Vijay Basrur

The Vatican Museums & St. Peters Basillica

What started out as a day to visit the Spanish steps and Villa Borghese, it turned out to be a day at the Vatican City.

We got news about the Vatican being closed on Thursday and were advised to go visit the Vatican so as not to miss it. So off we went. And boy were we lucky!

Wednesdays, the Pope gives a public appearance for the 10 am service. We were lucky to see him albeit from far. But the congrgation of people is another sight altogether. The aura around St. Peters square is mesmerising.

After lingering around for a while, we queued up for entering the Vatican Museums. It was quite a long queue but worth the wait. We picked up an audio guide which does more justice than a real guide letting you hear as per your interests. To say that you can cover the museum in 1 day would be a joke. In fact for most things in Rome, any amount of time spent seems less.

The museum hold artifacts which have a rich history and exhibit the quality of the artisans in full glory. Amongst rooms full of sculptures, paintings, frescoes and myraid items, the epitome has to be the Sistine Chapel. This is Michealangelos piece de resistance. To think one could paint such a huge ceiling at a young age of 33, is mindblowing.

The St. Peters Basillica takes grandeur to a totally different level. The size of the sculptures that adorn the walls of the basillica, from the inside and the outside, are bound to leave you awestruck. I have never been left as dumbfounded as I was during the visit to the basillica.

To be able to live within the walls of the Vatican city must be so redeeming since everything is so full of history & spirituality.

Ancient Rome

We started the day with a walking tour of Ancient Rome. Quite a nice concept. The guide keeps explaining things as we walk.The one thing that hits you about ancient Rome is the grandeur of each of their buildings. The Colosseum is mind blowing to say the least. Quite a few scenes from the movie Gladiator kept going through my mind as we walked around the Colosseum.

From the Colosseum starts the tour which covers some great arches like the arch of Constantine, ruins of some churches and the main piazza during Roman times.We walked past the wedding cake, Pantheon and the tour ended at the Piazza Nuvona

The Trevi Fountain is an amazing spot. Its a fountain where the grandeur of the sculptures that make up the fountain far outweigh the way the water flows out of the fountain. Its the largest fountain and rightfully so. The entire place around the Trevi fountain wears the look of a small town with cafes, bars ans gelatos. We picked up a panini to fill our stomachs during the walk.

Arriva Roma

The Eurostar brought us into Termini bang on time. Our friend was there to receive us and it was a huge relief since Termini is quite a huge station. Using the metro and carrying our bags, we made our way into this small little town called Bracciano.
Its a nice town on the hills and very picturesque. Over lots of wine, pasta and salad we chatted for quite a while. I caught more than 40 winks while Snehal & her friend caught up on more of the chatting. Dinner was “octopus” soup and king prawns and some more pasta and ofcourse wine.

Passion for pets

One thing we observed during our travel is that quite a few of the people keep pets and there seems an entire industry working to ensure the pets and the pet owners are comfortable.

There are myraid contraptions for transporting pets, maintaining hairdos (we actually spotted a poodle which had its hair tied up in 3 places and held with cute little hair clips) and ofcourse clothing (also spotted sweaters & raincoats)

Most places including stores, restaurants, bars and tourist spots are pet friendly.

Quite amazing really

Eurostar from Venice to Rome

The public services run dangerously on schedule here. So we had little margin for error and had to run to make it in time for the train. Unfortunately we had to go by the slowest vaporetto sine that was the only one which was available.

Waking up at 5:15 was the toughest part. The rest was not bad at all. Having missed one bus our entire schedule was delayed by 15 mins. As luck would have had it, all 2nd class seats on the train from Venice to Rome were full, leaving us with the sole option of going by 1st class for an additional 25 euros.

So here we are in the train. And man is it amazing. Truly an experience. We are passing lovlely landscapes at a breakneck speed. And the train is very comfortable.

Snehal is fast asleep but I am too excited to feel sleepy. But hungry? Yes. Hmm time to grab a bite I guess.

Day two

Heavy breakfast. Amazing juice
Grand canal trip on the waterbus
Visited the station
Pigged on hamburger pannini and chicken burger
St marks bascillica
Walked around and reached Rialto
Wine by the litre
Reached Campo S Polo
Coffee and hot chocolate
Shopped brooches
Gelato
Rialto to ca rezzonico by waterbus
Campo S Margherita
Bar Du Champ whisky and italian brandy
Pizza slice and panini
Chilly wind on the walk back home

Things done at Venice

Alilaguna
Lido
Pizza & exp coke
Groceries
Water pass
Murano
St marks square
Coffee n swich
Spritz
Masks
Wine n rissoto