Queens don’t stand in line

I was not able to upload yesterday, so below are two days’ update on the Four Queens Tour of Italy:

October 2: Queen Daphne, our intellectual Queen of Swords, drew the Knight of Wands tonight which totally sums up our journey today — on this card the Knight rides forth on his horse bravely, but he looks as if he’s been torn up and stitched back together, and he’s carrying a really big stick as he heads toward the palaces in the background.

Today we were that warrior — we rode out early for our tour of the Vatican, well fortified with cappucinos and croissants. When we saw the incredible line waiting to get in we were grateful we had booked a queenly tour with just 20 people and were led gleefully past the line and inside. Our tour guide Michelle was brilliant, funny — telling stories about Raphael and Michelangelo as if she knew them herself. We followed her for three hours over cobblestones and the same marble floors walked on by the great artists, and cardinals and popes. We stood beneath the great ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in awe, and learned of the great detail the artist put into the paintings (lip lines!) even though he knew those details would not be visible from the ground. We walked through the splendor of St. Peter’s Basilica. And then I looked at my watch and realized we’d run over time. We had another walking tour scheduled at 2 p.m. We barely had time to arrive at the meeting place let alone sit down for a lunch and to rest our feet.

We walked probably two miles to Piazza Navona and had quick cups of gelato to see us through before joining the tour, heading straight for the Pantheon. The crowds were enormous. I’d hate to see it in the summer time, hot, with kids swarming. At the Trevi Fountain we could barely get close to it, and there was no place to sit. Our feet and legs ached. We saw the great Roman Forum, the burned-out ruins of the Vestal Virgins home, the site where Caesar’s ashes were buried, the triumphal road where Cleopatra herself must have been brought into Rome. Then on to the Colisseum, and by this time we were so tired we could hardly enjoy it. We took the elevator, we walked all around it. We were disturbed by the bloodshed there, but marveled at how long it stood and how our stadiums today still reflect the design. When it was time to go, we managed to flag down a taxi, bt our queens of cups and coins, Marilyn and Gayle, got cheated for a few euros by an unscrupulous driver, and now we will all journey forth like our Knight of Wands — armed with a big, heavy club! In our case, it will be in the form of a little more savvy.

October 3: Today we arrived early to see the Borghese Gallery, and we were lucky enough to be first in line at the door for our appointed time. But as we checked in no one bothered to tell us there was a self-guided tour and we found ourselves in the museum with no information, very little notation about the art we were seeing, and none of the juicy stories that bring the work and the time to life. Some of the works of course are so famous they need no explanation — the Daphne, for instance, and the portraits of Raphael and his mistress. ( I have to confess, I got in trouble for touching the marble of a table top, so we ended up being snotty and snippy about their lack of dusting.)

We reserved the afternoon for exploring and shopping, but did not feel particularly drawn to the merchandise we saw in the stores, and did not spend in case we found things more to our liking at our next stop, Florence. None of us are interested in purchasing things we could easlly find at home. We stopped for lunch at a sidewalk Mom & Pop eatery — but we have not been able to adopt the Italian style of eating — the antipasta, primi, secondi, etc. — it is just too much food and too much time for these queens. So we find we have disappointed our servers not only here but other places. The want us to eat EVERYTHING. Alas, we only have room for more gelato.

At this point I need mention Queen Gayle and the endless search for chocolate. There can never be enough, of course, and while there are gelato shops nearly everywhere, we have not found the gourmet chocolate shops we encountered, of all places, in North Carolina. I believe Perugia will answer this burning desire, but we may get lucky before that.

Our highlight was finding the rooftop garden of our hotel at 5:30 pm, and watching the sun go down while we had drinks and snacks. It was gorgeous and so relaxing we did not want to leave. Queen Daphne says it just goes to show there is no place like home, even if it is the rooftop of your hotel.
But we did leave, because we need to pack up. Tomorrow, we’ll be on the train to Florence!

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