Day 7 – Running, Rain, Rome

Today was the first day of our 3-day “Hop On/Hop Off” (Ho-Ho) bus pass.  It’s a bus tour through Roma Christiana that is comprised of 2 buses with 8 & 12 stops respectively that will take you around to the various sites for a price.  MIL got a great price for the tickets and given how spread many of the sites are this will be a blessing.  In addition, you get a free pair of headphones to plug into the bus that will tell you about all the sites nearby (4-6 sites per stop).  Pretty cool! 

The 12 of us head out and the first stop is at the main street just in front of the Vatican.  As we approach, though, we hear a band.  We’ve heard bands at the Vatican before, but this sounds “official”.  It turns out the Rome Marathon is today. What this means for us (we eventually find out) is that there will be NO buses running until after 1pm.  Still, the runners are all entertaining… a Papa Smurf runs by, a juggler, a Minnie Mouse, a guy in running shorts, knee socks & gloves… and finally, the barefoot guy that appeared to be partially wrapped in only a scarf.  Oh my.

It’s all very entertaining, but there are THOUSANDS of runners, and the street is going to be blocked off for some time.  But this is Rome… where “blocked off streets” don’t necessarily mean much.  There is apparently an unwritten rule about when “blocked off” really means that… and when it’s really more of a guideline.  So… after a long while… and LOTS of rain… we head further down the street and find that as the number of runners has thinned, a number of people are sporadically making it across the street.  Okay.  We’ll go from playing “Dodge Car” to “Dodge Marathon Runner” and make it across… then another street… it’s still raining. 
 

We really need something to do for several hours, includes lunch, and is nearby.  The Castel Sant’Angelo is “right there”.  We’ve taken pictures of the outside, but never ventured inside… today is apparently the day. J 



 

It’s really quite a fortress.  Built originally in 135 AD as Hadrian’s Mausoleum on the Tiber River it has lots of ramps, bricks, and battlements.  Alaric’s Visigoths sacked the joint in 400 or so and the Catholic Church reclaimed it in the 14^th Century.  It’s interesting with the “Armed Angel” statues (that 2 of the children pointed out aren’t ‘broke’ – LOL!)  This, and the bridge that leads to the Castle are some of my favorites.  We make our way through the turnstile and start our way up the ramps/steps.  

Hadrian hasn’t been here in a while, but it’s been historically used as the “get-away in times of siege” for the Popes as there is a secret passage from St. Peter’s to the Castle. Obviously, modern day threats don’t really allow for a fortified castle to be the kind of deterrent necessary… so it’s a museum.  Lots of cannons, balls (that are far too large for these sized cannons), and a lovely café’ about 2/3 of the way up.  We opted for lunch consisting of some WONDERFUL Panini & Coke (though wine would’ve been noticeably cheaper) and ventured outside… into the rain.  So much rain.

Some time later the bus we’re waiting for is pulling up, but even though we have tickets… and have been waiting… some people cut in front with the pushing & shoving and we have to wait another 15 minutes for the next one.  Most of us decide that we’d like to sit on top because even though it’s an ‘open bus’, it DOES have a roof.  The headphones turn out to be worth every penny, but the ride itself is good because we are up high above the traffic and can see parts of Rome we haven’t gotten to.

At one of the stops the rain starts coming down in earnest, and frankly, some of the 12 are less than enthusiastic about sitting on an open bus section with torrential downpours.  Even the Principal eventually asks if he can have my seat (in the middle of the bus) and he’ll let me sit on his lap – LOL!  Doodlebug (who was up front and in the corner getting the wettest even with a poncho) heads down below with MIL and by the time we make the full circuit of the stops we decide we’ve all had quite enough excitement and opt for walking home.  The sun came out around 4pm and was quite lovely.

Enough people had sore feet (etc) that we decided to sit around and play cards, either real or digital, and family time was fun.  Lots of laughter, silliness… just the kind of thing you do, except the 12 of us are all really living in 4 different states, so family vacation is a great time to do this.