While waiting for our washing we drank some of the vino & had lunch on our veranda, then returned to collect our washing. We then headed off to St Peter’s Basilica, and after no queues (we are lucky like that) once again were in awe of the grandeur & opulence. We even saw the window where le Pope comes out & talks to everyone, but couldn’t see the famous chimney. We were feeling sore & tired by this stage so made our way back to our rooms & had a chat to the family from Switzerland who were leaving to return home that afternoon. He was a paediatrician and so we talked about the different health systems throughout the world. We said goodbye to them the then back in our room we inadvertently fell asleep.
We woke to Ruggero (alias Basil, as he is just like Basil from Faulty Towers) bashing on our door again, of course we woke with a huge fright but glad we did as it was quite late & I wanted to ask him about where to go the next day for a trip to the country. He gave me all the info on where & how to get there, once again very loudly & very fast.
So off to dinner again, and we found a place that served chilli, for those that expect garlic & chilli in Italy, we must be in the wrong part as they just don’t have either in Rome.
6/11/2010
Once again we were up very early & gone by 7am. We found a café open & had a coffee (standing up of course as they charge more if you sit) then made our way to the Metro, We caught the A line to Termini, then the B line to Tiburtini, then got tickets to Tivoli, which was in the country & about an hours train ride away, easy as. We had quite a slow trip to Tivoli as it stopped at every station & unlike the other trains we have caught so far this one was an old rattler & smelled. Not to worry, we got to Tivoli, off the train & then no idea how to get to where we wanted to go, that is Villa d’Este. So we just started walking, and walking & walking, but eventually found the place.
When we arrived it looked very ordinary & we wondered what we had got ourselves into, but once inside – OMG, this place was amazing. A huge Villa built into the side of the mountain in about 1500 with the most amazing gardens & waterfalls everywhere. In fact the fountains were more impressive than the Trevi fountain. After a couple of hours wandering around the Villa, we left to find somewhere to have lunch but couldn’t find anywhere decent so headed to the train station, this time a much quicker route, over a bridge.
Once again we jagged it as we managed to catch the express train that went straight to Tiburtini with no stops. We hadn’t ticked all the boxes in Rome yet, so after catching the trains in reverse we got off at Spagna & found the Spanish Steps, most unimpressive as they were just a set of stairs and what we had seen earlier in the day was much more impressive. So we found somewhere here for lunch & met a waiter that spoke English really well so had a lovely chat to him.
Back to our rooms
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