heavenly tears

I was awake from 4:30 am this morning so had lots of time to plan our route for this morning. I had a quest planned for the best maritozzo in Rome which was a 40 minute walk from here. I got up just after 7, got ready and hustled Carm out of bed and into the shower. We were out of the room by 8, leaving June and Anthony to their own devices this morning. My route brought us past our favourite coffee shop near the Pantheon for an espresso (double this morning after such a short sleep!). Lo and behold, they had maritozzo so we thought we'd do a comparison. Shades of buttertart summer!

From there we marched through the alleys to Trevi Fountain - it was early so no big crowds yet. The sun was shining on the white marble version of Oceanus, bringing him to life. Of course I took a photo, the first of many for today.

The streets were already busy, but after a turn that brought us through a long busy tunnel where we exited into the ‘new Rome’...  not ancient but still historical! I wanted to take us off the beaten path, out of the tourist area. It seemed that we were walking for ages, long enough for Carm to start complaining that I was wasting his ‘feet’ on a stupid quest. He didn't know that I'd planned the route to pass Santa Maria Maggiore which is the Pope's basilica in Rome. I thought it would be a quick stop but when we went through the doors we were gob smacked. Carm's bad mood evaporated immediately!

The space soared to heaven with the art paying homage to God and other religious figures. When we finally emerged, my eyes were wet with emotion.

It took much longer than I thought, so we skipped out on the quest, and headed back to the Palazzo Barbarini where the Bernini exhibit was. I'd bought the tickets online but got mixed up and purchased the wrong ones. Luckily there were still tickets for the exhibit.

I have no words to describe the experience but I walked out of there almost sobbing with emotion (being tired probably put me on a hair trigger). It was incredible. (I'm tearing even writing about it).

Since we'd already paid for the tickets into the ‘regular’ gallery, we decided to take a quick tour through. Well… again… I have no words. I was still feeling quite emotional so it didn't take much to move me. I've not spent much time in my life in Art galleries - I only had a passing interest, but this! Gosh! OMG!

We took the scenic route back to our apartment and settled in for a quiet lunch. We tossed in a load of laundry, had a plate of peppers and cheese, and then started writing. I wanted to somehow capture the experience today but words have failed me.

This afternoon we will get some gelato, maybe some time at our local patio, and then supper. I combed through all my notes this morning (the middle of the night!) to figure out a destination for supper tonight - we've chosen something closer! I'm going to post this now 

Ciao!

Awesome!

“everything everywhere!”

“celebrating 39 years together in Rome!”