Day 19- Roma

Day 19- 3 September 2008 Today we started off breakfast at the hostel and last nights tea made by our host "Tommo and his friend" was fantastic pasta, a great introduction to Italian culture and there were about 10 of us. It was very cosy. We first headed for Villa Borghese on the metro and after a very long walk with no idea where we were we finally found Galeria Borghese and we booked tickets to go through the very famous gallery. We sat in the park eating gelati near a fountain which was very Italian and then when our 2 hour slot came up we went through this building. Each room was amazing with painted ceilings that were like 3d images of people coming out of the roof, some floors were just as impressive with painstaking eye for detail mosaics and plenty of marble statues and plenty of great paintings. The was a feature on carravagio and his work. After the gallery we headed to the Plazza de spagna and the Spanish steps were we indulged in some pizza which you buy by the 100grams which was very tasty indeed. After a stop at the Spanish steps it was interesting all the things you are not allowed to do, for example, eating, drinking, defacating, singing, yelling. Quite interesting, they even have quasi police that patrol the steps and tell of would be law breakers. It was funny to see many people getting told off for eating on the steps. We then headed to Fountana di Trevi (the Trevi Fountain) which is much larger than i expected and much more impressive. There is neptune with two horse man taking his carriage. Here the same police patrol the area. Ness and I threw some money over our should into the fountain to ensure that we returned here sometime in the near future. From the fountain we headed to see Templo Adriano which is a building with very very large columns holding it up and a very impressive site. A short walk then found us at the Patheon which is a large column open air foyer which leads into one of the most impressive and largest dome Churches in the world. There is not much to see within the dome, but the largeness of the dome is all you need. We then headed to Plazza Novona which has a few fountains and impressive buildings but largely unexciting when compared to the rest of the feast that is roma. We then headed to Campo de Fiori where they traditionally have markets but the market was finishing up and we moved on to the Area Sacra which is an Argentinian sacred site of ruins in the middle of a square. After another short gelati stop we headed to Plazza de gesu which is another impressive building on our way to Monumento a vittorio emanuele 11 which is a very large impressive building in white with a large statute of a horseman on a chariot with 4 horses which is towering over on each side of the top of the building. There are also two large fountains on either side which we took advantage of and dipped out feet and hands in the water in the shade to beat the heat. Luckily after 20 minutes, we got our shoes back on and headed away whilst another quasi cop came over and started giving tickets to people for having the feet in the fountain. Luckily we avoid a ticket or jail for this heinous crime... Around the corner we saw Ara Coeil more ruins and the Plazza Campidoglio which is up some steps (a lot of steps) and at the top is an impressive building with a large horse and statue. You also have a fantastic view of the roman forum and Palentine from the top of this hill. We then headed and checked out the Foro Traiano , Colonna Tralana and Mercati Trainei which is a giant column statute, and more ruins (which is a current archaeological site). after a very long walk up a very long hill we reached the church Santa Maria Maggiore. After this we headed back to the hostel for a cool shower and a much needed rest. Interestingly we saw the tomb of the queen Margareta in the Patheon which is where the Margareta pizza was named after.. Ciao.