Castel Sant'Angelo

Saturday 21st June 2014

Another blog post by the mother

A slow start this morning following our late night last night.  We made our way to the Piazza San Pietro and joined Nana and Grandad and a very long queue of others to visit St Peters basilica. The queue did move relatively quickly but we still had a bit of time to chat and do a bit of people watching.  Interesting things spotted in the square - sneaky queue jumpers "Oh, is there a queue?", nuns from at least ten different orders, lots of young priests - not something we see a lot of in NZ these days.

 The Swiss Guard are doing their usual sterling job of guarding Papa Francesco and trying to look dashing in their court jester uniforms.

 Inside the basilica was very ornate and also very crowded. What did make our visit special however was that mass was being celebrated so it was nice to see the basilica being used for it's true purpose. Only one missing person today - Grandad - who we managed to find without too much difficulty. From St Peters we walked down (via a gelato shop of course) to the Castel Sant'Angelo which has been the traditional bolt hole for the Pope if trouble has arisen.

 It was wonderful to escape the heat inside the cool heart of the castle.  We made our way up the ramps to the top of the castle where there is a statue of the Archangel Michael.  Apparently in 590 AD the angel appeared at the top of the castle signalling the end of a plague epidemic and thus the castle got its name.

 The views from the top of the castle are fantastic and you can see right around central Rome.

 Nana and Grandad were keen to do some more sightseeing after the Castle but the grandchildren were keen on lunch and a rest.  Nana and Grandad set off for a grand walking tour of Rome while we went to catch the bus home.  We ended up at the same bus stop as the previous evening and  history then repeated itself.  We waited, and waited, and waited, and waited ... Finally after an hour or false promises by the electronic bus arrivals board the bus turned up.  By this time everyone was hot, fed up and totally ready for another gelato.

 We took so long to get back to the apartment that we had barely eaten a late lunch before Nana and Grandad arrived at 5.30pm to out to dinner.  We decided to walk up the Janiculum Hill before dinner and see the botanical gardens.  Well, we didn't manage to see much of the gardens but we did find the Acqua Paolo Fountain which we now know is a favourite backdrop for Roman newlywed's wedding photos.  In the time we spent up at the fountain we saw five different wedding parties.  The girls were in heaven and I was pretty happy too - I do love a good wedding!

Apart from all the bridal parties there were also some pretty amazing views out over Rome.

 Walking back down the hill we gave Nana and Grandad a brief tour of Trastevere including a visit to the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.  Evening mass had just begun when we wlaked in and we were treated to beautiful singing and the opportunity to see the basilica being used as a place of worship rather than just as a tourist spot.
The kids insisted that we take Nana and Grandad to Ivo's for pizza for dinner.  It was a lot busier tonight but the pizza was still delicious.  I'm not sure that our homemade pizzas are ever going to make the grade again once we get home!   The father finally got to have his long awaited Tiramisu for dessert tonight - fortunately Mr 14 helped him out with it as it was enormous.

 

We walked Nana and Grandad back out to the main road and then said our good-byes before they headed back to their hotel.  It has been lovely to have been able to share this time with them in Rome.
Up early again tomorrow to pack before we head off to the airport and our flight to Hong Kong.