Rome again!

Sadly, we disembarked today, left our floating luxury hotel, and made our way by shuttle to the Hilton Airport Hotel. After dropping our luggage we left for the city centre, via the Trenitalia direct, and made our way first to the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum and then we walked to the Aventine Hill.

I wanted to see the Knights of Malta keyhole. The keyhole frames a telescopic view of St. Peter’s Basilica. From this vantage point you are looking across three countries: the autonomous property of the Knights of Malta (the Gran Priorato di Roma dell’Ordine di Malta) through a patch of Italy and then to the Vatican. 

I had not factored in the extreme heat (36C) but we continued our walk (with some grumbling in stereo) and passed the Circus Maximus on the way.

After an exhausting morning we stopped for lunch in a quaint air conditioned restaurant near Circus Maximus. I had a Caprese salad, 2 lemon Sodas, and 2 glasses of ice water.

We then made our way to our skip-the-line (after a 30 min. wait) audioguided walking tour of The Colosseum. It was really worth the effort to see this ancient structure again.

The trip grand finale was Jessi treating me to my first dinner at a Michelin star restaurant called Acquolina. It specializes in a mostly seafood menu. What an unbelievable, unforgettable and utterly perfect experience this was!!!👏👏👏👏

“The Romance of food never fades.”

Holy cow, time to call a cab it is 🕛 am!

Thanks for joining me on my singing /family holiday. I’ll be back in cool, wet BC tomorrow and ready to start rehearsal for Verdi’s Requiem.

Arrivederci Roma!