With Glen headed off to the conference at some ungodly hour, I had a lovely lie-in and then got up for breakfast sometime after 8am on Monday morning. I ate it on the terrace, which was nice albeit a little chilly in the shade. Suitably fuelled, I then set off to explore Rome.
Nothing Funny Happened on the Way to the Forum
I caught the subway to the Colosseo and was greeted by a horde of people as they tried to cram into the building. The entrance aisles were about five people wide and went for what would have been hours. I was so glad we’d gone the night before.
Our tickets were valid for two days so that meant I could get into the Forum and Palatine Hill without having to pay again. I’d been to the Forum when I was 19 and loved it, especially as at that time it was largely devoid of tourists, what with it being January. While it was more crowded today, I still loved exploring the sprawling site.
I headed to Palatine Hill first (I needed the loo) and this was by far the most empty of all, yet still so fascinating. The sheer scale of the buildings and of the excavation work required to reveal all the buildings on the hill is staggering. The garden complex, where well-to-do Romans were carried around on litters for the afternoon constitutional is huge and goes down about ten metres. I wandered through the ruins with one of the highlights being the sighting of two wild rabbits munching on the grass near Augustus’s house.
I rambled from site to site, making my way back down to the Forum and visiting the temple ruins and the House of the Vestals. Lots of rocks, lots of columns, lots of fun. I spent a couple of hours there before moving on.
Getting in Touch with Nature
I spent most of the afternoon wandering through the Villa Borghese, a large parkland that’s also home to art galleries, museums and the Rome zoo. What was lovely about this place was that even though it’s fairly central – it’s next to Piazza del Popolo, and close to our hotel – it’s largely ignored. This means you can enjoy a bit of nature without jostling with the crowds.
The first main site was the Temple of Esclepius, which is mostly a facade with some fountains set on the edge of a lake. Two groups of people were enjoying an afternoon boat ride on the little lake. I then traipsed around, going the wrong way at first before finally heading in the right direction to the zoo.
The Rome zoo – or Biopark – isn’t a bad inner city zoo. It’s got a good selection of species, though some of the exhibits could really do with being modernised (or torn down altogether). There was some modest zoning in place – for example some South American species were housed together – but overall it’s fairly disjointed and animals are housed wherever the room is available for them.
My main interest was in seeing species I don’t usually get the chance to see so on this occasion I spent a while with the wolves (there was a quite a good sized and good looking pack there), as well as the tapir (who was extremely close and who’s nose was going wild to see if I had any food with me), and the red ruffed lemurs. The reptile house is also quite good and includes a wide representation of species. I finished seeing everything after an hour and a half.
I then took a long and rambling journey to get from the top of Villa Borghese down to a shop near the Piazza di Spagna. Fortunately this took me to lovely view overlooking the Piazza del Popolo, and an easy and peaceful stroll down the hill to the top of the Spanish Steps. Lining the street were fruit trees laden with an orange-type fruit that people were eagerly trying to rest from the branches.
The Spanish Steps weren’t as busy at the top, perhaps because so few people can actually be bothered to make the journey up there. I know I wouldn’t if I’d been at the bottom. The steps did indeed look whiter and brighter than I expected so they’d done a good job on the cleaning.
I found the shop I was looking for – Moleskine – but didn’t buy anything and then returned to the hotel, again through the Piazza del Popolo, to await Glen’s return from a long day of professional development.
Dinner for Three
When Glen returned we organised to meet up with another radiologist from Perth, Narelle, at the Pantheon. We had to get there fast as it closed at 7:30 and Glen was keen to get a look inside. Unfortunately, they were not allowing anybody else in when we got there at 7:25 so Glen missed out.
Narelle arrived soon after and we headed west to Piazza Navona, checking out the Fountain of the Four Rivers, before going for a pre-dinner meal at a highly recommended charcuterie place that Glen had found. We ordered a platter to share between the three of us and grazed on that for a couple of hours.
Dinner was at a nearby restaurant that was alright but was nothing special. We should have known not to go there based on the checkered tablecloths, but it looked decent enough (the waiter was cute and they served artichokes, which Narelle had been graving). The drinks were good though.
After dinner we had a cheeky ice-cream – mine was grapefruit sorbet and black fig sorbet – and strolled to the Trevi Fountain. It was past 10pm so the crowds had thinned and we were able to get to the edge of fountain without jostling people. We threw coins over our shoulders, took some photos and then bid our farewells. So ended our first full day in Rome.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?