Lucky for us, our apartment is close to a transit line which runs directly to the Stadio Olympico where the AS Roma team plays. Our landlady thought it would be a 30 minute or so bus ride. Deciding to leave lots of time, we left for the game about an hour and a half early. Good call, because even then the bus was packed and we arrived to a rather chaotic scene at the stadium entrance. After brandishing our tickets and passports we were whisked into the stadium grounds to make our way to the stadium itself.
This was lots of fun. The place rocked with the back and forth cheering between the AS Roma and the Juventus fans being constant even though the Juventus fans were quarantined off in a corner of their own with at least two empty sections on each side of them...
The local fire department was also kept busy as many smoke bombs were thrown onto the track surrounding the playing pitch. Despite "heavy security" and "tight checking" at the gate, there were also numerous smoke bombs set off in the stands, most of them in the AS Roma end zone cheering section...
All in all, it was a great experience being in the stadium. Unfortunately there was no joy in mudville on this night as the home town AS Roma fell 0-2 to Juventus.
Monday we took the metro to the southern part of Rome to see the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano.
Across the street from the basilica is the Holy Staircase where the only way to climb is on one's knees.
Leaving San Giovanni we wandered down the Via di San Giovanni al Laterano towards the Colosseo, stopping for a restful lunch before climbing the stairway to the Equiline Hill and it's parkland for a cool view of the back of the Colosseo.
After waiting a bit, for it to reopen, we went back to the Basilica San Clemente where you can go down into the bowels of the church/earth to see the original construction which is over 2000 years old. Luckily we just beat a huge crowd of school kids going in there. Whew! After that we called it a day and headed home.
Tuesday was even further afield. We did a day trip out to Ostia Antica. Great day in a beautiful place.
Wednesday we did a trip back to our old "hood" where we stayed near the Campo Di Fiori the last time we were in Rome. We took a very, very crowded bus #23 down the Lungotevere to the Ponte Sisto where we disembarked, took our lives into our hands crossing the highway to get onto the ponte then wandered up into the historic center. We stopped in a lovely little jewelry store on Via Di Monserrato where Marian bought some great earrings and Kris picked up a fab necklace. After that we visited the very cool Palazzo Spada to view Brian's favorite, the Borromini Perspective. Wandering around the Campo and it's environs we made our way up to the Piazza Navona where we had lunch at what has become probably our favorite lunch eatery, La Ristorante la Fraschetti, in Rome just off the piazza...
After lunch we hit the Palazzo Altemps with it's wonderful collection of statues as part of the National Museum of Rome then wandered down the Via Dei Coronari towards the river and on towards home for the day.
Thursday, was a pre-scheduled "Underground Rome" tour but Kris's knee was not up to going into the bowels of the earth so she did a day of rest. Brian and Marian went on the tour which included the underground of the San Lorenzo in Lucina and the Crypta Balbi along with some very interesting stops along the way. Excellent tour guide provided by Context Tours.
Friday, the three of us went back to the Crypta Balbi Museum, another part of the National Museum system, for a good part of the morning. Afterwards we watched the cats in the Largo Argentina before jumping on the tram to Trastevere where we wandered a bit before settling on lunch at the Ditta Trinchetti. After wandering around Trastevere a bit more, Kris and Brian headed back home on the bus while Marian decided to do a mega walk along the river. We all rested a bit, then went out to a sidewalk cafe/winebar for a couple of Aperol spritz and general people watching, some grocery shopping and back home for a nice light salad dinner.
Saturday we took a bus down along the river to the Testaccio (not Trastevere) district of the city. It was a bit of at test to see how long the bus would take since that is where we need to get to by 10:00 am on Tuesday for our last pre-scheduled tour... the Rome Market Walk. We easily found the tour meeting place so we knew where to go come Tuesday then worked our way up the Aventine hill to see a cool little old church and some views over the city. Then we went down the other side of the hill to the remains of the Circus Maximus where we had lunch nearby. After that it was sit and wait for buses on the way home where we vegged out for the rest of the day. After a brief respite we all went out to a local street where Marian purchased a beautiful leather handbag and we all sat at a sidewalk winebar to celebrate her purchase.
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