Just roaming in Rome- empire, friends and gelato

Can you go to Rome and not visit the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, the Forum, Palatine, Colosseum and St Peter’s tomb?
No, definitely not.
Rome for the first time has to include those essentials.
Rome for the next time, for us, meant catching up with friends against the backdrop of history and imperial magnificence.
Staying in Trastavere at La Foresteria Orsa Maggiore, Via Francesco de Sales, 1a, www.casainternationaledelladonne.org , gave us an immersion into narrow lanes opening into unexpected piazzzas, with cafes enticing us to linger and drink espresso and lattes in the warm sun. Lonely Planet describes its ‘traditionally proletarian nature changing as crumbling old palazzzos are gentrified and wealthy foreigners move in to the picturesque and labyrinthine lanes’ Right on.
Sunday morning, we found the oldest church in Rome, Santa Maria in Trastavere, with standing room only. A real parish community, with a big group of deaf children and adults and a beautiful sister signing the whole liturgy. So much better to participate in the liturgy, than just popping in to see the art. However, the building was pretty amazing- foundations from 337AD, building from 12th century, 21 ancient Roman columns, mosaics from 1140, and Byzantine painting of the Madonna. After that external and spiritual beauty, we needed coffee in the lovely Piazza Santa Maria, with our friends Hannah and Jennifer from Oxford.
We met Fi and Marion at the Spanish Steps and climbed up to Villa Borghese Gardens, north east of the Piazza de Popolo, full of families, biking, roller blading, pushing the pram with nana and grandpa, going on the merry go round, eating gelato- all in this glorious symmetrical paths and formal plantings once the garden of Cardinal Scipione Borghese.
We enjoyed the open spaces and fresh air after the intensity of Roman traffic and people.
The Galleria Borghese , so popular you have to book ahead, in the middle of the park, houses 6 Caravaggio works, which interested art historian Fi, as well as works by Bernini, Titian, Raphael, Botticelli and Rubens.
We watched the fading light over Rome silhouetting the flocks of birds, coming back in huge swirling patterns to roost in trees of the Medici villa- the legendary umbrella pines of Rome were full of the chirping sounds of birds at the end of the day.
Across the city is a surprise- an Anglican church, part of the American Episicopal Diocese in Europe. St Pauls within the Walls , on Via Nationale, is an Art Nouveau delight, with candy pink and white striped walls, rich green tiles by William Morris, frescoes and mosaics by pre Raphaelite Edward Burne Jones, and gentle rounded arches with a Moorish flavour. Built in 1873, it is one of the newest churches in Rome, and boasts great big bronze doors commemorating a significant meeting between the Pope John xx111, and Anglican Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher.
Our visit was not for history however but to hear Mozart’s Requiem- choir of 50, soloists, orchestra, rich reverberation, passionate music- bliss!
Sunday night in Rome sees many restaurants closed for family time, so we were very pleased to look down a side street and see the neon lights of Est Est Est . This restaurant is a Roman institution- again an art deo interior, dark wood panels, shiny brass taps on the wine cupboard, coat hooks and racks behind each table, with original 1920s chairs and tables.
In that environment, how could the food fail to please? It didn’t! Fresh bread and olives to nibble, salads, interesting vegetables, meats, seafood, Chianti to wash it down.

We had coffee in Campo de Fiore ,watching the locals shop at the market, and Danielle ate Rome style tripe ( served with tomatoes and cheese, it was delicious, she said) in Piazza Navonna at Cul de Sac. This restaurant was a guide book recommendation. The queues around the corner testify to its excellent menu and vast wine list. We got there early!
The Pantheon dating back to 120 AD, looms large, round and stately, its extraordinary dome the most important achievement of Roman architecture. Originally a temple to the planetary gods, the Pantheon has housed many Christian altars - I think they sit awkwardly in the curved spaces - better to have left the soaring columns of that monument alone.
We ended our four days of friendship, laughter and birthdays with a roller coaster ride through history. The Time Elevator , in SS Apostoli, off Via de Corso, is a multi screen presentation . Safety bars stop yourself falling out of the seat as you twist and rocket through a time machine- a fantastic, entertaining way to get an historical overview , showing how many of the buildings appeared in their prime, and how people have lived, worked, created and designed in Rome over its many centuries of decline, fall and rise again.
We wandered home through Rome by night, over the Tiber, getting our adrenaline levels down by eating gelato - liquorice, rock melon, lemon, and chocolate.