"Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble."

"Ancient footprints are everywhere.
You can almost think that you're seeing double
On a cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs."


A cold, rainy day is almost the same, but we didn't have any double vision. We were mostly wet and miserable, as Valentina figured we ought to see some of the city, so in spite of the rain, she sent us out into the wilderness of Rome to admire the birthplace of Western Culture. We saw all of the "Top 10 Sights" listed on the back of our map, and a few extras that weren't listed as essential... and I think it's a bit of a cop-out that the Vatican and St. Peter's Square are listed as separate sights. Valentina dropped us off at the Palazzo del Popolo, and we wandered up the Spanish Steps, then down and around and past the Trevi Fountain, and eventually found ourselves in front of the Monumento to Victor Emmanuel II, where we got lunch, then walked around the back of the Monument to see the Foro Romano and the Colosseum (via the Circus Maximus, which wasn't anything other than a long, grotty looking field), and walked through the Piazza Navona and the Pantheon on the way to meet Valentina in the evening, in front of the Castel Sant' Angelo.

I had a fond recollection from my previous visit to Rome of the incredible Michelangelo sculpture of Moses with horns on his head in the church of S. Pietro in Vincoli, and it turned out that we were nearby at one point, so we poked our heads in to appreciate a bit of art.  And I had forgotten how impressive St. Peter's Basilica is, and was blown away when we stopped by the Vatican the next day; the Pieta was really moving, and there's lapis lazuli used as decorative paving inlay, and the choir singing during the Mass was beautiful.

We met Valentina and a number of her friends for dinner at a pizza place in Trastevere, a small, pedestrianized, "Latin Quarter" type neighborhood. This was the first (and last!) pizza we ate in Italy, which is shocking. Julianna's Gorgonzola and Radicchio was wonderful, my Diavola first arrived as a Margharita, then returned with a dash of hot pepper and some salame. It was tasty though, regardless.

The next day we returned to Trastevere for brunch at an unusual place called Bibli. It's a great, all-you-can-eat 20E buffet, with surprisingly good food, that only happens on Sunday, located in a bookstore. The buffet is set up in one of the main reading rooms, with tables scattered around the other rooms. It's really an unusual scene, and being able to browse the stacks while eating quiche or scrambled eggs or whatever is quite nice.