Our hotel was in a really good proximity to a number of the major attractions in Rome. Go five minutes that way and there was the Pantheon, go 5 in the opposite direction and there was the Trevi fountain, go five more minutes that way and you had come to the Spanish steps. Now I know they were there because the map said they were. The main problem was that it was not easy to see them on account of all the tourists.
To my surprise they are about the only thing in Rome considered to be worth something that is not a Roman ruin or designed by Michelangelo....alright that is a bit of an exaggeration, he didn't design the Trevi either.
The steps were designed by an Italian though (not a Spaniard). I think the steps lead to the one time Spanish embassy to the Holy See, though not sure where that actually might have been, because at top of the steps seemed to be another....yes, you guessed it, a church! There are a lot of these in Rome.
It was already turning into another really hot day and the crowds started to mingle in the limited areas of shade, revealing the stairs for the first time on that particular day. A few hasty shots and we were on our way.
Experience 44. Gregory & Audrey. Rome. 24 June.
The top five gelaterias in Rome, according to Lonely Planet guide, included one that was seen in the movie Roman Holiday starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. This wasn't too far from our hotel so we went searching through the cobbled streets for our daily gelati fix at Giolitti Gelateria. So many people eat gelati here and there are so many gelaterias some good some not so good. This one definitely was good, probably even better than the one we had in San Gimignano which claimed world champion status. John stuck to his usual Pistachio but I tried Amarena, a sour Cherry with cream flavour. Very nice. Pope John Paul II also had Marron glacé delivered to him from this gelateria. Not sure what flavor that is. Might have to try it later and see if I can figure it out.
Experience 45. European cup football on the roof. Rome. 24 June.
The Italy v England elimation game was on tonight. It didn't start until 8:45pm local time which I imagine was something to do with the heat, but not sure about that....I haven't been tracking the weather in Poland.
After dinner we made our way to the bar of our hotel for a few drinks and watch the game with the rest of the crowd. Whilst Chez and I were going to be supporting the Azzuri, I imagine most of the guests that would be interested would be ponies so we would be out numbered considerably.
We got to the bar and the game was on but there were only two other people there. The game had already been going 10 minutes so I was a bit surprised. We got a drink and asked the couple that were settled in if they minded company. We soon established that they were Amercians and weren't all that fussed about round ball. So where were all the pommies? Maybe they knew their chances of success were pretty slim and decided to do something else.
As it was we didn't watch much of the game and although it ended 0-0 after normal and extra time the Italians looked in control most of the time. We chatted with the Americans who were flying back to Florida the next morning after cruising the Mediteranean for the last 12 days.
Italy won the penalty shoot out and the cars horns were sounding long into the night.
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