06.10 - Day 265 - Rome, ITA
Sunday 6th October - Roma, Italy (Day 265)
Breakfast in the dining room which is surprisingly full given we haven’t seen or heard another guest until now. I wonder if the nun tasked with manning the coffee machine expected to be serving cappuccinos when she joined the monastery?
The kids are happy to play with their balloons from yesterday in the room but Kate - the tour guide for Rome whilst on school holidays - has bigger plans.
Castel Sant’Angelo is our first destination - Kate had reached out to Danny - of Hazel and Emmett fame from Thailand - for tips and they’d said this was their favourite Rome spot a couple of months ago.
We’re there soon after opening and the queue is only 15/20 minutes. This imposing circular mausoleum from almost 2,000 years ago, turned fortress was certainly impressive with views over the city skyline.
As with most of our fort visits we try to plan how we would attack it even if Sienna and Seb’s ideas of helicopters and planes are not quite in the same era.
From here it’s only a hop skip and a jump to the smallest country in the world. Whilst we didn’t need passports there were two queues, one a cursory bag check followed by airport style bag scanning.
The reason is that at 11am the Pope appears at ‘his’ unassuming window to address the massed crowds. It is very crowded. The kids' almost non existent interest wanes even further when they realise he’ll speak in only Italian. So instead they sit on the floor playing with pebbles.
Apart from my limited knowledge of Rome / Vatican City from the Italian Job and Dan Brown books like Angels and Demons and Da Vinci Code, the only thing I am aware of is the Swiss Guard. So after the 10 minute address we seek some out in their bright uniforms and ornate spears.
Lunch is some pizza slices back in Italy (a couple of side streets away from the walls of Vatican City) before we split up.
Kate and Sienna head to a market and then back into Vatican City where they visit St Peter’s Basilica (above where St Peter, the first Pope was buried - is this stuff I should already know?) and climb the steps up to the dome with more sweeping views over Vatican City and Roma.
The basilica alone is impressive enough for Kate to recommend it for an early morning walk for me tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Seb and I have bussed a few kms north to the Olympic stadium to watch Lazio vs Empoli. After a mere three body pats and two ticket checks (which involves matching ID name check) Seb and I join the 42,000 supporters of which 41,950 are supporting Lazio and a single bus load of 50 away fans sit alone like an island, three empty bays either side of them.
There is chanting and giant flag waving for the next two hours - this is a very passionate crowd. To rile / encourage them further a singer walks onto the pitch belting out some apparent anthems everyone knows the words to, followed by a man releasing an eagle that swoops and loops the pitch, to more singing and music.
Even when Empoli take the lead against the run of play, the chanting is only silenced for a few moments before restarting. A glancing header just before halftime sends the crowd wild for 1-1.
A missed penalty from Lazio kept the crowd on edge before an 85th minute winner into the top of the net got everyone on their feet and sent them home happy.
Seb and I end up walking back to the Vatican City where we find Kate and Sienna to catch the bus back to the monastery for a restful sleep.