Rome - day 1 - part 2

After we left the Spanish Steps we happened upon something that we had not planned for. We found Via Margutta. This is the street that Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) lived on in the fantastic movie Roman Holiday. Do yourself a favor and watch it if you haven't already.


Via Margutta is also famous for being an artsy street with fashionable restaurants. It is also a kind of exclusive place to live.

Sarah the Scofflaw parties in the face of a sign that strictly states that there should be no partying. Since we found this famous street, we decided to explore some more to see if there actually was a Via Margutta 51, the address of Joe Bradley.

There is a Via Margutta 51, and it looked terrible. Hopefully they are restoring it to its 1950s glory. Sarah was not happy.

From Via Margutta we continued on to the Piazza del Popolo. Before enjoying the piazza, we climbed the hill to search for a church that was actually at the bottom of the hill. So we took advantage of our high spot and gazed around the city. Above you can see the Vittorio Emanuele II monument. Victor Emmanuel was the first king of a united Italy. I have heard his monument described as a wedding cake and a typewriter.

The view down to the Piazza del Popolo. Just our of view to the right is the Porto del Popolo. There are eight ancient Egyptian obelisks and five ancient Roman obelisks in Rome. This Egyptian one is an obelisk of Ramses II.

Once back down from the hill, we went into Santa Maria del Popolo. There are a lot of Santa Marias in Rome. This one had two amazing Caravaggio paintings. One of the side chapels has his Conversion on the Way to Damascus and...

The Crucifiction of St. Peter. My pictures do no justice.

After the church we strolled around the Piazza del Popolo some more and decided to relax with our feet in one of the fountains. My legs are the ones on the right.

We decided to end our sightseeing at the Trevi Fountain. It is a huge Baroque fountain that draw a ton of tourists (like everything else in Italy). It is said that if you throw a coin into the fountain you are guaranteed a return to Rome. There are also other legends about throwing coins that result in something, such as the old "three coins in the fountain" thing. I read that 3000 Euros are collected from the fountain every day.

But the huge crowds are definitely a reason not to stay too long.

Then on the way home I got my first glimpse (since 2004) of the Colosseum. We'd see it more before the trip was through.