Day 88

Day 88. Sat 26thJune.
Palatine.

Yesterday we ran out of steam for the Palatine, so it’s our sole destination today. The site of Rome’s most ancient Iron Age remains and in its heyday the most desirable postcode for emperors and their wives. We arrive at 9am and have the place to ourselves for a good couple of hours. By the time the sun becomes unbearable were in the Farnese Gardens, a wonderfully cool oasis in an otherwise vast hot site, with great views down over Forum.
Lunch today is a great neighbourhood restaurant Luzzi, just over the road from the Coliseum. A bit rough and ready but fantastic pasta, super fresh salad and as cheap as chips. Back to the site for a swim in the pool, no better way to recover from the enervating heat. Thunder rolls round the wang for a good two hours in the evening before the heavens open. Try and watch a film but the storm drowns out any sound from the DVD. The lightning flashes and bangs drive Molly under the bed (Quite a squeeze), but bring the temperature right down, Lovely.

The recently excavated House of Augustus.

Farnese Gardens .
The Colluseum from the Paletine Hill.

Day 87

Day 87. Fri 25th June.
Coliseum and Forum.

Into Rome for a close up of the Coliseum, what an insane crush and inside its like the wreck of an ancient building site.
It looks much more impressive from the outside and we could have save ourselves a couple of hours queing and bumping around. Though you do get great views of the Forum and Palatine hill, our next destinations.
The Roman Forum is a vast site and it takes a lot of imagination to reconstruct the heart of the Roman Empire from the remaining piles of rubble. Especially in the heat of the midday sun. It needs much better curating and signage to differentiate one pile from another but we eventually get the hang of it, and it’s absolutely riveting.
Hot and tired we head to the nearby, quirky Enoteca Corsi for lunch. The food is good but portions are small bordering on the downright mean.

Heat and miles of walking mean by 2 pm we’ve had enough but hit a public transport strike and have scorched 2-mile walk back to the station, where fortunately the trains have started to run. Meltingly hot.

Can you see what it is yet? The Roman Forum

Is that a cornucopia in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?

Day 86.

Day 86. Thurs 24th June.
Souvenirs.

A highly productive day at the wang. At last I get the blog right up to date. It means a rather indigestible lump of new postings to wade through. I feel a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
Resolve to keep up to date on a more regular basis. Lets see how I do, shall we?
Our girl is suffering. She has been mixing with a lot of low campsite dogs and many have left her with souvenir fleas.
The treatment here is awful, soaking her down, rubbing her hair the wrong way and spraying her with a foul smelling gunk that makes even us gag. She is so wretched and miserable we have to let her on the bed where she snuggles in the whole night. Sorry Molls.

Day85

Day 85.Wed 23rd June.
Happy Birthday to you.

Andy’s 46th Birthday and its our first trip into the eternal City. The campsite has a half hourly bus to the nearest Station and it’s a 1 euro 25 min trip into Flaminio. The train delivers us right to the spectacular Piazza del Popolo.
Just like any other classical Piazza, only with knobs on. What a thrilling first sight of the city.
Visit the Fontana di Trevi, the Vittoriano (love it or hate er,hate it obviously).
Had a colossal lunch before staggering down the Via del Corso to the colosseum.
That was it, we were done in and Andy’s birthday dinner awaited. A special menu of Melon wrapped in Parma ham (the good stuff). Pan grilled roasted vegetable with steak and a birthday cake made with Maize and Almonds.
Happy happy day.
Some Roman geezer, Casear.
Trevi Fountain.

Happy birthday to you.

HOW OLD!

Day 84.

Day 84.Tuesday 22nd June.
Catching up.

Very behind with the blog and the photo files, so set too with a vengeance. Good Internet connectivity speeds the process up. As do a few stinging complaints from the schoolmarm element of the followers (you know who you are).

Day 83

Day 83.Mon 21st June.
A perfect start.

Did I mention the showers? The ones at Camping Tiber are spacious, bright, clean with plentiful hot water and free.
When you’re out of your comfort zone (who can possibly be in one, Camping?) such things take on exaggerated importance.
A perfect start to the day, if it weren’t for the piped music I would move in.
An all day, giant supermarket shop and a second visit to IKEA to pick up a few civilising bits for the wang. We so love it here.
Jolly new socks, jolly new rug. Coordination is EVERYTHING.

Day 82

Day 82. Sun 20th June.
It aint here.

The IKEA trip has sparked something dark, deep in our subconscious, and in a blood hot shopping frenzy we fell upon the nearest outlet mall like ravening beasts.
We came away with a hugely overpriced (but gorgeous) shirt and snazzy underwear for Andy (birthday looming). Some vivid long socks for me and that was it.
A major disappointment, we are utterly spoiled by our weekly Cinema and shopping trips to Gunwharf Quays, whatever we are looking for on our trip it certainly wasn’t here.