Yesterday over a late lunch the heavens opened and we watched people getting soaked. Today they watched us! We have so many wet clothes and runners that, as I write this, Tony is trying to dry them one by one with a hairdryer. This was my good idea. His was that we can wear the wet socks and runners on the plane and they'll dry in half an hour! My runners were so wet I could pour water out of them and wring out my inner soles. He can wear wet shoes if he wants. Plane travel is uncomfortable enough without wet shoes!
Our day didn't start out wet. Instead there was sunshine and blue sky.
We headed to the Spanish Steps and found a horse and carriage waiting for us. How lovely.
Whilst negotiating journey and price, an enthusiastic animal liberationist came up to us warning us not to accept the ride. She claimed they would soon be out of business as the horses drop dead in the streets! Not to be put off we paid the chap and in an hour saw many of the city sights, stopping to visit The Pantheon and Piazza Narvona, etc. this was so much better than the 'hop on, hop off bus'.
I must confess that the animal liberationist's warning kept repeating in my head. So much so that I was conscious that the load for the poor beast was unbalanced and kept shifting in my seat accordingly. I then had the driver stop at a stall at the Trevi Fountain to buy the horse, and all his friends, some very expensive apples. Turns out I couldn't feed the horse his apple in case other 'would be' customers noticed it frothing at the mouth from all the apple juice, thinking it was neglected and about to drop dead. I only have the driver's word that the horses will actually get the apples and they won't become apple pie for his dinner!
Thoroughly rested after our horse and cart ride we headed up the Spanish Steps. In case you're wondering, I checked the horse and he hadn't even broken out in a sweat.
136 steps later, we had a wonderful view of the city and at this stage, blue sky!
Keeping to our plan, we headed to the Villa Borghese Gardens, so that we could enjoy a break from the tourists and see something green. We hadn't gone far when the sky began to change colour. We tended to ignore it though, enjoying the walk and the views.
At this point we still had time to turn back but we continued on to the gardens. As it got darker we headed to a lovely cafe in the heart of the gardens. We just kept getting further away!
And we kept running until the crowds of tourists disappeared and then we enjoyed the views again, all by ourselves.
So far I have not even mentioned food, even although as I write this, Tony is planning his last cake and probably our last dinner.
Do I like Rome better this time?
Much better, especially in the rain x
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