Day 4: Our Story

After days of sore feet, I decide its time for some wheels.
We rent a couple of ancient, heavy bicycles with baskets on the front and off we go!
We are headed to Borghese park, but before we enter the huge gated park we stop at the flea market in front of the gates, to see if we can find Ali a pair of shorts, no shorts, but I find a pair of lightweight, striped cotton drawstring pants. He slips these on in the railway station bathroom and comes out looking like he has pajamas on! But, they are cooler (in terms of heat) than his jeans, so I tell him "they look fine".
I peddle fast up the first sloping hill of the park, and once at the top, I feel like I am going to die! I sure hope the rest of the park is fairly flat, I am not an extreme bicyclist, if it takes effort, forget it.

The heat is pulsating, it wilts the grass into dry brown tufts- so different from the vibrant green parks of Helsinki. The bikes provide a relief of wind as we zip along, past all the miserable strollers.
In the center of the park we discover an amphitheater. The park is 148 acres, origianlly in the 16th century it was vineyard property, In 1911 the World Exposition was held here, there are a number of statues lining the tree shaded lanes, in fact the Triton statues are the originals from the Piazza Navona.
We have to make some change for the Borgese museum entrance fee, so we grab a mango ice cream from a kiosk cart, quickly downing the melting delicacy. Inside the museum is cool and quiet, we are the only people visiting! We get to peer into some of the rooms preserved in what was the Borghese family house.
From the top of the park we have an amazing view of Rome sprawled out, we bicycle down the hill and end up at the top of the Spanish Steps. We have to navigate our bikes through a herd of Japanese tourists and spend an excruciating 30 minutes trying to land at a cafe for snacks. Finally we settle near the Fountain de Trevi, munching on melon wrapped prosciutto and bread.

For dinner we head to the Trastever area again, and afterwards spend an enjoyable evening sipping lemon cello and people watching.