Flying To Rome

   We are on ship and sailing near Sicily and we finally have a chance to get some computer time to bring you up to day on our travels so far.  Before that I have tried to get into my Primus account but can't read the e-mails so you need to post to this blog if there is something urgent.
    Our flight to rome was delayed for 45 minutes because of "paper work" and then something with the plane.  We did arrive around 10 am in the morning.   The flight itself was very uncomfortable because, although we had the emergency exit seat which in iself should have been a bonus, the seates did not recline at all.  That meant that for 8 hours of overnight flight there was no relief from the upright position.  In any case we did get the train to Rome in timely fashion and within a few minutes walk of the Termini we were at our hotel.  It was very close to a hotel we had stayed at before and down the street from the Diana Hotel.  The hotel was very nice and we would stay there again if needed.

Spanish Steps

   We dropped our bags and headed for some touring.  The day was overcast which later (as we left our wet weather gear in the hotel) the overcast turned to steady rain.  We took the metro and stopped at the Spanish Steps.  Rome is full of tourist this time of year and as expected the area around the steps had wall to wall people.  After taking our pictures we climbed the steps to the church and then to the Villa Medici and gardens behind the steps area.  After wandering the gardens for some time and as the rain started to get heavy we headed to the Plaza dei Popolo.  It was one of those places that we had seen but not visited.  The attraction there was the church

which has the famous painted of the conversion of St Paul in it.  Sorry the signs are not correct - church closed!  We waited for about an hour for the later opening but no luck! A bit disappointing but that is just the way it is.  In order to spend some time waiting we slipped into the Da Vinci Museum which is in the square.  What a find.  It had working models of some of his inventions.  We tended to remember him from the Sisteen

Davinci's Museum

Chapel aand Mona Lisa paintings but some of the inventions were something else.  He "invented" the transfer of power from one plane to another -i.e. the modern jack - and applied this to many things like a propelled cart. Ball bearings to reduce friction, a basic helecopter design, a parachute, elevation devices for morters and a system to repell scaling ladders from forts.  It was wonderful.  Little on his medical drawings and  paintings.
    By this time we were getting a bit tired so a short metro ride, some vino and pasta and bed followed in quick order.  A good sleep was needed!