All Roads Lead to Piazza Navona

They don't really, but it sure seems as though no matter where I have wandered, I can manage to end up near a sign pointing towards Piazza Navona.  It's big.  It's probably not meant to be brash, but the Piazza Navona certainly is brash just now as it is lined with street vendors.  I still haven't gotten one of those giants donuts which you can get smeared with Nutella.  What's not to like about that?  And I saw a "Nutella-to-Go" item in the grocery store.  That cracked me up.  No, I haven't bought any.  Yet.

There's a carousel to the left of the Bernini statue as you are facing the Borromini building.  Though the figures in the statue are meant to be responding to  Borromini's work of the building, they could be responding to the crass commercialism now in this Piazza.

The forecast for the day was overcast and drizzly, which is not unusual for this time of year, or so I'm told, but the morning broke clear and cool.  Springlike when I compare it to the high 20sF in Chicago.

My first stop of the morning: Fountain of Trevi.  It's easy to amble down a street and then BAM! there it is.  Though the increasing volume of voices should be a giveaway that you are closing in on Something Important.  The fountain is huge and quite impressive at 85 feet high and 65 feet wide.  Like so much in Rome, the Fountain of Trevi has a complicated history influenced by ego and power, perhaps the need to insure a legacy. 

Surrounding the steps leading to the fountain are the inevitable tsotchke vendors and the occasional street artist.  I've seen several Statues of Liberty, usually in white or silver, though one was in blue.  It does no good to mutter that they should be green though I do it anyway.

After the Fountain of Trevi, by happenstance, the Spanish Steps.  What is fascinating about the Spanish Steps is not the steps themselves, but the hoards of people.  What's important to understand is that the Piazza de Spagna is on Via del Babuino (no, not "Barbarino").  As you face the Fontana della Barcaccia (Bernini, c. 1629) with the Steps behind you, you'll be looking down Via Condotti and one of the first shops on the left is Gucci, then Bulgari, Vuitton, Valentino, etc.  You get the idea.  Via del Babuino may have Tiffany, Chanel, and Armani (casual), but the truly high-brow is on Via Condotti.  Go to the end of this street, hang a left on Via del Corso (a lovely shopping boulevard itself), and then another left on Via Borgognona for Levi, Calvin Klein, Fendi, and more Gucci.  There are a few other streets in this shopping mecca area, so be sure to study your Spanish Steps maps to plan your shopping trek, even if it's only for window shopping.  The prices may not look bad in euro, but then you must do the math to convert to your currency of choice.  I should note there's a lovely leather goods shop on Via del Babuino southeast of the Steps and, unfortunately, next to a McDonald's.

And so, up the Spanish Steps to the obelisk--of which there are many in Rome. . . that was, apparently, "pilfered from Egypt" which would explain the hieroglyphics--and down the street to meander towards to the Villa Borghese as I have a date at the museum.  Again, easy to be distracted by lovely hotels and shops but I was anxious to get to the park.

Up the Via di Porta Pinciana and past posh hotels on the right and a very high wall on the left, guarding the edges of the Borghese property.  Through the Porta Pinciana, a "portal through the great wall around Rome" which was built in 400 AD.  And then the noise and traffic of the city were left behind.  It was like walking into a completely different universe.  The further I walked into the park, the more distant the sound of the traffic and horns and sirens.  It was quite lovely.  And it was truly wonderful to have time to wander through the park, look at statues and trees and open spaces.  I had plenty of time before my appointed time to enter the Galleria Borghese.

I hardly know what to say about this art museum.  I walked in the door and was stunned by the gorgeousness of the first room, especially its ceiling.  Visitors are not allowed to take pictures and there is no way on earth I can possibly explain how spectacularly gorgeous the exhibits are.  You must just go.  It's not a huge museum, but you will be breathless in room after room.  There is a two-hour limit.  Use your time wisely.  Because I am something of a cretin, I went through the entire first floor quite quickly and then went back more slowly to the rooms I really wanted to see and in which I wanted to spend more time.  I did go upstairs and wandered through those rooms more leisurely.  The stairs are somewhat steep, but you can stop and look out the windows at the gardens while you catch your breath if you need.

I left through the gate that read Villa Borghese.  Just across the street was a car dealership for Maserati and Ferrari, and to the left of that was a Harley Davidson shop.  No lie.  I've not seen many big bikes zooming around Rome, but clearly they can be bought.

So my random observations of Rome:

• Italians smoke too much.
• Hotel room charges are based on size of the room.  What is "superior" in Rome might not be what we would consider the same in the States.
• Many women seem to have colored their hair remarkable shades of red that are not found in nature.
• Dinner "hour" really doesn't begin until after 7:30P or so as some restaurants don't even open until 7:30P.  I ate tonight at the Due Colonne (two columns in the restaurant) and a huge crowd entered around 8:30P.

What I forgot to say about the Colosseum:  it's a place designed to reinforce the class system.  There were steep stairs for the lower class and on up to the "cheap seats."  Deeper stairs with little or no steepness for the upper class and a ramp for the members of the Senate.

Another extraordinary day in Rome.