of the little flowerbox that separated the seating areas. Ronald can sure save you some money in Europe. It’s small wonder that every one we’ve seen has been packed with customers.



Gustatory Note: Light lunch and snack type foods are very expensive here and not very good. A sandwich, to Italians, is a roll, sliced in half, with one piece of meat and one piece of cheese. No lettuce, tomato, pickle, mustard, etc. I’d rather eat at McDonald’s. Now the ice cream and pastries are another story. They’re great, but that’s not what I want for lunch. You can have the three-course Italian style lunch but that takes two hours and costs about $40. A waste of time and money when you have things you want to see and do. This is definitely the exception to the food rule. If you want a big lunch and have the time to eat it, you’re in heaven. If you want a pastry and coffee, you’re in paradise. But a quick lunch that’s inexpensive, filling and tasty, forget it completely.



After lunch we all strolled to the Plaza Navona, the largest plaza in Rome. It was about 200 yards long and about 40 yards wide. It had a fountain at both ends and in the middle. There are cafés and boutiques all around the perimeter and a small market in the center. There were all sorts of San Francisco like street entertainers. People pretending to be statues, jugglers, and the only truly irritating art form, mimes. All in all a great place to people watch. After about a half hour we decided that taxis were not in abundance there so we hiked back to the Pantheon and caught a cab where we were dropped off and went back to the hotel.



At about 4 in the afternoon we boarded the bus to go to Tivoli. We toured an estate there and walked through the gardens. There were several very nice fountains and a water organ. According to the guide the cascading water operates the bellows that provides the air for the organ. They played a little recital on it and the sound was nice. The main cascade was a large waterfall leading to a smaller waterfall, on each side of this waterfall a small opening emptied into two semicircular waterfalls, which flowed into a perimeter, two-tier waterfall. From the center of the two semicircular waterfalls a large fountain spurts skyward, and across the top of the large water fall 12 smaller fountain go straight up in the air, six on each side. The gardens were very pleasant. After that stop we went to a restaurant for dinner. The food was very good and they had a small band and singers to serenade us while we ate. Then it was back to the hotel because we have a 6AM call tomorrow to head for Florence.

(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger