Day 3 - Rome

Places Visited:
Spanish Steps
Villa Borghese
Borghese Gallery
Via del Corso


Today started off much like the rest. Breakfast at 9 and then off to the sights.

I wish I thought to bring one of those pedometers. Today, we must of walked 10 miles.

The places we visited today were probably the furthest distance from our hotel. At times, we thought we may have been lost, because of the constant turns and tiny alley ways we had to navigate. But Ed kept us on course and we made it to our first stop, the Spanish Steps. It was before noon and wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. From there, we made our way to a park called Villa Borghese.

Inside the park was our second stop of the day, the Borghese Gallery. Its a reservation only gallery and you must make your reservation at least 2 days in advance. We didn't have any problem getting in because Amy's mom made the reservations before we even left the US. They only give you 2 hours to browse and after that, they clear the place out for the next group. It was ok, I guess. As nice as any museum can get. I was amazed at how difficult it must of been carving out of marble the many different sculptures that were on display. My favorite was Bernini's Apollo Chasing Daphne. The place was originally a villa built by a Cardinal Borghese, a great art collector. The second floor of the gallery are mostly paintings, something that Jacob, Amy and myself made a quick run thru.

On our way into the park, we saw a place where you can rent bikes. This is where we stopped after visiting the gallery. We ended up renting a thing with four wheels, four sets of pedals, two steering wheels (one didn't work), and two batteries. The Thing allowed us to explore the park with ease. It was like the movie, Driving Ms. Amy, Ms. Anne, Mr. Ed and Mr. Jacob, and I played Morgan Freeman. It wasn't all that hard to pedal. Once you got going, the batteries would kick in and it was like coasting on a bike. It actually got going at a pretty good clip when going downhill. All I heard was, "You need to slow down Andy". The break was located next and underneath the steering wheel. Sort of like where the stick on a 70's automatic american car. When you pulled down on it to stop, it made a really loud screech. It defiantly let someone know that you wanted to pass.

After about 20 minutes into our hour long rental, we found a pond in what looked like Monet painting. There were geese, ducks and very large goldfish. There were also boats that you could rent. Jacob was all over that and another movie was made, Rowing Mr. Jacob. For 3 euros each you could rent a small row boat for 20 minutes. Jacob and I were off while Amy, Anne and Ed stayed on shore. It took about 5 minutes to get the boat going in the right direction and probably another 5 to get use to turning. Jacob and I posed for a couple of pictures and I then let Jacob row for the rest of our time...

Gotta end this now, its getting late. I'll finish this in the morning...

SPQR