Craig Gillette Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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In anticipation of a trip to Paris, I checked out the Hop On-Hop Off buses and it looked like a good way to get around and an introduction, a couple of routes, etc. Would agree with at least checking them out. In Rome, I've heard the center of the city and historic area is so congested that they are required to skirt the area so perhaps not as convenient. We visited with my daughter who had visited several times as a part of her academic year in Florence so for the most part, we walked.
My impression is that the Vatican Museum gets increasingly more crowded as the day goes on. As tours finish, the visitors remain and hit spots they missed or got too little time the first time around.
Take advantage of the Vatican Museums own tours, and possibly in St. Peter's, too. They handle scheduling and admissions, etc., and when we went, although 9 years ago, it was as good or better pricing than some of the other "tours." There's a "Tours Only" door out of the Sistine Chapel, or was which is nice shortcut to St. Peter's. However, that does skip the chance to see missed spots, etc., in the museum and gardens.
We had an apartment near the Coloseum so one walk, we went up past the Forum to the Altar della Patria, a jog east and around a bit to get to Via del Quirinale. (use a map, this is a brief description and roads change names, etc,) Up this hill is the Palazzo del Quirinale. Not sure about gardens, tourists in side, etc. It's the President's Palace. My daughter is an architect so we went to see two small but architecturally important churches (there are tons of churches in Rome, you can't visit all of them and many are historically, artistically or religiously important. Basilica Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, an interesting oval baroque church was designed by Bernini and just a little farther down is Chiesa di San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane designed by Borromini.
From the piazza in front of the palace, there is a stairway or road down which leads to Via di San Vicenzo which will take you to Trevi Fountain. We made our way north to Via di Propaganda which leads to the Spanish Steps, then Via del Babuino, incidentally quite a shopping street, to Piazza del Popolo. Read up on this area, lots there. If you look south between the two almost matching churches on Via del Corso, you'll see the Altare della Patria.
From there, you can go to the river, head back south, Museo dell'Ara Pacis, Mausoleo di Augusto, we then made our way to the Pantheon then back to Corso Vittorio Emanuele II which got us back towards the Forum and down to the Coloseum.
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