Rome Weekend - Day 4

If all roads lead to Rome then, when in Rome itself, all roads lead to Termini. Termini is a hectic confluence of rail, metro, tram, bus and,well, roads. It is a flaw rather than a highlight in the dull jewel of the Metro that the current lines (A & B; C is allegedly under construction) cross only at Termini. The system was extremely busy even on a Sunday and work in progress meant a trek across the entire station to change lines (in our direction of travel). The Rome Metro is a shabby looking place but posters do advertise much needed rejuvenation. As with similar projects in Britain, there seems to be a lot closed off and not very much going on. We had already had a very long walk at Spagna where it is probably considered an advantage in bad weather to be able to cover long distances underground but those passages could do with some revitalisation.

It was not bad weather today; it was absolutely beautiful and our coats came off a couple of hours earlier than yesterday. First sight outside Circo Massimo station was the beautifully sunlit Severione Baths on the Palatine. We wandered unexpectedly round the Stadio delle Terme di Caracalla to find yet more ruins there before going to the Caracalla Baths themselves. They are extraordinary and I was quite moved. The scale of the ruins is remarkable; the original structure must have been incredible. It was a great visit but we needed to rest before our afternoon visit to the opera.

We attended Teatro dell'Opera for L'Elisir d'Amore. There were a few of the hard of moving there. If I had been in the condition of some of them I don't think I would have attended anything as long as an opera. The production was visually captivating but the director had filled a large stage with irritating distractions in the background which became genuinely annoying. The singing was not of the highest calibre but the key tenor aria, 'Una Furtiva Lagrima' was beautifully performed. For me, there as Greg's companion not as an opera fan per se, the highlight was early in the first act when Belcore drew his sword to reveal a weapon of much less length than the scabbard. A visual metaphor missed in that brief moment by many I suspect.

After the performance I found myself again caught between a place and a Hard Rock. The eponymous cafe had a wait tonight of 50-60 mins. With plenty of empty tables visible this represents a mixture of ineptitude and the bullshit that goes with this supposed star attraction worldwide. At the end of the day it's a burger joint with nice buns. Much though I appreciate nice buns I don't wait up to an hour for a meal. We ate a very satisfactory meal at our hotel where the waiter was in a league completely removed from those of our first two nights.

I disciplined myself to upload to Flickr but I am behind and want to do the remainder properly. We have printed our boarding passes for tomorrow and are obviously very thrilled at the prospect of returning to wind and rain.