Rome

Days 1&2 were spent in Rome, Italy. We arrived around 9:30 on Monday morning, caught a train into the city and walked the 2 or 3 blocks to our hotel from the train station. It was too early to check in, so we left out bags and went out in search of a late breakfast/early lunch. We found that in a nice little "bar" just around the corner from our hotel. Now, a bar in Italy, while also selling alcohol, is a cheap, efficient way for locals to get good food. For tourists it's a confusing mis-mash of people jockeying for position and throwing receipts up on the counter. We managed to order our food and then convey to the person behind the counter that we wanted to sit down. The person who understood English, took all our food away and told us to go sit down. We were tired and confused, but did as he suggested. Luckily they brought us our food in short order and we plowed through it. I had a most delightful tomato and mozzerella pitta warmed under a toasting iron. YUMMY!

After lunch we walked around the area and went into a local church called St. Mary and Martyrs (there were several, and I shortened it for my notes and now can't remember the rest). It was originally the Diocletian Baths, but all of that area is under renovation. The church itself was designed by Michelangelo, but time and wars have erased most of Michelangelo's imprint. My favorite part of the church was the nave pictured below. It is all painted, but from a distance looks so three dimensional that I walked over to have a look at the beautiful marble.

We walked back to our hotel via this fountain in the Plaza Republica.

After putting our bags up, we were seriously fighting jet-lag and decided to go out for a bus ride around the city. Little did we know that by the time we walked to the bus stop it would be pouring down rain and the busses wouldn't let us on because they were already full. We got soaked and miserable, but managed to finally ride around the city. It kept us awake, if nothing else. After that, we went back to our rooms, dried off, and met our tour group and went to dinner. We ate at a local pizzeria that was absolutely fabulous. My favorite of the pizzas was the "frute de mer" (sea food). It was delicious, simply delicious.

On Tuesday we were up early for a quick breakfast and then brisk walk to St. Peter in Chains chuch. There is a statue of Moses carved by Michelangelo. Very interesting. The chains that Peter wore as a slave and as a prisoner are also on display in the church. The church also had all these grim reaper type statues and paintings around. It was actually kind of weird.

As we were waiting to gather all up for our walk to the Colosseum, it started pouring down rain. It rained pretty much the rest of the day, but we were still able to tour the inside of the Colosseum. I honestly expected to be more impressed with the massive ruins, but I wasn't. Don't get me wrong, it's still really impressive, but I thought it would be bigger than it was.

After the Colosseum, we toured the Roman Forum. This is where most of the political goings-on in ancient Rome happened. What is amazing is that until 150 years ago, it was completely covered in dirt and was a cow pasture. The archeology going on there, will continue for many more years. I thought it was also interesting how the Romans have built upon the ruins simply by adding stories or filling in the areas below. This way they've actually preserved much more than you would think possible.

From here we walked to the Pantheon, again in the rain. Walking into the Pantheon made the entire day of rain and cold and frustration worth it. I only took a couple of pictures, and they don't do much for understanding the amazing space. When inside, you are standing in a sphere that it 142 feet tall and wide. It has a hole in the dome where the only source of light it, and rain as it turns out. There are drains in the floor to keep things dry and safe that you would never notice unless you were looking for them. The Pantheon "made" Rome for me.

After this, our tour group broke up. We went to a wonderful lunch outside of the Campo di Fiori (Flower Market) and then back to our hotel to rest and dry out. Dinner that night and an early bedtime rounded out the day.

On Day 3, we went to Vatican City and toured the Vatican Museum which has to be the finest collection of statues anywhere. The Sistine Chapel is located towards the end of the museum and we went there and admired Michelangelo's ceiling. The Chapel is unbelievably crowded and noisy even though no talking signs are posted everywhere. Every great now and again a museum person will shout out "Silencio" and the noise will fall only to grow again. One cool thing that our guides kept reiiterating is that this summer is the first time in over 25 years that the scaffolding has been down in the Chapel. We were the first tour group to see the Chapel without its scaffolding in a generation.

At this point in a regular tour we would have gone into St. Peter's Bascilica, but since the pope was giving mass in St. Peter's Square, we went to see him instead.

A yummy buffet lunch and David and I were awaiting our bus for our ride into Tuscany.

My overall impression of Rome (and most of Italy for that matter) is that it had some really amazing food, even more amazing collections of art, was crowded, VERY crowded, busy, bustling and alive. While much of Rome itself is very old--4000 years or more--much of it, right next to the old stuff, is very modern and industrial. There are cars everywhere, parks, plazas, squares and people living and loving life. The people were definitely entrepreneurial (the umbrella people materialized at the first drop of rain with a pack of umbrellas under each arm). Our Roman tour guide, Francesca, said it best when she said that Rome is ancient, old, and modern all within a block. It's ruins and office buildings stacked on top of one another. Rome lives its history while creating its future.

I don't know if I'll go back to Rome or not. I enjoyed the Pantheon enough to make another trip and I really missed seeing St. Peter's Bascilica, so maybe I will, and maybe next time I'll fall in love.