Dateline: Rome Saturday 16th April 2011

Fine and Warm
We have the morning in Rome before taking the midday train to Turin.  
Perfect weather yet again.  It is still unusually hot for this time of the year but we're not complaining.

We travel by the metro to the Spanish Steps.  The flowers down the centre of the steps are not quite in bloom but it looks good nevertheless. In the piazza local carriage drivers wait for customers.  This horse is wearing interesting a knitted hat to keep his ears warm I guess.

Trivia: 
* The Scalinata (Spanish Steps) is the widest staircase in Europe
* On June 13, 2007, a 24-year-old man attempted to drive a Toyota Celica down the Spanish Steps. No one was hurt, but several of the 200-year-old steps were chipped and scuffed.



On to Ara Pacis. We locate the new building housing The Ara Pacis(Altar of Peace) which is an impressive piece of Roman work with elaborately sculpted figures.  More than 2,000 year old this masterpiece was lost to civilization for centuries. It's now installed in a new glass and chrome building opened in 2006.  There has been some controversy about the building but plans in place to modify it and provide a wide pedestrian area along the Tiber.

Ara Pacis

Finally to the church Santa Maria della Scala which is one of the oldest churches in Rome.
We gather our belongings from the hotel and board the trains for Turin arriving late that afternoon.  

Train travel between cities and countries in Europe works well.  Fairly easy to negotiate although figuring out which platform can be a bit of a hassle.    The trains are very long so it may mean a sprint along the platform to find your carriage number.   The high speed trains travel at around 300km per hour so they can cover a lot of distance very quickly.


Next:  An amazing experience ... "The Last Supper"