Rome 31.10 and 01.11.22

Monday 31st of October was the day that Leonardo for some reason had chosen to come into Rome and some of us were there to welcome him on the Piazza San Pietro. As he being an 18 year old young man had walked all the way from Northern Germany to Rome he was both emotional and very happy to be here finally after 3 months on a minimal budget. Even as this was a rest day, Peter and I walked about 10 km to visit some places I hadn't been before. We walked along the Tiber to visit Castel San Angelo and Piazza del Popolo on the other side of the river. Then we slowly moved to Trastevere, which is a particular popular area in Rome for eating and drinking in the numerous restaurants and terraces along the bussy streets as we had agreed to go out and have a meal here with Leonardo. A pleasant evening with good food and Chianti.

On Tuesday Leonardo and me went to a place called Tivoly and Villa d'Este some 15 km East of Rome centre as this was a place he had been recommended to visit. It is a nice village and Villa d'Este is an old mansion built in the Renaissance style in the 16th century for a Roman Cardinal. The villa is very nicely decorated with frescoes on the walls and ceilings. Outside is a huge sloping down renaissance garden with fountains and statues. All well worth a visit which also many other tourists had found out. 

Tomorrow we'll travel by buss, metro and train all the way to the west side of Rome where we'll visit the old Roman city of Ostia where the Tiber runs into the sea.