Torino -view from our hotel

We had a little bit of sunshine but mostly it was rainy weather in Torino.  People just put on their wet weather clothes and wander around the same as they usually would. 
We stayed at the Principi di Piemonte which was comfortable and in the centre of the city.  They have high charges for WiFi internet access so I didn't post to the blog while we were there.
Last time we stayed at this hotel w had views towards the snow capped mountains , this time we could see the Mole Antonelliana and the mountains on the other side of the river.

The top of the Mole Antonelliana and autumn leaves on the tree tops

Fontana di Trevi

So many times when you are wandering around you'll come across unexpected courtyards like this

The Fontana di Trevi has been all spruced up

The new clean look won't last long - many tourists don't treat it with much respect

Neither do the birds

This guy looked at the fountain through his gopro :)

A quiet day for tourists

Dodging tour groups in the rain -at Piazza Navona

It was raining quite heavily as we passed through Piazza Navona so tried to take some photos as the sculptures always look amazing when they are wet and the marble is not so glarily white. It was a pretty impossible task as there were tour groups everywhere with many people perching on the chain and posts around each fountain.

I have posted photos of  this and the other two fountains many times before. But always see something new in them or something that I have forgotten.  The dolphin in the photos is cleverly used as a drain for recycling water.

Rome to Torino

Arrived in Torino this afternoon after a fabulous stay in Rome at Crossing Condotti - a boutique hotel in via Mario dei Fiori.
Torino is very cold after the mild weather we had in Rome and it is going to be very wet for the next few days. I hope that it is not going to be too cold and wet for Rob for the Torino marathon on Sunday.
Had dinner at Eataly and bought some chocolate - a good start to any stay in Torino :)

Colosseo/ Colloseum

The Colloseum is one of those places that many people immediately recognize.  I love looking at it as it is such a huge, incredible structure which has survived despite being looted and trashed by various popes and invaders. It was a massive stadium that could seat up to 80,000 people. Stadio Olimpico, the home ground of ASRoma and Lazio can seat around 73,000.

This diagram that was on an information board within the coloseo shows how the structure worked on different levels.

The underground section visible from the first tier

Half of the arena area has been covered with a wooden platform to show how it was in Roman times

A fairly intact Roman inscription which survived the removal and ransacking of all things Roman by the Popes and other vandals

An engraved drawing found at the colosseum of two gladiators fighting and a rather angry dog

The views of the Palatine and the forum from the colosseum are beautiful:

I woudn't be patting any of those horses

AS Roma v Sassuola at Stadio Olimpico

We were lucky that Roma had a home game while we were in Rome.  Heavy rain was predicted and umbrellas aren't permitted in the stadium so we bought raincoats from Muja and headed off to the game on the tram.  We have been to Stadio Olimpico several times now so know our way around  -which is a good thing as there are always heaps of people, the tram and bus windows are foggy and it is easy to miss your stop.  Luckily that has only happened  to us once.

There were over 50,000 people at the game and it was amazing spectacle.  The serious fans are in special sections of the stadium -the curved ends or curva.  This time there were so many Roma fans and so few Sassuola fans that Roma fans were in the Curva sud and Curva nord.  There was lots of singing chanting and flag waving,  It was a 1-1 draw with Sassuola scoring the drawing goal in the last few seconds of the game.  Roma didn't play that well and really should have been much further in front -there were lots of missed opportunities for goals and a few questionable refereeing decisions.
It was good fun and we managed to stay reasonably dry.

Roma fans in the Curva sud

Warming up before the game

Porta Tiburtina and SAID

The manager at the hotel we are staying at suggested that we try Said - a specialty chocolate place in 135 Via Tiberina, Roma The place is an artisanal chocolate factory and sounded like a place that we would like to visit. We decided to walk along the Porta Tiberina part of the Roman walls. It was an interesting walk despite the rain.  Once again we saw how people had used the walls for housing -it would have happened long go and people have been allowed to continue to use them - they probably own the spaces.

Porta Tiburtina

Along the Tiburtina wall

The walls are brick, narrow rectangular bricks.

The walls are massive -in height and width

Porta Tiburtina

Apartments built into the wall

These plants can't be doing the wall any good

Our reward at SAID for our walk in the rain, caffe, cioccolata calda and mignon -tiny delicious cakes

Forum of Augustus

Trajan's forum

The Forums of Augustus and Trajan continue to be excavated and restored, as are many of the Roman archeological sites. Someone has had fun lighting the Forum of Augustus.

Part of the Vittorio Emanuele monument at dusk.  The night skies are beautiful

Forum of Augustus

Forum of Augustus

Forum of Augustus

Trajan's forum

Forum of Augustus

Forum of Augustus

View of the Doria Pamphilj Gallery from Via del Corso, Rome