Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Villa Borghese, last night in Rome!

Feeling the need for some green space, and fitting in one more Gallery before our time in Rome is up, Marc has suggested the Villa Borghese in one of the far end neighbourhoods of Rome - that we were close to trying to find our first walking tour on Day 2. This time, we're far more acclimatized to the transit system, and we've used our week's pass well for €24 each. We map out our route, pack up our lunch and thermos and hit the pavement for one last massive day.

Once you get out of the downtown core of Rome,mother neighbourhoods become far more leafy, and for the 2nd time in this area we come upon wide boulevards filled with walkers, scooters, families out for the day. One of the attributes we love about Italy (and there are many!), is their penchant for statues and busts. Their country's history is everywhere, and the parks never disappoint. Massive monuments everywhere, and what I particularly love is the bust-lined roads, that appear more frequently than you'd imagine.


We enter the massive public park adjacent to the Villa, and sits high up above Rome. We head to the Lake House to see what that's about. Calm, peaceful, a beautiful mid-afternoon stroll.



Circling through the park, we find our way to the Villa Borghese, once home to one of the Popes, who's art collection it now houses. The Meridiana gardens are still being worked, here Paperwhites and mini-daffodils in bloom, and the last of the lemons and limes still on the trees.


We notice this iron rooftop sitting between two gardens, with a sculpted building and realize it was the Pope's Aviary, housing exotic birds from around the world.





Everywhere we turn on the villa property is a beautifully quiet, smell-good walk, a perfect antidote to the crazy intensiveness of our 8 days in Rome.


We've had to pre-book tickets for our 5 pm entrance, days and times fill up very quickly with only a certain number of people entering at a time. This is a marble statue of Napoleon's sister, Paolini, who married into the Borghese family solidifying a political alliance, commissioned by herself!, and causing quite a scandal when it was unveiled. Life size.


This is a 6 inch portion of a larger relief which tells the story of Andromeda and Perseus. Marble.


This marble statue of Apollo and Daphne at their moment of connection is actually one of the most striking statues I've seen.



Don't be this person! She sat there for 45 minutes checking Facebook. We'll cut her some slack, remembering those days, trying to figure out how to rebel when taken somewhere you absolutely do not want to be! But don't be that person!


Trying to find our way back to downtown Rome, Marc has worked hard mapping the route. We do find the bus stop for the 116, but in Italian, a notice has been posted that the route is suspended. Convincing him that hailing a cab - PLEASE - is not a sign of defeat! We're approaching having logged what we figure is 180 kms on foot since we began. I am so in need of a rub! I quietly suggest that we have earned a cab, we are under budget so far on this trip, it's dark and now we're thirsty and starving! Splurge a little on our last night in Rome!  We do.

And this is the restaurant he's seen on his runs, and it's a happy happy place! Loud, live music, Great beer, wine, and 3 courses of food.


For Stephanie - so many Pymm combos on the drinks menu!


We head home along the Tiber, all alit, centuries of commerce along these shores.


My Orpheus, in mosaic, as glad as I am that we've been in our last monumental space for a few days. It takes time to absorb it all!



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