Today was officially the last day of our Intrepid Tour, although nothing was planned after breakfast except getting people to the airport. Our tour leader was the first one to leave in the morning.
DIL#2 and I had decided early on that we would stay in Rome one more night so that we could visit the Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine Hill in depth, and enjoy one more day of Roman food and hospitality. We’ll fly home tomorrow.
But first, a bit of fun that may have been the best thing about this entire trip: a Vespa tour!
My best friend and I, back when we travelled together, talked for years about renting Vespas and looking glamorous riding around on them.
We never did it.
So, imagine my excitement when my DIL hinted that she’d love to drive a Vespa in Italy.
In the end, even though she has her international license, we agreed (somewhat reluctantly on her part, somewhat more emphatically on mine) that we really didn’t want to drive in Rome’s notoriously crazy traffic. Instead, we’ll be riders on a Vespa, with the option of trading places between the rear seat behind the driver and the sidecar. I’m going to surreptitiously pretend that I am Sister Boniface, the Vespa-driving, wine-making, crime-solving amateur scientist nun from the eponymous British TV series set in the 1960s. DIL#2 has no clue what I’m talking about, which is probably just as well.
Our Vespa-driving guide Munir picked is up at our hotel at 10:00 a.m. for a 3-hour tour of Rome, after which we were dropped off at the meeting point for our afternoon Colosseum tour, with just enough time to grab a quick lunch and coffees.
Imagine our delight when he showed up on a gleaming red Vespa!
We each got to sit in the drivers seat to pretend that we were actually brave enough – or crazy enough – to actually drive in Rome.
For our tour DIL sat behind Munir, and I got the sidecar. Munir suggested that I wave at people like the Queen as we drove by them, but instead I spent the day returning smiles and waves like the happy old non-royal lady I was.
There is nothing quite like bumping over Roman stone roads in the sidecar of a Vespa. Nothing. There’s also nothing quite like looking up at the Roman skyline and the amazing architecture from the viewpoint of a Vespa sidecar.
Weaving in out of traffic with Munir at the controls was exhilarating.
We started our photo stop tour at the Colosseum where we got some beautiful unobstructed views because there was a student protest going on that prevented most traffic from getting close to the site. The others who were intended to meet us at the Colosseum were unable to get there, but Munir knew all the back roads to take.
We knew we were going back in the afternoon for an intensive tour, but the morning views without crowds were just too good not to record.
We also got a lovely view of the Palatine Hill from a vantage point we’d not have later in the day.
Our next official stop was at the Villa Borghese, where we joined two other Vespas, each carrying two University of Western Ontario students from London Ontario. That made it an entirely Canadian group.
The Borghese property is Rome’s version of Central Park, although this huge green space comes with spectacular panoramic views of Rome.
From the Borghese Villa gardens we sped past the massive Supreme Court complex, looking even bigger from my vantage point.
DIL’s view from higher up was better.
We were going too fast for me to focus in on details, but I was able to zoom in later – thankfully my photo was in focus and not blurred by the speed at which we were travelling!
Our next photo stop was at a crowded – albeit less crowded than usual – St Peter’s Square, where one of Rome’s 13 Egyptian obelisks stands. The obelisks were spoils of war from Egypt.
A photo stop is just that – a quick 10 minutes to capture a memory or two. It was far different from the day Ted and I spent here taking hundreds of photos (Episode 528).
Munir and the other two drivers in our group were very intent on getting us to our next photo stop precisely at noon. Given that it was already 11:45 I assumed it was something nearby – perhaps the changing of the Swiss Guard at the Vatican – but the speed at which we took off and wove through traffic like true Roman drivers disabused me of that idea and replaced it with a combination of excitement and terror!
Our goal was the sounding of the noon cannon at Garibaldi Square, a tradition dating back hundreds of years to a time when church clocks and bells needed to be manually synchronized.
From the height of Garibaldi Square we got yet another wonderful view of the dome of St. Peter’s.
That was it for photo stops, but we saw lots of the city in between as we navigated the roads and alleyways of Rome.
Out last group stop before being dropped of near the Colosseum to meet our afternoon tour was for gelato at a shop near the Parthenon.
We drove past the Vittoria again.
We had a quick lunch at a trattoria near the Colosseum, and then met our guide for the afternoon’s three hour tour.
More to come…
