Day 3 - Rome

   I woke up at 7am  excited and eager to start my day. On my list today: Villa Borghesa. We visited it during our previous visit to Rome in 2011 and liked it so much that I really wanted to return for another visit. After a plentiful breakfast I was ready to go. Villa Borghesa is really close to my hotel, just a pleasant 10 - 15 minutes walk. I had no trouble finding it with the help of google maps and made it just in time for the 8:45am check-in with my scheduled tour with City Wonders company. We were divided into several groups, about 9-10 people each. Our group had a great tour guide named Mike, who is originally from the Southern California. He made the tour lively and fun . He did not give us too many dry facts, dates and didn't make the tour super sophisticated or academical. Rather, he told us stories about the artists and their work, fun facts, scandals, which made it juicy and lively. We sadly only had 2 hours in the museum (I would have loved to spend more time), so he didn't have time to explain all of the art there, but focused on the masterpieces. First we saw the greatest in the world collection of paintings by Caravaggio, world - class baroque sculptures by Bernini such as "Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius", "The Rape of Proserpina",  "Apollo and Daphne", "David", neo-classical sculpture by Antonio Canova "Pauline Bonaparte as Venus" and pinacoteca upstairs with more Bernini works and paintings by Titian ("Sacred and Profane Love"),  Rafael ("Deposition") and Correggio ("Danae"). All of the rooms in the gallery are richly decorated with baroque frescos on the ceilings, greek statues along the walls, ancient Roman mosaics on the floor. This is an amazing gathering of the most beautiful objects from every age and culture. This is probably my favorite museum in the world!

   Two hours at the Borghesa gallery flew by and it was time to go. We had another hour with our guide and he walked us leisurely through the park, showing secret gardens, ancient ruins (that were not so ancient, but made look like ones), field for paleo races (Borghese family was from Siena, which is famous by its annual paleo races) and sculptures. The spring is in full bloom  - I saw many beautiful blooming trees and flowers, romans sun-bathing and clutching their lovers. It was the loveliest spring day and I couldn't have spent it better. At the end of the tour Mike pointed out the ancient city wall and Northern city gate as well as beautiful view opening to the lovely piazza del Poppolo with its Egyptian obelisk and beautiful fountain and the full panorama of Rome with the prominent St. Peter coupola.  

   It was time to get lunch! I found a lovely restaurant "Babette" through the trusted Yelp. It was wonderful. The restaurant had a lovely patio on the typical roman piazzale, where I happily settled. I was their at 1pm and it was fairy empty but 15 minutes later started filling with hungry Italians really fast. I had a delicious lunch of la zuppa (compliments of the chef),  Rabbit with fried artichoke and creamy polenta and finished with their amazing Babette cake (secret recipe). It was fantastic. Oh, and of course a cappucino. I took my time as I was tired and wanted to relax. When it was finally time to go, I noticed right across the street from the restaurant a beauty spa. Voila - I needed  to freshen up my manicure and wanted to find out what it's like to do it in Rome.  The personnel was very friendly and greeted me nicely, even though they didn't speak very good English. We still managed to communicate and I got my manicure.

   Refreshed and ready for more culture I moved on to see the nearby church Santa Maria del Poppolo. It is famous by its 2 chapels with beautiful art by Bernini and Caravaggio. The Chigi Chapel  is designed by Raphael and inspired by Pantheon. 2  of the 4 statues decorating it are Bernini's works. Cerasi Chapel features  Caravaggio's "Conversion of St. Paul" and "Crucifixion of St. Peter". I enjoyed visiting the church.

   Next, I backtracked to Villa Borghese park again. I spotted some people riding Segways and really wanted to try it. I rented one for 15 euro and after the first 10 minutes of feeling unbalanced and scared on it, started riding it like a pro. I had a lot of fun zooming all over the park, stopping sometimes for photos and drinking all the scenery in. It was one of the best parts of my day!

   The perfect ending of my day was Via del Corso Passegiata. I started at Piazza del Popolo and joined a happy crowd of strolling romans and tourists. The street usually closes between 5 and 7pm for the traffic to accommodate this wonderful Italian tradition. I enjoyed people watching and the evening Rome atmosphere. Eventually I took a left turn to Vio Condotti and did some window-shopping in the trendy boutiques lining up this street.

   My dinner was as perfect as the rest of my day. I tried restaurant "Sophia" very close to my hotel, which I didn't risk going to yesterday as it was empty. I savored a glass of white house wine and seafood lasagna and enjoyed classic Tiramisu for dessert.  Wonderful ending to a great day in Rome.