Villa Borghese and garden

In Rome, we have walked and walked, and walked some more. Most attractions are easily reached by foot. We have walked many kilometres every day, so it was nice to have a slower paced day today. We both had a sleep in and relaxed at our apartment for the morning. I finished the book I have been reading over the last couple of weeks - The Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez. I had thoroughly enjoyed her other novel of a very similar nature, 'The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul'. Both novels tell stories of her experience living and working in Afghanistan. They make for quite eye opening reading. I have left this
latest read on the shelf in the apartment for someone else to enjoy.

We also began the inevitable task of going through our suitcases in preparation for our depart soon. We have picked up some souvenirs along the way over the last 5 and a half weeks and even bought a small case to manage the overflow! We've started building a pile of things to leave behind as well. We only pack enough clothes for a week on a long trip. While this has its pros, it also has cons. The biggest being, because you are washing the same clothes quite frequently, they get worn out sooner. We have t-shirts that are looking quite old, that were new at the start of this trip! So, leaving some things behind, will make life easier when it comes time to packing our suitcases properly tomorrow.

We left our apartment at midday and started the walk to Villa Borghese. This was the only place on this list today and we had a booking at 3pm. Like other places, you have to book a time to enter the gallery and your visit is limited. We would have 2 hours to explore the gallery. So we took our time getting there and stopped at a cafe on the edge of the gardens for some lunch. They had burgers on their menu and we were both feeling a little deprived of red meat, so we both ordered a burger and the aubergine balls to start. We ordered our burgers 'medium'. From the outside the meat looked well cooked. But, when I cut it open it was more rare than medium. I had a couple of mouthfuls and thought it tasted ok so didn't make any complaints, besides the paprika chips it came with were delicious! But after a couple more bites I was struggling. I could have summoned the waiter and had him order the chef to cook it longer, but I didn't think it was worth it. Shannon ate most of his and what meat I didn't eat, I covered with the napkin.

We had a lovely walk through the Borghese gardens. This is a very popular spot for tourists and locals. It is particularly lovely in the heat of the day, where you can feel a cool breeze under a canopy of leafy trees. Families congregate to have picnics, ride crazy four people bikes, roller blade and relax. We stopped to admire the water powered clock that was built in 1867. They spent some time restoring it in 2007, but it is no longer fully operational. The birds enjoyed bathing in the fountain that sat next to it.

We made our way to the villa four our 3pm entry. Villa Borhese is a gallery, that houses a large collection of paintings, marble statues and sculprtures and other antiques. This collection was started by the Cardinal Borghese, hence the name. Even though our entry time was at 3pm, we still had to join a lengthy queue to get in. The wait was worth it.

While we are not huge art lovers, we certainly can appreciate the beauty in magnificent pieces. We were pleased we had paid 5euro each for the audio guide, as the explanation of what we were looking at gave us a better understanding and made the visit more meaningful. It was the marble sculptures that impressed us the most. Many of these were by Bernini and were simply stunning to see. The detail in each sculpture was so impressive, making some appear even life like.

It was quite a fascinating place and easy to see why it is visited by thousands of people. The paintings seemed to come to life in between the sculptures and painted ceilings of each room.