Villa Borghese
The Villa Borghese Gardens begin at the head of the Spanish Steps then spread our mostly to the north over 148 acres. They contain formal gardens, art galleries (Villa Medici, Galleria Borghese, and the National Gallery of Modern Art) and traditional park amenities like bike rentals, playgrounds and a zoo (Bioparco).
|
|
National Gallery of Modern Art
|
Etruscan Museum
The Etruscans were an advanced civilization that existed on the west coast of Italy north of Rome from the 9th to the 6th century BC. Very little is known about their language, but their skill in ceramics was highly developed and ancient Rome seems to have adopted much of their culture.
|
The museum is in the Villa Giulia, a beautiful renaissance palace dating from the mid 16th century. Pope Julius III commissioned the building, and it was transferred from one papal family to another until 1870 when the new Italian state confiscated it and eventually gave it to the National Etruscan Museum in the early 20th century.
|
|
The Museum is filled with Etruscan craft, fine maps and re-creations of their towns. There are hundreds of pieces of their distinctive gold on black ceramics. The prized piece is an almost life-size terracotta sarcophagus picturing a married couple reclining on their tomb at an everlasting banquet. Photography is not allowed. These are pictures from wikipedia.
|
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Banditaccia_Sarcofago_Degli_Sposi.jpg (sarcophagus)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MMA_etruscan_plate_5.jpg (plate) |
We capped our day with a late lunch at Ristorante all’ Orsetto (Lttle Bear) where I ate this pizza before it ate me. Bonnie had a more nutritious salad.
Then, early to bed. Tomorrow is the long journey home and we have to leave for the airport at 6 AM.
Then, early to bed. Tomorrow is the long journey home and we have to leave for the airport at 6 AM.
Flying Home
Thursday October 10:
Up at 6 AM to catch a 9:50 flight to JFK. Then a 3½ hour layover in New York before we have to catch a flight to Chicago. We get to our gate and wait 3 hours in a very crowded boarding area. We board the plane about 11, get settled, and await takeoff.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot. We have a problem. The air traffic controllers in France have gone on strike, so we can’t fly over France. We are submitting a new flight plan that will take us over Spain instead. But we’ll have to wait our turn, because a lot of other flights are doing the same thing.”
Two and a half hours later the pilot announces that we are cleared for takeoff. Our 3½ hour layover in New York is now down to 30 minutes – and we will have to go through customs and have our bags searched again. Anxiety rules.
The flight goes smoothly, but our stomachs are churning. What happens if we don’t make it? A night in NYC? The only positive I can find is that our connecting flight is also American Airlines.
When we get off the plane at JFK we have 30 minutes until our connecting flight leaves. American staff are pointing all passengers with connecting flights to a table where they give us this piece of gold and say: "Show it to the people in every line you come to and go to the head of the line immediately."
Up at 6 AM to catch a 9:50 flight to JFK. Then a 3½ hour layover in New York before we have to catch a flight to Chicago. We get to our gate and wait 3 hours in a very crowded boarding area. We board the plane about 11, get settled, and await takeoff.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot. We have a problem. The air traffic controllers in France have gone on strike, so we can’t fly over France. We are submitting a new flight plan that will take us over Spain instead. But we’ll have to wait our turn, because a lot of other flights are doing the same thing.”
Two and a half hours later the pilot announces that we are cleared for takeoff. Our 3½ hour layover in New York is now down to 30 minutes – and we will have to go through customs and have our bags searched again. Anxiety rules.
The flight goes smoothly, but our stomachs are churning. What happens if we don’t make it? A night in NYC? The only positive I can find is that our connecting flight is also American Airlines.
When we get off the plane at JFK we have 30 minutes until our connecting flight leaves. American staff are pointing all passengers with connecting flights to a table where they give us this piece of gold and say: "Show it to the people in every line you come to and go to the head of the line immediately."
We run/trot/walk down a long corridor, down an escalator, through Customs – they just stamp our passports, no bag search. Then around a corner into the departure area leading to ALL GATES. “Which way is Gate 43?” “No, you have to go through security.” So we are off to the bag checking area, where we get some resistance when we jump to the head of the line, and I have a 16 oz. bottle of water. But we get through it. Then it’s up two sets of escalators, hang a right to Gate 43, which as we approach, appears vacated. “Oh pflpfh!" (and other stuff). No, there is someone there! We flash our EXPRESS badge. The gate attendant checks us off and gives us a boarding pass. We are the last ones on. My watch says 5:13. Flight is scheduled to leave at 5:15. Two minutes to spare. And this flight leaves on time.
Here is the crazy thing: we got off the plane at Gate 41 and re-boarded at Gate 43 – they are right next to each other. But in between we had a half hour run, 2 check points, and several escalators to get through. The flight to Chicago takes 90 minutes. We get to our motel – the Best Western at O’Hare about 9PM - but 3 or 4 AM on our biological clocks.
Next morning – Friday. Up at 8, breakfast, back to O’Hare, catch a shuttle to Midway to connect with a Southwest flight that will take us to Portland.
It all goes smoothly. Friends pick us up at the airport. We are home. Trip is over. It was a blast!
Here is the crazy thing: we got off the plane at Gate 41 and re-boarded at Gate 43 – they are right next to each other. But in between we had a half hour run, 2 check points, and several escalators to get through. The flight to Chicago takes 90 minutes. We get to our motel – the Best Western at O’Hare about 9PM - but 3 or 4 AM on our biological clocks.
Next morning – Friday. Up at 8, breakfast, back to O’Hare, catch a shuttle to Midway to connect with a Southwest flight that will take us to Portland.
It all goes smoothly. Friends pick us up at the airport. We are home. Trip is over. It was a blast!
