Today we had a lovely lazy start to the day and got down to our little coffee shop at 10:30 or so. I had to take this picture of the little street in back of our building on the way. I can almost touch the walls on either side and it’s an actual street! Oh, the charms of Rome!
Our plan today was to explore an area of the city we had not yet seen so we opted to go to the Trident area, a place which includes the famous Spanish steps, the largest Piazza in Rome, called the Piazza Novena as well as the most high-end streets of shopping in the city.
We had to take the bus for this one, it was going to be too much to walk there and walk around. The bus was easy to find and take and also cheap so we were happy with that decision. Walking to the Piazza, we passed a newer building built around ancient ruins, just everyday stuff in Rome.
We see this around just about every Piazza in Rome and also around many government buildings and museums. Sometimes more men and vehicles but this type of thing at a minimum. Sensible nowadays, I suppose.
This is one of the three fountains in the Piazza, there is also an Egyptian obelisk for good measure.
Jack by another fountain.
A photo showing the size of this Piazza.
We stopped here for coffee and a snack after having some fantastic gelato along the route and then we looked for the shopping streets on the way to the Spanish steps. We found this to be a much more crowded area than we have seen on many of our travels here. Other than the crazy day that we did the Pantheon and the Forum, etc,. the crowds have been reasonable. Surprisingly, today was very crowded all over this part of town and we thought it being Monday that it might be a bit quieter. I can’t imagine what the weekend looks like here.
We found a terrific store full of Murano glass items, a favorite of mine, and Jack was very patient while I examined everything in that store and lusted after it all and then had to get reasonable due to the fact that everything needs to be carted home in a suitcase. I did buy a couple of small things. 🙂
We then found all the usual suspects of luxury stores and I had my fun in Prada, Fendi, Chanel, Dior, Bulgari and the others. I love to look in these stores, I am not intimidated by the doormen or the salespeople or the decor. I think I just view these places as a different sort of museum, the items really are like art pieces, often displayed in a similar manner and I enjoy appreciating them by looking at them. Once in a great while, I might even make a purchase, but I have to be in love. That did not happen today, but I did find a beautiful huge silk scarf/wrap that my lovely husband purchased for me at a store where we did not have to obtain a second mortgage in order to buy it.
We found a tram in the area that would take us back almost to the steps of a nice little bar/pizzeria where Jack and I have visited a few times before on this trip. The waiter is a great young guy from Syria who speaks about six languages and on our first visit recommended this big beer to us. Jack fell in love and now we were back for the third time. He greeted us with a huge smile, asking how our day was, if we had fun and if we wanted that big beer again. We said yes to all !
Adventures after Retirement 