Toronto, Canada

We were up early again today, this time to catch our flight back home. The hotel's checkout was very efficient, our taxi arrived at 6:45am just like we booked, and we were at FCO in less than 30 minutes.

Checked in and then had a croissant and tea. Went through security (we were flying via Amsterdam, so there's wasn't passport control here) and then waited in the lounge. Flew to Amsterdam, and then had only 50 minutes for our connection so rushed through the terminals and immigration to our gate, and boarded immediately.

The flight to Toronto was uneventful. Then we had to make it through Pearson. They've somewhat improved, but still rank near the bottom of airports in my opinion. Took us 80 minutes from landing to get into a taxi (about twice what it takes at the other end of the scale, e.g. in Singapore).

Overall I really enjoyed the trip. There's definitely more than enough to see and do in Rome over two weeks. We got a good sampling of Roman food, and saw the major sights (and lots of the lesser ones too).

My favourites, in no particular order, include:

• Midnight Mass at St Peter's Basilica with the pope
• Climbing to the cupola at St Peter's
• Seeing the Roman Forum
• Tour of the Vatican Museums
• Borghese Museum
• Palazzo Barberini
• Capitoline Museums
• Castel Sant’Angelo
• Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterno

We walked everywhere, averaging about 10-15km per day. We needed to walk that much, what with all the big meals we ate. We were very lucky with the weather. On average it rains about 50% of the days at this time of year; we did not get rained on at all. In fact, we only had a couple cloudy days. Rome is relatively crowded over Christmas, but it's easy to beat the crowds at major sights by going either first thing in the morning, or after 4pm.

And finally, for those counting (Gerry and Tanya), the Vatican is country #78 for me.

Rome, Italy — Vatican Museums

Our last full day in Rome started very early. We had booked the 'Waking up the Vatican Tour' of the Vatican Museums back in July, and even then were only able to get a booking on our last day here. It's limited to 20 people per day, starting at 6am and going through each room with the clavigero (key keeper) as the rooms are opened up for the day. As an added bonus, pictures are not only allowed, they're encouraged.

So we were up at 4:30am (!) to make sure we were there on time. The tickets said to be at the entrance to the Vatican Museums at 5:50am, even providing the exact latitude/longitude to make sure people went to the right spot. We got there around 5:45am, and were the second-last to arrive of our group. Looks like we weren't the only ones making sure we were there on time :) We waited eagerly for the key keeper to open the doors, saw the sliver of light under the door at 5:59, and at 6:00 he opened the door and welcomed us in.

During normal hours this is the exit to the Vatican Museum, at the bottom of the Bramante staircase. We took the old elevators up and started our tour! Our tour guide said that we would be going through most of the rooms with some pace, in order to maximize our time in the Sistine Chapel, so to please stay with the tour! First the key keeper picked up the giant 8-inch diameter key rings with dozens of keys on each. Then we went through the museums, at each door the key keeper gave one of us the key to open the door and then turn on the lights. Our guide had mentioned that the tour is more impressive in the winter, because it's still dark outside. The early summer sun ruins the impact of turning on the lights :)

Passed through the Egyptian and Etruscan museums, Octagonal court, Raphael's rooms, the Gallery of Maps and Tapestry Gallery, maybe not in that order. There were four of us in the tour who were keen on photography, lagging behind the group to get our tourist-less pictures. There was a lot to take in, and the time seemed to fly by. Heather felt it was similar to seeing the gorillas, it seems like you could blink and miss it all, even though it's a couple hours. Finally we were at the door to the Sistine Chapel, the grand finale of the tour. One of the tour participants unlocked the door, and we all entered by the key keeper's flashlight. Then, the lights came on and the full Sistine Chapel was before us! Everyone went camera-happy. Another couple took a timed selfie from their phone on the floor pointing at the ceiling, with their fingers lined up to touch Adam's and God's. It was silly enough that we took a similar pic.

The tour finished with a brunch. As we had read earlier in a review, you're not going on this tour because of the food.

Bought some souvenirs at the gift shop, and then took a whole lot of pictures of Heather walking down the spiral staircase. Luckily at this hour, there was no one else leaving (the early-access tours were just congregating in the lobbies to start their tours), and so we were able to get a few takes in without worry about other people on the staircase. It was one of the two pics I was looking forward to taking in the Vatican Museums (the other being God reaching out to Adam).

We were back at our hotel by 10am, in time to catch the tail end of breakfast. So had our 2nd breakfast of the day :)

We had originally thought we would spend more time at the Vatican Museums after our tour (the ticket allowed us to re-enter and wander at our own pace) but part of the magic was seeing the Museums tourist-free and that would have been ruined if we went back through.

So instead we took a taxi back to Via Appia Antica and to see the Catacombes that were closed a couple days earlier when we attempted to visit. Stopped in at Catacombe di San Callisto and bought our tickets. It's only possible by organized tour (our timing was good, we arrived at 11:20 and the next tour was at 11:30). I had hoped to not have to take a tour, but oh well. The mandatory tour made more sense when we we got down there -- it's a maze where one could easily get lost. Our guide was not the greatest, and it was cold and damp in the catacombs. We were shivering at the end. Also, pictures aren't allowed at all. The catacombs themselves were cool to see, but we didn't feel the need to see Catacombe di San Sebastiano just down the road. Even walking along Via Appia Antica wasn't the experience we had hoped, but that's because it was much colder today with a biting wind. At least we had brought our toques along.

Walked back into town and went to Vinando's for lunch. We had had lunch there last week and really enjoyed their artichoke and pecorino pizza the last time. So ordered it again, along with a charcuterie platter. They messed up the order and brought us lasagna instead of the charcuterie. The service went downhill from there so we just finished up and went back to our favourite cafe by the turtle fountain for dessert, and some craft beer.

I was starting to hit a wall, having woken up at 4am. Both of us took a short nap and then later went to Gino 51 for dinner. We had eaten there our first day in and enjoyed it. It was also one of the hotel manager's recommended restaurants. We discussed what we wanted, but then the restaurant person provided her suggestions for us (the benefit of name-dropping our hotel manager). Her suggestions were actually similar to what we had discussed, so that worked out well. Started with the zucchini flowers (stuffed with cheese and anchovies, battered and deep-fried, very yummy) and battered squid. We then had the zucchini and shrimp tonnarelli. For the main we had sea bass with sliced potatoes, and contorni of roman artichoke, and roman salad. We misunderstood the sea bass and potatoes -- when the dish arrived, we thought it was a plate full of scalloped potatoes. But the sea bass is actually baked in a pocket of sliced potatoes. Also very yummy. The roman salad had greens that we couldn't identify but were excellent, I think we had seen people prepping them in the market. We were stuffed so just had espressos. It was an excellent way to finish our tour of Roman food.

Rome, Italy — Museo Borghese

We were up early because we had tickets to Museo e Galleria Borghese at 11:10am. The Borghese is one of the top-listed sites in Rome. You need to book about a week in advance, which wasn't really clear in the guide books or any websites / blogs we had read. We only found out when we tried to buy tickets last week and had to get a guided tour ticket because the regular tickets were sold out.

It's about an hour walk from our hotel. Followed google maps the whole way which took us through the heart of the city but down streets we hadn't seen before. Picked up our tickets, and then had about 20 minutes to kill so checked out the gift shop.

Our tour started at exactly 11:10am. Most organized tours nowadays have a earphone for each participant so the guide doesn't have to yell and disturb other visitors. It's the first time I've used one, but that's because mostly we just explore on our own.

Our guide was really good. He knew his art, and explained what made a piece baroque or other styles. He also had a good sense of humour. There's some really expensive art at the Borghese for a relatively small museum. Plus, right now they have a temporary exhibit of Picasso juxtaposed with the permanent collection. From the museum's website:

The exhibition at the Galleria Borghese takes into account his experience of contact with Italian art to return to reflect on great themes related to painting and especially to sculpture from the Renaissance onwards.

The guided tour was 90 minutes and then we had 30 minutes to wander on our own. The Borghese museum was one of our highlights. If you're going to Rome, I'd recommend it, but book in advance!

Had lunch at the museum cafe which was pretty good, then wandered back home. Along the way stopped into some stores but with exchange rates it was cheaper just to buy stuff back home.

We had dinner at Taverna Trilussa. Our hotel manager booked it for us, and as usual for all his recommended places, he wrote down the name of the owner with which he was friends with, to make sure we were well received and not getting a tourist experience. Trilussa was probably the most upscale place we ate at over the two weeks. They had several kinds of prosciutto on the menu, so tried a 36 month aged for the appetizer. I would have liked it if there was the equivalent of a flight of prosciutto, so that I had something to compare. It did taste good, but how much better, I'm not sure. Split the bucatini all'amatriciana for the pasta (for Heather it was served in the pot it was cooked in, which I think is in fashion right now). Had the grilled lamb for our main which had really nice flavour. We were too full for dessert so just had an espresso. Overall a very good meal.

Rome, Italy — Via Appia Antica

We had big plans to walk along Via Appia Antica, which the Lonely Planet rates as one of the top highlights in Rome. There's a few catacomb sites to visit along the walk too. It's another nice break from the usual tourist sites. We debated taking transportation to the starting point, but ended up walking because it was through different areas of Rome that we hadn't seen yet.

It's about an hour to the starting point. Unfortunately the gates to the park were closed, so we had to take the road, where there's not much sidewalk. Finally we got to Catacombe di San Callisto, which is closed on Wednesdays :( So walked down to Basilica of Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls, which also has some catacombs. They were closed on Jan 2 because of repairs to the electrical system :( we weren't having much luck today! (the name 'Outside the Walls' is a reference to the ancient Roman law forbidding burying of the dead inside the walls)

So we walked back into the city. We realized we had walked right past Terme di Caracalla on the way in, cause we saw it on our way back. Looked it up in the Lonely Planet but it didn't sound interesting enough and we were hungry and tired and cold so just continued on.

We went back to the cosy little place in the turtle fountain plaza. Same as last time, the lady was overwhelmed at times with customers. We had a soup and chicory torte with a red wine. It was still overly busy so went across the plaza to have dessert and an espresso. Realized they had craft beer (we had read that same as everywhere else now, there's quite the craft beer scene in Rome) so I tried a witbier (Seta, by Birrificio Rurale). It was pretty good.

They had wifi (pronounced 'wiffy' here too, maybe it's a European thing) at the bar so we searched around for a place for dinner. Made a reservation at DanEl Tavernae based on the tripadvisor rating.

DanEl was more experimental with food, and very big into instagrammable plates. Had the tuna tartare for the starter (the tuna, as with all the ingredients here, was excellent), carbonara for pasta (which turned out to be deconstructed), and almond-crusted veal tenderloin for the main (served with about 15 ingredients in the presentation, but really just needed the veal, crusted almonds, potato slices and greens). The espressos were good too.

Rome, Italy — MAXXI

The art galleries are some of the few attractions open in Rome on New Year's Day. We decided on MAXXI (Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo), in part because the building extension is designed by Zaha Hadid. We'll be seeing another of her buildings in Baku on our next trip.

So after breakfast we headed out. The walk there went through Piazza del Popolo, much less crowded in the early hours. They were taking down the NYE stuff in the square. Apparently, the Roman thing to do on NYE is to walk from Piazza Venezia to Piazza del Popolo. This is normally crowded with tourists on an average day, I can't image it at NYE.

Heading north from Piazza del Popolo, we were in non-touristy areas, with just locals walking their dogs. It took about an hour to reach MAXXI from our hotel.

Took some pics of the Hadid extension, and then entered. I found the temporary exhibit, THE STREET. WHERE THE WORLD IS MADE, the most interesting. It was a nice break from all the historical stuff we've otherwise been seeing.

The museum restaurant was closed for renovations (or something). There was a street food truck just outside the entrance, serving freshly-cooked pastas. Ordered a couple different pastas, and while I waited for the order, Heather bought some red wine from the coffee shop inside the museum. Ate our lunch in the remaining sunshine in the modern plaza (it was about 2pm by now). Got a couple espressos and cookies for dessert. Not bad for a street food lunch.

We had dinner at Ai Bozzi yet again, this time with a reservation. (There's not much open on New Year's). Kept to their seafood specials which were excellent. Also had their homemade pistachio gelato again for dessert.

Rome, Italy — Castel Sant’Angelo

Today was another day of highlights we’d missed on previous days. They were on opposite ways from the hotel. I suppose if we had planned better we could have had more contiguous sites. But whenever we tried to plan out our trip back home we got all glassy-eyed reading the guide books. It all makes much more sense seeing it IRL.

I finally got up early this morning to get pics of St Peter’s at dawn. I was out on the street by 6:30am! It was only 2C so I was heavily bundled up.

Realized the sunrise wasn’t as far east as I expected cause it was winter, so I’d have to find a different location for pics. Walked about 30 minutes down the Tiber for a south-facing view. This is the place to be for sunrise pics in winter.

Took a more direct path back to the hotel, passing through Piazza Navona. The lighting was still good and the piazza was empty so took a bunch more pics.

Got home and was awake; Heather was still trying to sleep so I caught up some more on my blog in the brunch room with a pot of tea.

Later we had breakfast and then walked over to Castel Sant’Angelo. There was a ten minute wait to buy tickets. The self-guided tour is excellent, following the ‘itinerary’ arrows. I was rather impressed with the castle. There’s great views from the top of the Vatican and other Rome highlights. I was disoriented from the perspective and it took a while to place all the sights in my head. There’s also a café near the top with tables in the crenels (probably not the right term as these were a couple feet wide) which was a cool place to have a coffee and check out the views.

It took over an hour to get through the castle. Next for today was Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, 3km east.

It was a fairly direct route to the Basilica. The route took us past some of the more famous sites, with casual down-street views of the Colosseo and other places we’d seen earlier.

The basilica was framed in the last street we took for about 1km. It was already 2pm so we decided to have lunch first.

The hotel phone’s battery was dead so we couldn’t look up reviews, and had to resort to how things were done in the old days. We looked at menus and how busy places were and picked a spot.

We ordered quite a bit for lunch. The anchovies in the starter were very salty. The pasta was quite good - pappardelle with artichokes and mushrooms (we’ve been looking for the pasta labeled ‘homemade’ on the menu). The grilled lamb wasn’t so great. The espresso was so-so.

Maybe there is something to this internet and crowd-sourced review thing.

So onto Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. There was a short five minute line up for security. It looked like there was a mass starting shortly so we didn’t spend much time inside. There was also a mass in progress in one of the side chapels.

The basilica was huge but probably 3rd out of the three papal basilicas we’ve seen.

The walk home was straightforward. We’re starting to get to know our way about with all the walking we’ve been doing :)

Our hotel wasn’t able to get us in for dinner anywhere (we wanted an a la carte dinner for NYE). The hotel was having a little soirée on the rooftop terrace, with small bites. We were still full from our big lunch so just small bites for dinner sounded good (and is more typical here).

Quickly showered and headed up to the rooftop. Most outside areas in Rome are enclosed in wind breaks and covers, with heat lamps, and are quite pleasant even with it being only 7C or so outside.

Grabbed some key seats between two heat lamps. Had our free prosecco, then some wine. The small bites were tasty and enough food.

There was a good turnout (I think there’s only 15 rooms in the hotel so we recognized most of the guests). People started to peter out so we did too.

Around 11:30pm the fireworks started, lasting for almost an hour. There were three locations, we were at the epicenter. We were tired from the long day of walking and fell fast asleep after the fireworks were done, we didn’t hear any late revellers at all!

Rome, Italy — Trastevere

Heather had been fighting a cold the past couple days mostly successfully but today she wasn't 100% so we didn't plan for much. We'd also been having full days and we didn't mind some time to relax and for me to catch up in my blog and photo captions. So we just planned to wander around Trastevere. We hadn't really seen much of it except for a couple popular streets with restaurants.

First off was Santa Maria in Trastevere. Unfortunately there was a mass in progress (it was a Sunday, so maybe we shouldn't have been so surprised) so we didn't enter.

Took some random streets, keeping an eye out for the brass cobblestones that marked the last chosen place of residence of victims of the Holocaust. We did see some, usually in groups where a family had lived.

Stopped into a random basilica, Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. It was a beautiful basilica. There are so many of these in Rome it's ridiculous.

Some more random streets and photo ops (somebody had conveniently locked their green bike on a street of red / orange buildings which made a great subject), and then we crossed back to our side of the Tiber.

There were NYE preparations in progress, as well a large line up of tourists for Bocca della Verita, literally mouth of truth, which is a marble mask where supposedly you stick your hand in the mouth and if you tell a lie it bites off your hand. I would suggest there's better ways to spend your time in Rome. But to each their own.

We wanted a cosy place for lunch and thought about the place we had lunch in the piazza with the turtle fountain. It was packed with visitors to the fountain so instead went to Il Vinaietto, a cosy little place kitty corner to other place. It was more of a small bites place with stools and little counter spaces, jazz CDs playing in the background. I had a bagel with salami, Heather had a soup of the day (carrot and potato with freshly grated ginger) and a broccoli pie. It was pretty good and fit the bill.

Back at the hotel, Heather took a nap and I tried to catch up a bit in my blog.

For dinner we figured on just finding a place in Trastevere. We had arrived on a Sunday and not had any problems. However it was way more busy today, possibly because we were out at a more respectable dinner hour of 8ish rather than 7pm. Gino 51, where we ate last Sunday, had an hour wait. Actually, it was more of a come back one hour which didn't necessarily mean we'd get in an hour. More like just come back and check if there's availability in an hour.

So we went back to Ai Bocci where we ate last night. The host was a bit hesitant when we said we didn't have a reservation, but luckily the owner recognized us and seated us.

We wanted to try the zucchini and shrimp (highly recommended by our hotel manager) but it got lost in translation and we just got the zucchini. It was stringed, breaded and deep fried and excellent. For pasta we had the cacio e pepe, a little salty but still good. For the main we tried the steak, served sliced with pecorino and balsamic. I was curious to try it (the table near us had it last night), but I found the pecorino made it taste dry-ish. Had an espresso and a deconstructed cannoli (which to me was just cannoli after you've taken the first bite). It was very tasty. Finished with a limoncello, which I'm liking more than amaro.

Rome, Italy — Capitoline Museums

Last night we looked through our guide books to plan out the next few days. There's a lot to see in Rome.

First on our list for today was Basilica di San Clemente, which is a 12th-century basilica built atop a 4th-century church built atop a 2nd-century temple over a 1st-century Roman house. Unfortunately we arrived just after noon and the lower levels are closed from noon until 3pm.

So onto our next site, Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterno. From the 4th to 14th centuries, this was the most important church for Christians. It's still the pope's seat as the bishop of Rome.

We had trouble finding the entrance, first getting nice pics of the obelisk in Piazza Giovanni Paolo II, and then the octagonal Lateran Baptistery which was pretty cool. Finally found our way the entrance of the basilica, fronting on another piazza bearing its name (or maybe the other way around).

The Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterno is amazing. As we read later, it's one of the four papal basilicas in Rome (this being the 2nd we've seen). The interior is designed mostly by Borromini, whose work we're seeing more and more (at least, we now recognize his name).

It was time for lunch so we searched for something close. Ended up at Le Virtù in Tavola. We split the cacio e pepe for the pasta and the veal saltimbocca for the main. It was excellent, one of our favourites meals so far.

We wandered around some of the nearby streets. We were a bit off the tourist trail and the streets had a nice vibe.

It was nearing 3pm by this point so we headed back to Basilica di San Clemente. Got our tickets, and then descended under the basilica. The self-guided tour of the excavated ruins is pretty cool.

On our way back to the hotel, we walked by the Capitoline Museums and we still had energy, and figured there would be fewer crowds at 5pm. So climbed up the stairs to the entrance, got our ticket, and entered.

The museum is very impressive. The masterpieces such as Caravaggio's La Buono Ventura have a plastic reproduction for visually-impaired to 'feel' the paintings, which I hadn't seen before. We had many of the rooms to ourselves which was nice.

Bought a couple small souvenirs at the gift store, and then exited. We then realized there was a whole other building in the museum that we hadn't seen yet. Later I looked it up in the guide book and there's a tunnel between the two. We were done for the day so even if we had figured it out at the time I'm not sure we would have spent much more time.

We asked our hotel for dinner recommendations (they said we'd need reservations as it was Saturday). They booked us into Ai Bozzi. Our hotel manager wrote down the names of the owners (he knows many of the restauranteurs personally) so we could name-drop at the restaurant.

Trastevere was hopping and we were glad to have the reservation. Dinner was great - we tried the sea bass carpaccio with a pistachio sauce, followed by a shrimp ravioli. For the main we decided on pig's stomach because it sounded interesting, until we realized it was a loose translation of pork belly. We also messed up ordering the wine, again lost in translation was that we were okay with going by the glass to make it easier to match. Instead we ended up with the house red which was good, but they have a large wine selection which we would have preferred. Oh well. It was an excellent day of eating all around.

Rome, Italy — Palazzo Barberini

Rome is a city of neighbourhoods, and our plan over the two weeks was to explore them bit by bit. Today was to Tridente, Trevi and the Quirinale.

First we stopped into the little church attached to our hotel. It's only open for two weeks over Christmas and the hotel desk staff suggested we check out the crib (or crypt, we weren't sure). Every church and lots of other places all have nativity scenes so we were pretty sure it they meant the crib.

The local priest welcomed us and gave us some pamphlets about the church. A younger kid gave us a little baby Jesus in a manger. They showed us their nativity scene (so it was 'crib') and offered that we could walk through, usually reserved for kids only. We left a small donation for the church.

Then onto Palazzo Barberini. The neighbourhoods we were going to today contain some of the more popular selfie sites in Rome - the Trevi fountain, and the Spanish steps. The streets were busy with selfie-stick brandishing tourists.

Palazzo Barberini is off the main tourist track, likely as a result of the €10 entry fee. It was commissioned by the Barberini family to celebrate their rise to papal power. Both Bernini and Borromini worked on the palazzo - I really liked the staircase by Borromini. The ceilings were amazing, as well as all the art. It took us a while to find the entrance - the Lonely Planet and google maps just show it in the middle of a block, but don't indicate the front. We got it on the third side we tried.

It was time for lunch so we tried a random place across from Palazzo Barberini. Heather had the gnocchi with sea bass, and I had a pasta with clams and guanciale. We realized after that these were both considered pasta dishes and weren't intended to contain much protein. So at least we knew for the future to split a pasta and then split a meat. I guess we sort of knew that already but forgot.

After lunch we walked up to Piazza del Popolo. The streets were very busy with tourists. Along the way we walked by Chiesa Della Trinità dei Monti, which is atop the Spanish steps. We walked down and then had to push our way through the crowded streets to get on our way.

Piazza del Popolo is huge. We were there primarily to see the Basilica di Santa Maria del Popolo, and in particular the Carvaggios in the Cerasi Chapel. So were hundreds of other people. I have some nice pictures of the backs of people's heads.

So we walked back towards our hotel, and passed by the Trevi Fountain. This was ridiculously busy - it was almost impossible to enter the piazza. We didn't get anywhere near coin-tossing range. I did get a nice picture, after cropping out the other people.

Overall for today we most enjoyed the Palazzo Barberini. There's a huge drop-off in numbers from the popular to not-as-popular, which we've also noticed elsewhere in the world. Although we still wanted to see the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps, we just didn't end up spending too much time there.

We had dinner at Pane Vino e San Daniele, named after the famous parma ham. Obviously, they specialized in parma ham. It's in the same little piazza with the turtle fountain, a five minute walk from our hotel. We had the parma ham for the appetizer (very good), then had risotto with artichokes and truffles, and braised beef cheek for the main. Overall the food was good, nothing spectacular.

Rome, Italy — Colosseum, Vittoriano

We were up early to beat the crowds to the Colosseum. Had breakfast, got ready, and were on our way by 8:30am. There was hardly anyone about the streets at this hour. Made it to the gates of the Colosseum around 8:45am, 15 minutes after they open. We already had our 2-day ticket from yesterday so just had to get through the line up for the security check. About five minutes later, we were in!

Took the stairs up to the 2nd level and had our first view inside the Colosseum. This is much less restored than the exterior, and not as photogenic. Still, you can feel the history. Because of the early hour it was still relatively empty and possible to imagine the past.

Walked back down the the 1st level for a different view. With an organized tour you can go to additional levels, but we prefer the independent exploring. Walked back up to the 2nd level where there is a permanent exhibit with the history of the Colosseum, including graffiti from ancient Romans that Heather found pretty interesting. Overall, I'd say the Roman Forum was more worth the wait to enter than the Colosseum. The best views of the Colosseum are from the outside. If I had time for visiting just one I would recommend the Forum.

It was cold at the exhibits, as it was facing the wind and it was only 5C or so. It took about an hour to see the site, after which we headed back up Via dei Fori Imperiali. The sun and walking helped to heat us up again.

It was only 10am and still before peak tourist time at 11am so visited the Vittoriano. It's free to enter, and you get decent views of Rome from the balconies. We paid the €10 each to take the Roma dal Cielo elevator to the rooftop, with amazing views. Realized that there was also a layer of smog over the city, which we didn't feel / see at ground level. Changed my pics from up top to b/w to hide the smog.

Wandered back towards our hotel. Stopped in at a little café in Piazza Mattei for lunch. There's a fountain in the piazza with stone turtles supposedly added by Bernini that we realized is on the group tour path, many of which then stop in for lunch. Fortunately we were there early enough and had a sandwich and red wine, followed by an espresso and dessert, before the place got too busy.

Did some window shopping and found a cheese store that smelled amazing (Beppe e i suoi formaggio, translated as Beppe and his cheeses). Bought some cannellini beans which we have trouble finding in Toronto (we can get them at St Lawrence market but this was easier). Beppe also has a restaurant attached which looked cosy so we booked there for dinner.

Headed home and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Got ready for dinner and then back out to Beppe's. We tried a large assorted platter of 12 cheeses and 6 meats. The cheeses were arranged from mild to strong, and most of them were new to us. They paired it with a sparkling white from Piedmont (Beppe was originally from Piedmont and most of his cheeses and wines are from the surrounding area). It was a lot of cheese.

Rome, Italy — Forum

According to our guide book and our favourite Rome travel site (romewise.com), Boxing Day is one of the lesser-crowded days to visit the Colosseum, Forum and Palatino, so that's where we headed after a late breakfast.

We knew the way having walked there yesterday. Our hotel is pretty centrally located - it's been about a 20-25 minute walk to everything we've seen.

Waited about five minutes in line to buy our ticket. One ticket covers entry to all three (Colosseum, Forum, Palatino), valid for two consecutive days, for €12 / person. They accepted credit card too!

First we explored the Forum. It's quite the collection of ruins, in various states of restoration. It's up there on the list of things to see in the world. It was very uncrowded - in some places we were all alone with the view. I was able to get some tourist-free pics which I wasn't expecting.

Palatino hill was more crowded, but not overbearingly so. There was lots of railing space for views overlooking the forum, I think in high season you have to wait for your turn.

There was a long line up to enter the Colosseum, so we decided to go for lunch and then come back near close. Yesterday we had stumbled across a restaurant in a small plaza down the back streets, so we tried it out. We had a salumi platter, and a artichoke & pecorino pizza. Both were excellent so we booked there for dinner.

By the time we got back to the Colosseum it was about 3:45pm. The last entry is at 3:30pm so we headed back to our hotel.

There were more locals at the restaurant (Vinando), who are usually smartly dressed. So for the first time on a trip I actually ironed a shirt and wore a jacket. Dinner was good. We ordered fried anchovies, ocoptus / potato / carrot salad (the hit of the meal, pasta (orecchiette with mussels) and main (grilled calamari). Lost in translation was that we were splitting the pasta and main so they came out at the same time.

We were very close to home (about a five minute walk) but made a couple wrong turns so it took a bit longer. Another good eating day in Rome!

Rome, Italy — Christmas Day

Merry Christmas! We woke up and caught the end of breakfast, it looked like most of the other people in the hotel had the same idea.

Most places are closed on Christmas but for many sights the outside is just as impressive. We started wandering through the Jewish Ghetto, there's some excavated ruins, as well as the actual synagogue that's a beautiful building.

Then walked down to Piazza Venezia, along the way climbed the many stairs to Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara coeli. The weather was perfect for sightseeing, sunny and about 14C.

Then the long approach down Via del Fori Imperiali to the Colosseum. On the right the road overlooks the Forum. There's a subway line under construction that blocks the classic view of the Colosseum, but there's plenty of other vantage points.

It was almost 2pm so we looked for a place for lunch. Most restaurants were either closed or serving the traditional large Christmas lunch. We found a little pizzeria with yummy sandwiches, wine by the glass and beer on tap. A lot of locals dropped by, walking their dogs, have a quick espresso or glass of wine. They had the best espresso we've had so far in Rome.

We decided to hang out by the Colosseum and wait for the sun to set. Our hotel gives guests a Android phone with free local calls and data, so we were able to look up the sunset time (4:44pm), about an hour. We also called to make a reservation for dinner at La Tavernetta 29. It's a popular restaurant and we were only able to get in for 10pm.

Settled on the best location to watch the sunset over the Colosseum. Took a lot of very similar pictures. We could probably string them together and make a movie from stills. Heather's iPhone took much better pictures than my camera, especially with the contrast between the sky and shadows.

We weren't quite dressed for standing around in the cold, and we're getting frozen by the time the sky changed colour for the pictures we wanted. Retraced our route back down Via del Fori Imperiali and back to our hotel. A hot shower fixed us up, and then we relaxed / napped before our late Christmas dinner.

Dinner was excellent, our favourite meal to date. Had starters of artichokes, and a caprese salad, then ravioli with truffles, and grilled lamb for the main. At the end the restaurant kept coming over with free stuff - a lemon sorbet, then a cake, and a shot of limoncello to finish. It was all very good, and another late night for us.

Rome, Italy — Midnight Mass

We woke up around 8:30am. I had been up since about 3am, jetlagged, so was a bit groggy. The breakfast buffet was good, we both had a cappuccino (when in Rome).

We had to be in line for Midnight Mass by 6pm, so we had planned our day around that.

Walked over to the Christmas Market in Piazza Navona. There's lots of great old buildings surrounding the plaza. We were still new to Rome and not yet tired of churches and cathedrals so stopped into the church fronting the plaza, Sant'Agnese in Agone.

Then walked over a block and into San Luigi dei Francesi, another nice random church. It's amazing how every block has an amazing old church that elsewhere could be the main sight in a town and here it's just a church, not even great enough to garner a mention in the guide book.

Another couple blocks down and we were at the Pantheon. It was the busiest so far of the sights we visited, but wasn't overwhelmingly busy. I didn't find the sight itself particularly amazing but I think it's architecturally significant for the size of the roof at the time.

It was getting close to 2pm so we got back to our hotel, and then out for lunch. We didn't feel like venturing too far and so had lunch at Yotvata, less than a minute walk. Tried the artichokes in a couple dishes, they are in season now. This time we had two appetizers, one pasta and two mains (yesterday had done 2-2-1 but it was too much pasta). However here it was way too much fish for the main, we could have easily gone 2-1-1 for apps/pasta/main.

Got home, and the jetlag and lack of sleep last night got to us and we napped for an hour or two.

Our alarm woke us up to get ready for midnight mass. We dressed in layers because we didn't know how long we would wait outside, or how hot/cold it would be inside with 15,000 people. We had also brought our iPhones to catch up on reading in the line ups.

Got to the Vatican around 5:30ish. There was already about a thousand people in line, waiting for the security checkpoint to open. Waited about 20 minutes, and then found out we were in the wrong line. The line up we were in was for general admission to St Peter's Square. There's a separate line near the left colonnade for ticket holders for the basilica. So we went to line up there. This security checkpoint was open, and in about ten minutes we were through!

The excitement lasted about 30 seconds when we realized we now had to line up again, this time to enter the basilica. So we got in line. The doors open at 7pm. We didn't have long to wait, as it was already about 6:45pm what with our waiting in wrong lineups and the security check.

We knew it was 7pm because the bells ring rather loudly on the hour. We had read that the line surges for the first ten minutes and then it's okay. Sure enough, everyone pushed forward. The little old nuns in particular seemed to have sharpened their elbows. Anyways we didn't get trampled and made it through the first of many ticket checks.

We quickly walked to the front of the basilica (other people were running to get good seats). Our tickets were checked by Swiss Guard after Swiss Guard at every turn and corner. And then we were in the basilica!

Got a very nice program for the mass, which more than made up for the lack of production quality in the ticket.

There were seats too (when we visited yesterday, and probably normally, the chairs are removed to allow easier flow of tourists. We weren't sure if they put in seats for the mass).

We wanted seats near the blocked-off centre aisle to get a good look at the procession of cardinals and the pope. We ended up about 15 rows from the front, and 7 seats from the aisle. Not bad indeed. Although, there was still about 20 rows of clergy in front of the general assembly, and the altar itself is very large. I'd say we were about 250ft from the pope, so he was pretty small to see at that distance.

Settled in for the wait until the start of mass at 9:30pm. There was an orchestra and a choir, although it was over a sound system so didn't get a feel for the acoustics of the basilica. I tried to find the toilets, but it was harder than our ticket pick up process. So gave up and went back to our seats. (From overhearing other attendees, there's only about 4 toilets for 15,000 people, and the wait was over 90 minutes).

Around 9pm they said the rosary, in either Latin or Italian, not sure. At precisely 9:30pm, the TV lights came on (I'm not kidding, it was like a sporting event with a press booth and multiple camera angles) and the procession of clergy began. Eventually that led way to the cardinals, and finally the pope. To be honest I don't watch the news that much anymore and I don't really know what the pope looks like. I assumed I'd be able to tell by his papal hat or robe, but couldn't pick him out of the line up of cardinals. I only figured out it was the pope because of the security detail surrounding him.

The mass was mostly in Latin, except for the prayers of the faithful which had languages from around the world. The fancy program we received on entry had the English translation on opposite pages which made it easier to follow. It was only the homily that we didn't understand, although we could see all the press updating their social media after the pope was done.

I found it a bit distracting with most people taking pics throughout mass (except at holy times like the blessing of the Eucharist), in particular those taking pics on their iPads.

They did serve communion, via the dozens of clergy. Each row shunted along to the central aisle to receive communion.

They cut out the last few pages of the mass, due to time. TV scheduling wins again, the mass had to complete in 90 minutes as another program was starting on TV at 11pm. So they skipped over the last few prayers, a couple hymns were cut, mass ended and we went in peace. (Actually, that line got cut too so mass just ended).

It took some time to exit, but finally we made it out. We walked back to Trastevere and searched out a restaurant whose kitchen was still open. Found I think the only one open past midnight and split a pizza, which was very good.

Read through the rest of the program and realized that by attending midnight mass we get a Plenary Indulgence. I had to google it and I'm still not clear.

We got home rather late for us around 2am and fell fast asleep.

Rome, Italy — St Peter's Basilica

We landed at Fuimicino a few minutes early, just before noon. It was pretty quick to get our luggage and exit the terminal (I guess cause Italy and Amsterdam are both part of Schengen it was like a domestic flight). We didn't see our names on any of the driver's signs so texted him (our very organized hotel had sent us his info earlier). He was at another terminal but came over quickly and we were on our way to the hotel!

There was not much traffic and it took less than 30 minutes to reach Hotel Monte Cenci in central Rome. The hotel is up a small winding street that the taxi van barely fit. It was only 1pm and our room wasn't ready so we had a coffee on the 5th floor rooftop terrace. The hotel manager dropped by to chat and welcome us.

Because it was so quick to reach the hotel we still had time to pick up our tickets for midnight mass (the ticket office closes at 4pm). Our hotel room was ready by now so we freshened up and then headed out.

It was a nice 25 minute walk along the Tiber to the Vatican. The instructions in the email from the ticket people said to go to the Bronze Door where the right-hand Bernini colonnade begins. But is that the right side facing the basilica or from the basilica's perspective? Does the colonnade begin at the basilica or the street?

There was a long line up that I didn't think we had go through. But it turned out everyone entering the grounds goes through security, including just to pick up tickets. It wasn't that long to get through, about 20 minutes.

Then we were on a Bronze Door hunt. It was on the right side facing the basilica, and from the colonnade pillar closest to the basilica. Only one person could enter, so Heather went through the Bronze Door, guarded by Swiss Guards with big swords. Heather had a bag of sand the same weight as the envelope and hop-scotched in, while I stayed outside, took some pics and yelled after her, in the Latin alphabet, "Jehovah" begins with an I *

* some of these things may have actually happened in an Indiana Jones movie or a Dan Brown novel; this whole ticket process seemed rather elaborate.

A couple minutes later Heather emerged with our tickets! I was hoping for some fancy ticket gold-embossed with hand written calligraphy, but it was regular stock blue paper.

We walked up to the front of the basilica for a good vantage for pics of the square. Then we noticed that it was possible to enter the foyer of the basilica so in we went. Wandered around a bit. There was hardly any other tourists around. It was still possible to climb the rotunda so we bought our tickets (there were only two groups in line ahead of us, and they took the elevator. I think normally even just the ticket line has huge lineups).

It's a quick four minute walk up to the base of the dome, about 50m above the papal altar. We only passed by two other tourists going down. I could see this being a long slow walk at other times. We walked around the circumference, with great views down. There's a 10ft high fence so pics weren't possible, although it was one of the few times I would have used a selfie stick.

It's then another 50 or so metres to the top of the dome. This is a more awkward climb, as the corridor slants inwards and narrows to about 30" in places. The last bit is up a circular staircase with a rope down the middle for assistance. Luckily both going up and down we didn't pass anyone going in the other direction. I could see it being stinking hot in the summer too - at this time of year it was fine.

We reached the top in ten minutes, and we were greeted with great views outside of St Peter's Square. The sun was low in the horizon and so the lighting was great.

We took the same awkward climb back down, and exited into a large room with nice artwork. Took us a few seconds to realize we were now in St Peter's Basilica! There might have been twenty other tourists inside. So we walked around, took lots of pics, planned out our seating strategy for tomorrow.

Finally we headed back to our hotel, washed up, and headed out to dinner in Trastevere. It's a popular place for restaurants, just across the Tiber from our hotel. Dinner was good, the wine was excellent, we even had espresso (after 3pm!)

Not a bad start at all to our little trip, considering our flight had just touched down hours earlier.

Toronto, Canada

We're off to Rome for two weeks, mostly for the food and the sights. We were also lucky to get tickets for Midnight Mass at St Peter's Basilica, it's one of the few things we have actually planned.

It's a bit of a process to apply for tickets for Midnight Mass. You need to download an application and then fax (!) it to the Vatican. We signed up for an online fax service and started faxing. There's probably only one fax machine at the Vatican and not surprisingly busy most of the time. Thank goodness for auto resend, it took about 50 attempts. Then about two weeks later, we received an email response that we had been accepted! (I also thought it was cool to receive an email from a .va email address). In the email were instructions on how to pick up our tickets before mass.

Packing was much more straightforward than our other trips - it's just the clothes we'd wear at home. The weather in Rome around Christmas is a little warmer than Toronto, highs of 15C and lows around 4C. Normally about 50% of the days are rainy but according to my iPhone the weather looks good for the next week or so.

Our flight was Saturday at 6pm, so we weren't rushed to leave right after work on Friday. There's no direct flights from Toronto to Rome in the winter so we flew through Amsterdam. In between changing planes we went through passport control and got our passports stamped.

Toronto, Canada

We've been home for a week now. Our flight arrived back in Toronto on Sunday evening and I went to work on Monday so didn't get a chance to finish up the trip blog until this weekend.

My favourite experiences on this trip

• Tracking lowland gorillas in Loango
• Akaka river cruise
• Bird watching excursion with Praia Sundy
• Turtle nesting on Praia Grande
• Chocolate tasting at Claudio Corallo
• Quad biking around Principe
• 11-course degustation menu at Roça de São João in Sao Tome

There were lots more cool experiences, it seemed like this trip had a lot more unexpected cool things than most (maybe due to lack of any details on tourist attractions for either country on the web, we didn't have any expectations).

We had picked Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe because they rank near the bottom of the list for international tourist arrivals in the world. In both countries there were very few other tourists who weren't expats or visiting expats. It took quite of bit of emailing to organize the trip. It was the most difficulty I've had trying to arrange local flights -- the flight schedule was only posted two months in advance, and Canadian credit cards didn't work on their website. I couldn't find a local travel agency or local hotel that would book on our behalf, and finally found one (1) travel agency that could book the flights, Africa's Eden. They also had a relationship with Loango and the Roca Belo Monte in Principe, and we ended up booking half the trip through them. Payments for hotels for both countries was either through bank transfer or Paypal. Fortunately you can now do international money transfers through online banking, in the past it meant a trip to an actual bank in person and a steep fee.

We were lucky with the weather -- we really just had one day rained-out in Tassi. The other couple times it rained it didn't impact us (and actually added to the atmosphere at Roça de São João). The temperature wasn't too hot (I think the hottest was 30C) but it was very humid everywhere.

We didn't really see much of Gabon, just the capital and one national park. Despite all the stories on the web, we had no issues getting our visas (multiple entry visas at that). We had to submit a lot of documentation, but no more than what we've done for some other countries like Mozambique or Djibouti. With the visa in our passports we had no problems at the border. We both really liked Libreville, it has a nice buzz to it, although maybe a little short on things to see. Once you get outside the capital, there's plenty to do in Gabon's 13 national parks (10% of its land area!). Loango was really cool. We were lucky that they've just recently (mid-2017) habitualized lowland gorillas and that we got to see them on our excursion. If we had more time we would have liked to have visited some of the other national parks.

Principe was a lot of fun. We were really busy with activities -- stand-up paddle boarding, snorkeling, quad biking, trekking, turtle watching. Somehow we also found time to relax by the beach, and have candle-lit dinners in the courtyard at the Roca :) We really liked the charm of Roca Belo Monte, they've done a great job of restoring it. I was surprised at how much we enjoyed the turtle nesting -- I think because it's organized through researchers who take care to minimize the impact to the turtles. All the beaches on Principe were amazingly clean, and the water was really calm. We were also lucky (yet again) to get into the Praia Sundy -- I think their website accidentally let us book into their soft launch. The kitchen at Praia Sundy was amazing.

Sao Tome was a little more touristed, although that's relative to Principe. I'm glad we rented a car, it's a great way to see the island independently. The roads are in good condition and paved. For most of the trip we were staying at full board places (Loango, Principe) so it was nice to check out the food scene in Sao Tome. We had great seafood everywhere.

Overall it was a really relaxing trip!

LIbreville, Gabon

We hadn't planned much for our last day in Libreville except for souvenir shopping. Yesterday we had found just the one place, Galerie Olima, that had pretty good quality. Took a taxi over (2000 CFAs / $4, the going rate for getting about town). It took us a while to decide on what we wanted, ended up getting a painting (out of the paintings, there was representation of only one local Gabonese artist), a mbigou stone sculpture (about 10lbs), and a group of wooden carvings each from a different type of wood. It took the Olima folks quite some time to pack everything up, they were quite meticulous. They were impressed with our telescoping poster tube (we brought it from home and had left at the hotel in Libreville during our trip).

Caught a taxi back to the hotel and packed up for the trip home. This time I didn't have to bother with making sure the house key was in our carry-on cause we have Kevo now, so it's just our phone. We had booked a late check-out cause our flight was at 11:50pm. We weren't really motivated to do much so just relaxed at the hotel until it was time to head to the airport.

We had packed all our souvenirs in the carry-on suitcase. There was an attempt at a bribe when going through security but we got through without having to pay anything. Spent our last CFAs on some chocolate from Gabon, and that was it for the trip!

Libreville, Gabon

Yesterday we had read up on Libreville and there wasn’t much we wanted to see.

Had breakfast (Royal Palm has great breakfasts) and then geared up for our day. It was really overcast (there was a lot of rain last night) which kept the temperature in the low 20s this morning. At breakfast we ran into the travel writer we had met at Loango and chatted with her for a few minutes.

We started walking north along Boulevard du Bord de Mer which as its name suggests runs along the coast. We’ve been within a few km of the Atlantic for the entire trip, I would say over half of it within sight of the water. (Technically some parts were other bodies of water such as the Gabon Estuary for Libreville and the Iguéla Lagoon for Loango).

The traffic was really slow (Bord de Mer runs the length of Libreville and is the only north-south route). This was the first time we’d been here on a weekday to see the traffic. It actually wasn’t too bad, but does bottleneck at the intersections. We decided to walk rather than a slow taxi.

First up was the Musée National des Artes et des Traditions. From our research we’d be lucky to find it open. Even the travel writer at breakfast had wished us luck.

Anyways it was in fact open. Paid our 2,000 CFAs each (about $4) and entered. The ticket person was also our guide. He gave explanations about each of the displays (in French, which was fine for us). It’s a pretty decent museum with pieces in good shape.

Continued north along Bord de Mer. There’s some interesting 70s architecture, although not as unique as Maputo. Walked by the Porte de la Liberté and Presidential Palace. Looked them up in the guide book but there was limited info. Basically just said not to take pics of the Presidential Palace.

We reached Quartier Louis, where the cool restaurants and night clubs are. It’s also home to a couple churches that were listed as interesting sites in the guide book. The old Ste-Marie Cathédrale has a nice facade but with the overcast sky not a great pic.

We then checked out a couple art galleries to buy souvenirs. First was Galerie Olima which had really good quality stuff. It was getting close to noon (when everything shuts down for siesta until 3pm) so just got their hours for tomorrow and then carried on. Sculpture Konogo was close by. We actually met Maitre Konogo, a famous Libreville sculptor, working in his shed. He showed us some pictures of him with Gabon VIPs as well as pics of his more well-known sculptures. Unfortunately the items for sale at his place weren’t very good quality so we carried on.

We couldn’t find any of the othe places listed in the Bradt Guide (although it is over four years old). Google maps didn’t know about them either, in fact google maps not been very good at for any places in Libreville, it was way better in São Tomé.

We were in the middle of Quartier Louis and the lunch places were just getting going. Tried out some street food - quarter grilled chicken, deboned and chopped up to order into half a baguette served with choice of toppings: mustard, mayo, onions, ketchup, for 1000 CFAs ($2). Got one each, and then got a pop from a nearby shop. Stood in the shade and ate. I spilled some mustard on my shoe. The locals seemed pretty tickled that tourists were having street food for lunch.

With the energy boost we decided to walk home rather a taxi. Stopped by Hôtel Le Cristal cause the Bradt Guide said they had art on display. Also I was starting to overheat (the sun had burned off the morning clouds and it was getting warm) and the hotel had great a/c.

We stayed for a couple coffees and a dessert. For some reason we received a lot of attention from the staff and management, asking how the service was and if we needed anything else. One of the managers came over to type in the WiFi password (he pronounced it ‘wiffy’ which I found pretty funny, although there’s no right or wrong way to pronounce it). They even comped us the coffees and gave us a discount on the desserts. We’re not sure why, maybe they thought we were some of those social media influencers types.

The cool air and caffeine gave me enough of a boost to continue on home. We walked through the busy commercial Centre-Ville. We both agreed that Libreville has a nice vibe to it.

Walked a little past our hotel to get water from the supermarket and look for Le Sud, the restaurant we were planning on for dinner.

We went back to Le Sud around 7pm, probably a bit early to eat in a hip town on a Friday night. The fish was cooked perfectly and the sides were nice, but overall not a standout (especially being rated #4 on tripadvisor). However it was conveniently close to our hotel (less than a five minute walk). We had eaten at the hotel every other night (due to late evening flights in, and Christmas when everything was closed) so it was nice for a change. Walked home around 9pm, just as the restaurant was getting busy.

Libreville, Gabon

Another transit day. It seems like most of our local flights have been late afternoon this trip, which sort of kills the day. Our flight back to Libreville was at 6:40pm which meant we had to be at the airport at 5pm. We booked late checkout at the guesthouse (for 35 EUR). Sat around the lounge area near the pool, catching up on my blog and reading. It was a pretty warm day and very humid. We had been spoiled by the cooler temperatures in Príncipe.

We still had the rental car (it was cheaper to keep it for the day and return it at the airport) so drove down to Papa Figo's for lunch. We were pretty familiar with getting around São Tomé by now and didn't even need to use google maps.

Ordered the seafood platter for two. One thing we noticed in São Tomé is that chefs ding the bell repeatedly whenever a meal is ready to be served. Not just a single ding and then back to cooking. They ding it quite impatiently until a server picks up the meal. Anyways it's quite funny.

Our food arrived, way too much fish for the two of us. But still enough room for a dessert (flan) and espresso. Then back to our hotel for a nap.

Packed up for the flight and drove to the airport. The car rental guy met us just as we finished loading our bags into the cart. He didn't seem too surprised about the flat tire. In fact he didn't really check the car at all - my assumption is that the fact we were able to drive it to the airport was good enough for him.

There was a line up outside the terminal, but it was for people way early for the TAP Portugal flight. We were able to check in right away. Another stamp in our passports as went through immigration to leave São Tomé and Príncipe. We weren't allowed to take water through (they're inconsistent here about that). Checked out the duty free shop, but there wasn't much. Bought a small wooden turtle as a memento.

Then we waited along with the 12 or so other passengers. At 7pm the TAP Portugal passengers started filtering in, it looked like they had a full flight back to Lisbon. Finally around 7:30pm, just when we were starting to wonder about our flight, they announced we could board. It was a larger prop plane than the domestic flights we'd had between São Tomé and Príncipe. We even had flight attendants and a snack served! Because there were so few passengers we were assigned seats based on weight distribution.

The flight and landing in Libreville were relatively smooth. We went through the AfriJet terminal, and picked up our luggage. We then had to wait for the Gabon immigration officials to arrive so we could get our passports stamped. Some of the other passengers were getting quite irate. A few of them were connected because they got on their phone, and within 10 minutes a couple of officials arrived, my guess is sent from the main terminal. The connected passengers continued berating the officials even as they were getting their stamps. The officials weren't too impressed when we handed over our blue passports but their tone changed when they saw we were Canadian and not American (this was shortly after Trump made his racist comments about Haiti and African countries). We'd have to be careful over the next couple days in Libreville, as there's not many English-speaking tourists here and the default guess is that we're American.

Anyways it was almost 9pm by the time we got to the Royal Palm. They served dinner until 10pm so we quickly washed up and headed down for dinner. Ate outside cause it was one of the last chances to do so before we headed back to Toronto and winter.

São Tomé, São Tomé and Príncipe

Today's road trip was south along the east coast, destination São João dos Angolares. Roça de São João has an 11-course tasting menu that gets great reviews. I had made a reservation on Facebook yesterday. We had read up on other spots to stop at long the way there, but nothing really piqued our interest. Plus it was raining.

Google maps took us through the heart of São Tomé to get to the road south. Just through the centro, someone knocked on Heather's window and pointed to the passenger side rear tire. It was mostly flat. It was the same tire that the rental people had tested when handing over the keys so I'm suspecting it had a slow leak. Anyways we pulled over and before we could open up the back to get at our tools, some helpful locals stopped and offered to change it for us (a tip would be expected). It saved us the trouble of getting clean, plus I'm sure if we continued to try to change it on our own we would be asked every two seconds by someone else if we needed help.

The car rental guys had showed me where all the tools were to change the tire (which makes it more likely it had a slow leak), including the little safety triangle. I set that up so I felt like I was contributing to the tire change. About 15 minutes later the spare was on, the flat tire secured on the back and the tools put away. The tire changing guys suggested that we shouldn't drive too far as they didn't trust the spare, but based on the condition of the car I figured the spare was not the weakest link so we continued on our way to lunch, checking every few minutes on the condition of the spare tire which held up great.

We stopped in at a gas station to add air to the old tire (so that we'd have a functioning spare if another tire went flat) but their air machine wasn't working. Oh well. We were only driving an hour out of town, and had the phone number of the car rental, so if things went really bad we could just have someone make a call for us.

The road south was in great condition, it must have been repaved in the last month or so. The terrain was more hilly so our overall speed was slower than yesterday as we geared up and down inclines. Our little Jimny does off-roading really well, but doesn't have a whole lot of oomph. Yesterday I think I reached a top speed of 50km/h due to the potholes. On the way south today I topped out at 40km, mostly in 2nd or 3rd gear. (On the way back it had stopped raining so on a couple flat stretches I got all the way up to 60km/h and got to shift into 4th!)

Anyways we reached Roça de São João after about 90 minutes, including the tire change (about 40km from São Tomé).

The Roça is beautiful, with local art on display. The owner's son walked us around, said that their place was sometimes called the Tate of São Tomé. It certainly seemed like it.

We had an hour to wait (lunch started at 1pm) so checked out the art, took pics of the kitchen prepping, and looked around the little shop. Unfortunately the art for sale was not the same level as the art on display :(

More people arrived, some with guides and some on their own, just like yesterday. Once again we recognized a good number of them. At 1pm we were all invited to take our seats, and the degustation menu began!

There were more than 11 courses. They called some of them palette cleansers but could have easily been called courses. Each was carefully plated with fresh ingredients in interesting combinations. The owner / chef came by our table and described his creations as food art, from the heart. So we were getting just about full, when we were served a main (!) course of traditional fish stew, rice, bananas and vegetables. This course on its own would have been sufficient for lunch, never mind the ten that preceded it. This was followed by a couple dessert courses, and a coffee. It was all amazing, for a grand total of 25 EUR each. The entire meal took over two hours.

We drove back to town, way too full. We reached São Tomé around rush hour (let's just call it 'busy hour'), so had an interesting drive for the last few minutes through heavy pedestrians / motorcyclists / traffic.

There was no way we could eat dinner tonight, so went down to a café near the guesthouse. We had passed by it a few times and it looked interesting. It was also the café that was mentioned in the poster for the art exhibition. Sure enough, there were paintings by one artist on the walls and wooden sculptures by another on display. Unfortunately the style wasn't to our liking. Had a couple drinks (Heather tried a cocktail again, but they've all been disappointing so far on this trip, unlike the great cocktails last trip), and some small bites - ceviched octopus and clams - which were excellent and hit the spot.