Day 13 - Borghese Park

March 23, 2019

Since we took all three Vatican tours the day before, we had some time on this day to do something more leisurely. Edith wanted to go to the Borghese Art Gallery to see if there was any possible way to get tickets. Online, it was sold out until March 28 by which time we'd be in Venice.

The park was within walking distance from our B&B so we set out after breakfast. We had to go through the Piazza del Popolo which was much quieter in the morning than the previous evening. This shot also shows the full height of the Flaminio Obelisk. 

The main activity this Saturday morning was a flea market in the Piazza. Notice the sign in the background.

On entering the park we heard this musician playing his accordion. 

This park was the first natural area we'd seen since arriving in Italy. I wondered if there would be birds in the park. There were and they were very surprising at first. This is a Rose-ringed Parakeet. There were many of them in the park. They were released in the 1970's and 80's and were successful in maintaining a breeding population in Rome and some other locations in Italy. 

They might catch and eat these butterflies in the park. I could not identify this species using Internet resources.

Compared to other places in Italy, this street sign in the park was quite readable. Madame Letizia married into the Bonaparte family.

The park was part of the estate of the Borghese family and there are sculptures throughout, including this one of what I believe is an Eagle.

There is a large pond in the park. Later in the day it is filled with paddle-boats. In the morning it was left to the native inhabitants.

In the shot below you can see that the adult turtle has a big crack in its shell. However, it seems to be functioning as a parent quite well.

This is a Muscovy Duck, a common domestic duck in Europe. 

There's statues tucked away all through the park.

I got very excited when I saw these Geese. They are a called Greylag Geese and were a lifer for my world list.

This next bird is called the Common Shag, in North America they call these types of birds Cormorants. 

There was quite a lot of activity when we arrived at the Borghese Gallery. Edith went in to inquire about tickets. There were absolutely none available. 

A while later it was silent. We later learned that they take in visitors every two hours and it is quiet while they are in the gallery.

Our last chance was to try to get in with a tour company. I was able to download an IPhone app and locate one that had tickets for Tuesday the 26th, our last day in Rome. We signed up for that tour and Edith was happy.

We left the park and had a quick lunch somewhere and then headed back into downtown rome as detailed in the next post.