Via Veneto in Rome, 2016

My first trip to Rome was in 1965.  I was in the USAF and owned an old VW beetle which I drove all over Europe.  Once the Beetle and I arrived in Rome, I was to meet a woman somewhat older than me who was a distant relative of mine.  She worked at the U.S. embassy on Via Veneto.  At that time, VV was the second only to the Vatican in places of interest in Rome.

All of the most famous stars hung out there, and most of them stayed at the Majestic hotel.  From JFK to Fellini, to Burton and Taylor to dictators and criminals, the Majestic was THE place to have been.

Now, 50 years later, Kevin Kelleher arrives for his few nights at the Grande dame.  I had been searching furiously for weeks on hotel site trying to find a room in a convenient area with some comfort for $300. (Cdn.) or less without much luck.  Then on Venere, which mostly had junk at the time (altho I used it quite a lot in other Italian cities with great success), Hotel Majestic poppede up at 200 E instead of their usual 600-800 Euros.  I knew they must have had their worst room available at that rate, but I seized it.

The old dame has aged and been largely forgotten in Rome, but Via Veneto is a lovely street and I was glad to be back there.  The room was small, but really quiet, had a good bed, room safe and huge, all white marble bathroom.

When I was younger, I had not the patience for art and I breezed through the Sistine chapel.  Later I regretted that as I read more and more about the paintings on the ceiling there.

A friend kindly mentioned that I would have to buy a timed ticket on the Vatican Museums site.  Luckily I did that. When I first went to St. Peter's and the Sistine, 50 years ago, I don't think there were a dozen people in the Church and not more than two dozen in the Chapel.  There was no guard or security at all at the Church and  just one guard at the door of the Chapel

In the interim, while I was obv, not paying attention, the Vatican  created a new entrance in the pretty Prati area, of glass and metal now nicely hidden from the traditional views of the Vatican.  This entrance and charge (20 E.) encompasses all of the museums of the Vatican. It was lucky that my younger friend warned me about the internet ticket as the line up was blocks long.  But with that ticket, I went directly in and through security avoiding any line-up at all..

Once inside, the nightmare begins.  The immense crowds are funneled through many hallways and rooms in a genuine river of bodies jammed shoulder to shoulder, being constantly jostled for the next hour - with not one exit available to get out of there, not place to rest from the grind.  In the chapel itself, I went from side to side to grasp a rope or iron cable to look up at the works.  I did see many I greatly enjoyed and was surprised at the variety, perspectives, and perfection of the works and how they somehow were so harmonious as a whole.

Still, I could only really concentrate on finding a way out of this nightmare of tourism.  The exit ended right at the doors of St. Peter's but I wanted nothing more of the crowds, only to get away.  That was not easy.  On special occasions and important holidays, we often see thousands of chairs set up on the Bernini plaza, surrounded by temporary wood fences.  It looks to me as though that mess is no longer temporary, but instead permanent. 

Luckily once around it, and starving for some sort of food, I found a seller of Ice cream.  I ordered lemon flavour, but what he gave me was actually Lemon sherbert.  It was something I sought for the past several years and I was so surprised to find it.  It has a sharpness and full lemon flavour that I had found impossible to find anywhere else for years.

I then went on to Trastevere district.  It is like another world from Rome, although right along the Tiber, south of Vatican city.  It was at one time a Jewish neighbourhood, although it is hard to see anything particularly Jewish there.  I was only there a few hours, so may have missed some aspects.  It is so serene compared with heavily touristed areas of the city.  I wanted to stay in that area, but there are few hotels and poor transport, which may be the reason it is so nice

Photos above: The large, stubby tower is Castel san'angelo on the Tiber.   It has special meaning to me and others because in Puccini's opera, Tosca, the climax of the opera is when she leaps to hear death from that tower into the Tiber river.  However, the Rome visitor notices immediately that her leap must have covered about 200' horizontally as that is the distance to the River.

I happened to pass the Quirinale - the residence of Italy's president - during the changing of the guard with St. Peter's in the background on a fine October late afternoon.