Onwards and upwards

We are just about to head to the airport and say goodbye to Rome. I definitely enjoyed it much more this time around, though, I'm not sure I will be in a rush to come back.

Next stop for me is Scotland. I have changed my original plans (was thinking about going through France to get back to England), and instead, I am going to explore the land of haggis, kilts, bagpipes and highland dancing. Plus it is where my Dad grew up. Have been wanting to go to Scotland for a while, so I'm pretty excited. I am aiming to do quite a bit of walking to work off this week. Should be good.

Rome in ruins

Mum, Dad, Nanna and Grandad went off this morning to see the Pope (along with 20,000 others, no joke), and I went to wander around the Jewish Ghetto - yes, it is officially called the Ghetto. I came across this elegant fountain, the Fontana delle Tartarughe, which has some young folk pushing tortoises into the bath. Of all the fountains I have seen in Rome - and we saw the Trevi Fountain today which was so impressive - this must be my favourite.

This afternoon, after hearing all about the pope, we wandered around Capitoline, one of the hills on which Rome is built, the geographic centre of Rome, and the inspiration for the word 'capitol'. Next to Capitoline is the old Roman forum - quite unbelievable to think that Caesar walked around here. I could just picture Brutus lunging with dagger towards Caesar in his final moments!

Jeans are feeling a bit tight

I have come to the very easy conclusion that the thing I like most about Rome is the food. Some of the pastries and bakery treats are like nothing you can buy in Aussie, and the delis are overwhelming in the variety of cheese and meats and everything else that they stock.

And the pasta... I have now had for lunch, three days in a row, bucatini all'amatriciana. It is so good. Today we went to the restaurant where amatriciana was meant to have begun. Regardless of whether this is true or not, it was delicious.

As well as gutsing myself today (thanks Tom for this lovely turn of phrase), I spent a bit of time wandering around the shops. Didn't really find much, but I did come across a street that had several shops selling items for priests. Not sure why this should be surprising (particularly in Rome - I have never seen so many priests in my life!), I guess I just never thought about the idea that priests would have to buy their garb from somewhere. I wonder if there are trends in their robes ('silver embroidery is out, this season, its all about the gold!')?

A post on the Pantheon and the Pope

Massive day today touring Rome. Round every corner there seemed to be some notable church or other historical monument. Perhaps the highlight for me though (at least in terms of significant and serious places of interest) was visiting the Pantheon - the world's largest concrete dome without any support, built 2000 years ago. Below is part of the dome from inside - there is a round hole in the roof just out of this shot.

Another highlight, was seeing the (former) pope (below). Ah, the opportunity for jokes with this have no bounds. I was literally like a kid in a candy shop in this store - they had the biggest selection of gelato I have ever seen - I counted 128 flavours! No joke.

Towards the end of the day we climbed the Castel Sant'Angel, where the pope used to hide when the common folk rose up against papal rule. There was a great view from the top - here is a photo of (a massive) me with (a small) Rome in the background.