Got a slow start today while we messed with blogging. Our reservation at the Galley Borghese wasn’t until 1:00. The Gallery is in the Borghese villa in a huge public park -- a la Balboa Park or Central Park. Took the metro -- we’re getting to be pros -- to Barberini Piazza and walked up the Via Veneto to the gardens. The Via Veneto is home to the four and five star hotels, the U.S. embassy, and more upscale shopping and restaurants. This is how the other half lives, probably on expense accounts.
Once at the park, we found the gallery wi
th no problem and immediately broke our resolution to forego audio tours. This is an outstanding collection of everything -- from Greek and Roman antiquities through the Renaissance. Cardinal Borghese, the collector, had some favorites, among them Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Carravagio. Bernini’s statue of Apollo and Daphne was so breathtaking I got tears in my eyes. We went back for a second viewing before leaving. This alone was worth the price of admission -- Charlie says this alone was worth the trip!
Famished by the time our 2 hour appointment slot was over, we followed the signs in the park to a café. It turned out to be in another museum -- Modern Art, never my favorite -- but we had had our quota of culture, so we just had lunch. And nothing could top the Bernini. So we continued out the other side of the park to the Piazza Populo, making our way through yet another part of town toward Vatican City and home. I really feel that by walking (and reading maps) we’ve had a little better sense of the city, and we have covered the ancient center and surrounding areas pretty well. Rome is pretty chaotic, pretty dirty, pretty noisy, and just plain pretty. It’s not for the faint of heart.
Had intended to stop at the Castel Sant’ Angelo -- after all, this is where Tosca leapt to her death -- but by the time we got there it was too late. Wandered through the Mercato Andrea Doria, a flea market with schlock stuff, but fun. Then back to Andrea Doria 79. We bought a loaf of fresh bread -- knew we were too tired to go out to dinner and wanted to finish the odds and ends in the fridge before leaving tomorrow.
I had done laundry last night and hung the clothes out to dry on our clothes line, which extends the length of the balcony beyond the railing. Clipped everything very securely, because if it fell off it would land in our neighbor’s garden, two flights down. I had put some shirts on hangers, and just hung the hangers on the line. Well, in taking in the clothes this evening, I was short one shirt. I went downstairs to meet the (non-English-speaking) neighbors in search of it. Started at the bottom and that lady knew what I wanted before I asked. She had pantomimed shirt before I did! But no, she hadn’t seen my shirt, I should go upstairs to ask the lady on the second floor. Something was fishy. But I went to the lady on the second floor, and she hadn’t seen it either, and the message was I should try downstairs. OK, it was only a Chico’s tee, which I buy in multiples, so I gave up. About ten minutes later, second floor lady comes to our door. She found the shirt! We’ll never know the real story. But that’s the fun of apartment rentals over hotels. I got to see the inside of a couple of homes!
Tomorrow it’s Arrivederci Roma. We left lots “undone” saving for another trip, but next time it’ll be off-season.
20,518 steps
Day 6, Saturday October 10 -- On the road
We were awakened in the middle of the night by thunderstorms and lightning, and awoke to find it still raining. Can’t complain though, the weather up to now has been perfect -- like the best of Coronado. By 9 am it had started to clear. Charlie had arranged to pick up our car as far away from center of Rome as possible, and in the direction of Umbria, so he would need to drive as little as possible in the city. However, that required getting to the car rental location with our bags. To avoid being ripped-off again by a Rome taxi, he asked our good buddy Enrico to take us to the pick-up location as a means of making up for the fact that we had to move during our stay in Rome. Of course he refused, and of course we had no bargaining power, but he did agree to arrange for a fixed-price cab ride from apartment number 2 to pick-up the rental car. He said it would cost 30 euros, and based on what we paid to get from the train station to apartment number 1, we thought that was a good deal. (Isn’t is amazing how circumstances can make you think paying $45 for a cab ride is “good.” )
Alessandro, our cab driver, showed up promptly at 11 -- in a Prius! It was the first we’d seen in Rome.
The strategy worked. We got our Opel. We had figured out the rules of the road in Italy: the bigger the vehicle the more “right of way” you have and if there is room for your car, it’s a lane. By this standard, we had the right of way over Smart cars (of which there are many) and not much else. It was an easy drive to the route A90, the beltway around Rome, and we were on our way to Assisi. It didn’t hurt that he was driving with a superb navigator. Our Google directions said the trip to Agriturismo Villa Rosy, the apartment we had rented in a farm house on an olive grove outside of Assisi, would take a little over 2 hours. We made lunch and coffee stops along the way, so the trip actually took about 4 hours. The directions provided by our hosts were very good, and we were greeted by the owner as we entered the gates of the grove.
The “farm house” is a stone building containing four rental apartments, surrounded by olive and fruit trees. We were shown into a lovely, spacious apartment - just like we had seen on the internet (there is a g_d). They had a little welcome package with fresh home-made coffee cake, home-made jam, coffee, eggs, a bottle of wine, and a bottle of their own award winning olive oil. The place is well equipped and clean -- everything apartment #1 wasn’t. The view of Assisi -- we’re about 5 km out of town -- is beautiful. Since we are the only ones here it is quiet. We headed to our local village (within walking distance, but we drove to pick up provisions), where we found a super mercato, pharmacy, produce store, several places to eat, and not much else.
After studying the ample tourist literature in the apartment over our happy hour, we made tentative plans for the week. We’ll try to visit a different town each day, but I think the pace will be less frenetic this week. Sunday isn’t a great day for finding things open, so I‘m sure we‘ll find time for a stroll around the “farm”.
Dinner back in town at a very popular fish/pizza (how’s that for a combo?) place. Good eats.
7,549 steps (uh-oh, no gelato)
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