Tuesday 18th June  -  Rome
Today we needed to discover the rest of the wonders of Rome so that when you say "Did you see.....?" We could answer nonchalantly  "Of course " This definitely  required two circuits on the trusty hop-on-hop-off bus. We managed front seats upstairs in a canopied bus the first circuit so had a regally chauffeured drive around the Eternal City. Also we could hear the commentary and it was in English so we were really on a roll. The 1 1/2 hour circuit gave us an excellent overview, and of course we had also done an in-depth explore of some of the wonders.

That necessitated lunch which we had in the beautiful train station where I discovered yet another wonder, the Baba cake. My goodness, I wish I hadn't left that till the last day.

Sufficiently re-fuelled, we sallied forth again, targeting the wonders we had not examined close-up. The Pantheon was first on our hit list.
That was built between 27 and 25BC  and dedicated to all gods of pagan Rome. In 608AD it became a Christian church.  It had a mystical aura about it and once again I was offended by the narcissistic obsession with photography before such spiritual works of art.  One section of it was cordoned off for people who wanted to sit in peace while all around were the masses who were only interested in how they looked with this wallpaper behind them.

We then walked on to discover the Fontana di Trevi which is certainly the most beautiful fountain in Rome (if not the world) and was built in 1762 in the Baroque style. I was astonished that it was sandwiched between a plethora of shops and ristorantes in the square which serves as a theatre. The central statue of Neptune is flanked by magnificent side statues symbolizing the abundance and health that water has always given to Rome. There are water fountains throughout the city so that pedestrians (and their dogs) have access to water 24/7.
We stayed on in that area so that Peter could rest with a pina colada and crepe and I could enjoy the fountain longer on my own, and then do my last bit of shopping.

Our last must-see was the Spanish Steps in the Piazza di Spagna built in 1629. There were crowds of people there, the armed military and police so obviously something was being planned . We thought that could be our exit point so we completed 13,000 steps back onto the next bus. We have been averaging that number per day but I don't think they will compensate for the Roman diet that we have been enjoying.

So tomorrow we will be picked up with our 2 suitcases each and driven to the airport ready for our 38 hours of travel through Hong Kong back to Auckland's winter. And that is the downside of going away. It has been a superb trip - our teenage OE that we missed out on really.
Arrivedercci Roma.