Rome Day 2 - A typical vacation day with the Missus Part 2

At the end of Part 1, we had just finished our carb load. The Missus was now ready to find the Trevi Fountain. Somehow we ended up backtracking until I recognized the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi which is right next to the Senate Building, you'll see all those sedans with blacked out windows and guys in suits standing around along with tons of police.

Hey, yet another church we visited. This one was quite interesting since it housed three famous paintings by Caravaggio. This one is called The Inspiration of Saint Matthew.

Also, it always pays to "look up" when you enter. This ceiling was done by Domenichino.

We wove our way along side street, basically following the crowd and eventually we ended up at what is probably one of the most famous fountains in the world, the Trevi Fountain, which took 30 years to finished, was completed in 1762. The actual name of the fountain - "tre vie" explains a lot as the location was at the junctions of three roads.

So that's a classic photo of the fountain. However, I want you to actually have a feel of being there...along with a jillion other toursts. So I thought this might give you some idea of what it's like being here.

Yeow.....

Next up, the Spanish Stairs.....

Though we have to interrupt this blog post with a news bulletin.... Of course we stopped at another church. This one is the Basilica di Sant'Andrea delle Fratte.

This one was also quite beautiful and there was a service going on.

After the service, one of the older priests stopped to talk with a woman who was sitting in the back. All that art work and stuff is great, but scenes like this are priceless.

Then of course there's the Spanish Steps, named for the Spanish Embassy which these steps linked to the Holy See. Let's just say the place is pretty popular.....

Folks just seem to congregate here....whether to channel their inner Audrey Hepburn, or just to contemplate the world, I guess there's some romantic pull to this place.....

Speaking of romantic pull. Look closely in the photo above.....do you notice the young woman in the wedding gown and the older man, whom I'm assuming is her father in the suit? Here have a closer look....it seems they're shooting wedding pictures? Along with several thousand absolute strangers.....kinda strange, but kind of well, cute in a way.

Speaking of romantics, I believe that cream colored building to the right in the photo above is where the Poet John Keats died of TB in 1821 at the young age of 25.

We took a walk down the side streets, window shopping and looking around, but the crowds finally got to us. We marched up the Spanish Steps and down Via Sistina. We'd decided to head back to our room near Termini Station and get some rest.

Remember the "Lisbon Rule".....whenever we'd start getting a bit tired and perhaps flustered it would be time for a Pastel de Nata and some espresso? Well, when in Rome....do gelato.....

This did the trick.....

We headed to Termini, the long way....stopping at "Our Lady of Victory" or the church more widly known as Santa Maria della Vittoria.

This was (yet another) stunning church. The fresco to the left, named "The Virgin Mary Triumphing over Heresy and Fall of the Rebel Angels".

The most eye-catching item in the church is the sculpture called the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Bernini. The scluture depicts a moment from the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila of a vision where an angel pierced her heart with a golden shaft....the moment, one of great pain and joy.

"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it."

Wow...intense. It was time for another gelato.

Actually, I needed a bit more than some gelato. I was getting pretty hungry. So we walked past the Piazza de Republica and on to Via del Viminale. There stood the little shop named Er Buchetto. The place really lives up to it's name, the little hole in the wall named "the little hole". Er Buchetto does porchetta....and had been doing it for 5 generations.

So while the Missus went window shopping, I had a pile of roasted pork and a cup of the house red. While a lot milder in flavor than I thought it would be, it had a nice porkiness, the skin more crisp than hard, it wasn't greasy, but the meat was on the dry side. It was super cheap at under 5 euros....

I did love the porchetta box......as said pork product had a wonderful window seat.

Er Buchetto
Via del Viminale 2F
Rome, Italy

We finally made it back to our room....and a short nap. After waking, we walked around the neighborhood a bit. We were both amazed at all the Chinese businesses in the area. We stopped by one of the markets where the Missus asked the guy at the register if there were any Chinese places he'd recommend. His answer, "no, they are all the same.......not very good, it's better to eat at home!"

Fried by the busy day, we opted for a nearby Osteria, basically a simple eating establishment. A short menu, nice folks, good, simple food.

The gnocchi was pillowy and tender.

My lamb was tender, nice and gamey.

Nice meal, with some simple table wine, just what we wanted.

Osteria Angelino dal 1899
Via Machiavelli 64
Rome, Italy

So that's kind of what a typical travel day with the Missus is like.

Thanks for reading!

Comments

[kat]

we travel this way too...go go go and eat whenever we can. I'm glad you showed the chaos at the fountain, I'll know what to expect when we go to Rome :)

[Kirk]

It was pretty crowded at the Trevi Fountain Kat...even fairly early in the morning. Hope you guys get to Rome soon!

[Ed (from Yuma)]

Great posts on Rome. Some of my favorite art, and you found some good looking food as well.

[Cathy]

This post triggered so many memories. When we were in Rome (1985) there was this thing called 'film' used in cameras and I didn't take that many photos. The food-stop on a corner, have an espresso, walk to the next corner, get a cheese sandwich, walk to the next block and some gelati...thank you.

[Kirk]

Hi Ed - So much to see it's easy to overwhelmed in Rome. Glad you enjoyed the posts.

Hi Cathy - In some ways I miss film based photography. In those days you had to be a bit more thoughtful when taking photos.