Hop On......

 Phew!  We're tired. Blissfully fatigued. We love our evenings "a casa".  Today was another gorgeous day.  It's amazing, how blue the sky can be. The temperatures have been in the high 60's, some days, reaching 70. Perfect conditions for being outdoors. And, it's Spring.

We're getting ready to change our location and will be leaving Rome on Saturday. Our next stop will be Assisi, the home of most of my heart. We've started packing up. Train tickets are purchased. 

But today. Today we're still here and today we had a lovely time on the rooftop of a Green Line bus.

It was a longggggg walk to the bus stop. We probably would have been better off taking a train to the bus but, we're dedicated long-distance walkers and after several attempts to find the stop, we finally made it to the "Hop-On-Hop-Off" bus stop which is at the Ponte Sant'Angelo, the pedestrian bridge that crosses the Tiber at the Castel.The bridge was constructed under the order of Emperor Hadrian in 136CE to enable access to his tomb from the city center. But, it was Bernini who gave life to the bridge with the sculpting of tall angels that line the bridge since 1668. The bridge offers a magnificent view of the ancient Castle.

So, with that view in the background, we located the illusive bus, found two seats upstairs and began our loop that brought us through crazy-congested "Ancient Rome". It was perfect for two weary old people. We hit all the highlights. Santa Maria Maggiore, the Colosseum, Pyramid/Testaccio Quarter, Circus Maximus, the Piazza della Repubblica, Piazza Venezia. We zigged and we zagged. We left the driving to the driver as we snaked through our very own Memory Lane, now seeing those places from the second tier of a gigantic bus. The new perspectives were certainly worth the price of admission.

To our delight, the bus slowly glided through the Quirinal Hill and  passed by the Chiesa di Santa Susanna....the very same church where Joe and I renewed our wedding vows in celebration of our 40th anniversary. 

So, a peaceful bus trip. No stress. No driving. Just a hop on. And, may I confess, not ONE hop off and on again.  We just sat and took it all in. One, gigantic and lovely loop.