Rome or Bust: Day 1- 29-30th Dec

This trip has been on our bucket list but still thought it would never happen!!


The combination of Mark's 50 days of accrued leave - some of which needed to be taken and Maureen only having the Christmas holidays as a realistic period to travel to Europe pushed us to make a quick decision.


After a lot of planning and last minute checking with Timothy who is looking after John and Nicholas alone for the first week of our trip we left on Thursday 29th December on Singapore Airlines to Singapore.  This was an uneventful flight and at its end was 7 hours wait in Singapore.  


We did some exploring of the huge Changi complex and booked up a transit hotel for the return flights.  We tried to sleep in the quiet rest area which had reclining chairs.  More than a power nap proved difficult dues to a procession of noisy people walking through the area, loud children and patrons talking to each other.  Mark tried the free foot massage which was like a mechanical vice rotating around - not really relaxing as there was a fear that the machine may turn and devour the foot.


The flight to Rome left at 2.10 am Singapore time and this late hour seemed to induce sleep at least for a few hours.  The flight was marked but good service and weather although there was some turbulence over Iraq.


We arrived in Rome at 6.40 and were waved through customs.  However it took 40 minutes for our baggage to come around the carousel. Eventually we met our transfer taxi and sped off to Trastevere, passing by the huge St Paul's outside the Walls and the Circus Maximus.  Trastevere Map was originally called Trans Tiberium and is across ('trans') the Tiber (Latin for river 'vere') from the main city.  Historians argue that the original Romans (Estruscans) founded this area.  In ancient times it was a place of gardens and horticulture with some Emperors having residences there.  


Our first impressions of Trastevere were that it was an amazing community of streets and back streets that one could get lost in for weeks.  Around every corner was another ancient wall, church or other building that had character.  At times the Aurelian wall built around the area - Emperor Aurelian of Rome (270-275 AD) recognized the threat from Germanic tribes near the borders of the Roman Empire, and he decided it was time to build a wall to protect the city. Where the Aurelian walls were


At our cosy apartment in Via Titia Scarpetta Flatinrome 7 we were met by the owner's (Massimo) son Leonardo who showed us around and also took me out to try my travel card and purchase a local phone sim card. 

 After a rest and lunch we did some shopping at the local Trastevere supermercato - and bumbled our way through the check out.  

 On Ponte Garibaldi Looking towards Ponte Sisto

In the afternoon we walked to the Vatican up the east side of the Tiber looking at all the amazing bridges as we went.  

Ponte Mazzini

Eventually we made it to the superb Victor Emmanuel II Bridge which has  Four marble groups symbolizing the Defeat of Oppression, the Unity of Italy, the Allegiance to the Statute, and Liberty.  This made way for a walk up the stunning Via della Concilianzione to St Peter's Square and Basilica.  All this was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and is breathtaking to see for the first time

We had a close look at the Nativity and then waited in the queue to get into St Peter's for a first look for Maureen.  Mark was able to run the gauntlet of the Vatican guards and get our tickets for the New Years Day Mass (Feast of Solemnity of Mary) to be celebrated by Pope Benedict at 9.30 on 1st January.

It had been a long day and we went to bed at 6pm when the sun went down for a longed for horizontal sleep.