Sibilla Resort B&B Tivoli

... terrazzo. The Palazzos of the wealthy are astounding constructions, many of them now housing the museums noted above, some converted to public use like the American Embassy in Palazzo Margherita and the French Embassy in Palazzo Farnese. The Barberini Palace is a masterwork of the Renaissance by Bernini and Borromini who were pitted against each other to construct the most elaborate of the papal residences. 400 years later, the ...

... in Rome, we had to at least be a little bit touristy, so we say Piazza Navona as the main fountain was covered in scaffold last time. The Pantheon was as usual, my favourite building in this city, **** I love it, and then onto the Trevi fountain. Whilst there, we started speaking to the local flower sellers/picture takers and they told us that they were all illegals from Bangladesh !!! After we finished with them, we hit the traffic ...

Me and my sisters decided to meet up with my mother, brother, and his wife later on at Vatican City. I showed my sisters some of the fountains I had seen the night before. Everybody knows that one of the things that everybody sees is Michael Angelo's Sistine Chapel, But the way the area is set up is kind of confusing. The entrance to the Sistine chapel is on the other ...

... to get a view of the ceiling high above us. It was absolutely amazing. We were also very intrigued to learn about the little blackish rectangles dotted all over the ceiling and walls - these are little blocks left uncleaned during the restoration that took place in the 80's and 90's, to show just how dirty the entire place had been. Why was it so dirty, you say? Well, with all the incense and candle burning that ...

... Whew! We took the (packed) metro back to the Spanish Steps, then rested in our flat until almost 21.00h. Went out and wandered through the streets, looking for a place to eat that wasn't a) so crowded that people were waiting for tables, and b) wasn't a wine bar. Found a cute little café on a side street and had a very good meal. Kids talked about their memories of elementary school, and we laughed a lot. Closed the place down - then back home to read/write before we fall asleep. Ah, great day!

... of Rome. It had big libraries and gardens and dining halls and banqueting halls so forth and so forth. But now of course it's all ruins not only because of how old it is, but because some barbarians came in and plundered the whole place. So we went to strolled around all 300 acres of this estate. It was a pretty relaxing day. We had make up classes on Friday because we're going to the Papal Audience next Wednesday, so no one could really travel very far. I also some how ...

... lounge until 8:30?! But I'd been working on this type of thing. I knew that getting upset and asking indignant questions of the grandmotherly woman behind the counter wasn't going to make the ship appear any faster. And so, with a deep breath and a resigned sigh, I settled in for the wait. By now I was just beginning one of my new books; Dan Brown's "Digital Fortress" which he wrote before "Angels and Demons" or "The DaVinci Code." While perhaps not quite as good As those two, it ...

... with you. On Sunday we visited Trastevere, a quieter section of the city across the Tiber. We walked a couple of miles of the Porta Portese flee market where we saw many weird and wonderful things. This was a great way to get out of the tourist crowd and in to a entirely different sort of crowd. Our favorite vendors were the guy with the booze cart (shots for 1 Euro) and the old guy with two buckets (green olives in one and salted lupini beans in the other). You can buy ...

... of water spouts which I began in Rome. With water scare in Australia the abundance of water in Italy is impressive, no wonder they were big on baths.On almost every street corner the Pompeiiams could quench their thirst for water spout,which were supplied by the aqueducts bringing water down from the mountains. Much of the town was still under repair from the eruption 12 years earlier, you'd think that would have been a good hint. It didn't take much imagination ...

... saint stares out of a painting at me, and I am repeatedly drawn to his gaze. There's a real person staring out of a painted monk's face by Giorgione. And then I look out the windows to see more great art: the landscape of Tuscany. To the left, cypress-robed hills rise across the Arno, studded by palazzos. To the right is the Ponte Vecchio, the famous bridge lined with jewelry shops. It was the only bridge that wasn't destroyed by the Germans during World War II. It ...