Return to the Eternal City

 I have been in Rome many times, but had not been there since 2005.  Having two sons made the very idea difficult, but eventually we wanted to take an alternative trip after so much time in Bavaria.  There were a number of reasons we determined on Rome.  The fact one son took on Classical Studies and both were doing art was among them, not to mention the history, culture and faith around the city.  What will follow is a diary of the journey, which will have many pertinent observations.

Due to booking.com we found an apartment we could rent for 8 days beginning on 29 November late in the evening.  I suppose I never realise that the Vatican City State took its name from a district in Rome around Vatican Hill which was more extensive than the territory ceded in the Lateran Treaty of 1929.  We were in that Vatican district and our flat was barely a quarter hour's walk from St Peter's Basilica.  We could see the dome from over the brow of the hill beneath which we were staying.

Getting from Fiumicino Airport to our place was easy and it occurred to me that the Italian public transport system was far superior to that of Ireland in both efficiency and expense.  We got a train from the airport to Trastevere and then changed for San Pietro which was just a stop away.  The apartment was a short walk, during which our host met us and brought us there

In previous visits to Rome, I tried my best to do as the Romans do, but I had never had to go to a supermarket.  Late on Saturday night, we at least needed breakfast for the following morning.  So I went.  I found some things and brought them back.  One thing that struck me as new, when the shop assistant noticed I looked at him blankly when he spoke Italian (and I am not ignorant of the language), he switched to English.  I never remember that as instant, but if proves if proof were necessary, that the power of the almighty dollar has made English an almost universal tongue. 

I was carrying a bag purchased in the National Gallery of Ireland, Frederic William Burton's The Meeting on the Turret Stairs, which is Ireland's favourite painting.  In Rome, this seemed commonplace. 

One thing which was not required was bottled water.  The quality of the tap water and its delivery is in itself a wonder.  There is obviously nothing wrong with the piped water system in the city and no one need trouble themselves about refilling their bottles from the public fountains while walking there as all the water can be considered pure.  That was the end of the few hours on our initial day there and we went to bed.