Roma

Friday, May 20 - Monday, May 23 2011

Without question, Rome is one of the most recognized cities in the world.  The history that fills in the cracks of the Roman streets is astounding, and for us, much anticipated to see firsthand.  Due to some complications with our flights (long story not needing to revisit) we ended having nearly 4 full days in Rome, and we found that, not surprisingly, it wasn’t enough.

On the third (of five) cheap easyJet flights this year, we had another early start from Geneva.  We were into Rome before 10am, dropped off our stuff, did a quick planning session in the hotel lobby, and were ready to roll.  First stop – Vatican City. 

You may not realize that Vatican City is actually an independent country from Italy, and at 0.17 square miles is officially the smallest country in the world.  As we stepped off the subway and onto the busy street heading toward the Vatican, we were quickly introduced to a common theme in Rome: people selling guided tours.  “Skip the line” is the biggest selling point for these tours (and you pay for it), among other “small” details like the guide actually explaining, in clear English, what you are visiting/viewing (surprisingly this seems like an after-thought for the salespeople but something we were proactive to ask about).  We bit and decided to join a tour of the Vatican Museum, which would also get us into the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica while saving us a couple hours of wait time. 

We were surprised to learn that the Vatican Museum is the second largest art museum in the world, second only to the Louvre in Paris.  We barely conquered the Louvre in one day last December so the thought of seeing everything in a similarly sized museum sounded exhausting (in fact, they say if you spent 60 seconds in front of each exhibit in the Vatican Museum, it would take you 7 years to see everything).  Fortunately our guide was very knowledgeable of everything “Vatican” and showed us the highlights.  We’ll try not to bore you with too many details, but there were a few interesting things to note. 

1.  The purple stone alter you see below is called porphyry marble.  It is extremely valuable (more so than gold), is extremely rare (all of the world’s supply is accounted for), and absolutely rock hard, extremely difficult to carve (even by today’s standards).  This stone showed up multiple times during our visit.

2.  Raphael’s final painting prior to his untimely death.  It was actually unfinished when he died and is believed to have been completed by one of his apprentices shortly after (in 1520).  The painting has been named The Transfiguration.  It was pretty impressive, even to non-art-lovers. 

 




3.  Raphael also painted a copy of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper, which is in better condition today than Da Vinci’s original.  The reason it is in such good condition is a result of a technique called fresco, which is the process of applying plaster to a wall and then using a mixture of pigment & water to paint on it (as opposed to the wall itself).  The pigment+water mixture is absorbed deeply by the plaster, therefore frescoes can (and have) last, with better quality, hundreds of years longer than non-frescoes.  So why didn’t Da Vinci paint his The Last Supper using the fresco technique?  Probably because frescos are extremely difficult and time consuming.  For example, it is impossible to paint over mistakes made on frescoes, you would literally have to tear down the plaster and start again (this is not easy to do in small chunks so it usually meant starting from the beginning).

4.  There is a tapestry containing an image of Jesus that is created in such a style that his eyes, and the front edge of the stone he’s standing on, are always facing you no matter what part of the room you stand in.

5.  There is a hall with maps of ancient Italy (painted between 1580 and 1585).  These maps have such accurate and amazing detail that they hold up against modern maps of today.  People have even used these maps to trace their ancestors back through town names that don’t exist today.

Our tour of the museum portion ended and it was time to view the infamous Sistine Chapel, which has been around since 1481.  The chapel isn’t just a historic work of art; it’s still used this day, most notably where the College of Cardinals gathers for Papal Conclave (the electing of the next pope).  Those that read Angels and Demons may remember that.  A couple other interesting facts that we learned about this chapel are that Michelangelo wasn’t even a painter - he was a sculptor.  Regardless, he spent 3 years of his life (between 1508-1512) bent over backwards, paint dripping in his eyes (which some say caused his later blindness), in order to complete it.  The most surprising thing to us about the chapel is that the famous Creation of Adam painting, the one with God and Adam on opposite ends reaching towards each other, is only about 16 feet x 8 feet.  We had made the assumption that this single painting would primarily cover the entire chapel ceiling.  Unfortunately, no photos are allowed inside the chapel, so we don’t have anything to show for it.  :(

After the Sistine Chapel, it was time for St. Peter’s Basilica, which has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world.  It’s named St. Peter’s because, well, Peter’s remains are buried underneath it.  The structure’s building process began in 1506 but wasn’t completed until 1626!  Once you see it in person, you understand why.   Before we went inside, we climbed 551 stairs to the top of the dome for a grand view of the surrounding city.  

Once inside the basilica we were taken back by the massive size and the sunbeams shining through from above.  There are a number of works by Michelangelo in St. Peter’s, too.  Also, an interesting fact we learned was that all but one of the original paintings have been replaced by identical mosaics of the paintings (the original paintings now reside in art museums around the world).  Unless you know that the “paintings” you were looking at were mosaics, you’d never know.  They were done so meticulously that you have to look really, really closely to see the little stones.  Very impressive.  Another interesting surprise was the actual body of a former Pope on display-- amazingly well-preserved (see photo below).  We were hoping to see the crypt where St. Peter's body is buried, but unfortunately we visited too late in the evening.  It's on the list for next time.

Body of Pope John XXIII (died 1963)

We then went outside to enjoy the massive St. Peter’s Square.  We definitely recognized it from media footage.  You always see nearly a million people crammed into the square and the promenade leading up to it during significant events — 1) hearing the Pope speak at Christmas and Easter or 2) when the Papal conclave is going on and the crowd is waiting for the white smoke to appear as a signal that a new Pope has been chosen.

Oh yeah, almost forgot the Swiss Guards, dressed in all of their glory.  The Swiss were chosen to guard Vatican City in 1506 and have been responsible for the Pope’s safety ever since an incident in 1527 in which they protected the Pope against invading forces.  147 of the 189 guards were killed in that invasion, although they successfully protected the Pope and he remained unharmed.

Wow, almost a full day at Vatican City – we needed to mark a couple more things off of our long list to feel like we were making progress!  We walked by the Castel Sant’Angelo, originally built in the 2^nd century and added to in the 3^rd century.  Again, for those that read Angels and Demons, you will recognize this as the place that the Hassassin was holding Vittoria captive.  It is linked to the Vatican by the Passetto di Borgo, an underground tunnel where the Hassassin held the four Cardinals captive.  On our next trip to Rome, we hope to be able to go inside this ancient building.

The next closest stop was Piazza Navona.  We hate to relate everything to Angels and Demons, but this was yet another site used in the book.  The center fountain, the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, was one of the Altars of Science—the “Water Altar”.  Otherwise it was a fun square with lots going on, and where we bought some classy sketches of famous Rome monuments.

Before dinner we quickly made it over to the Pantheon.  The Pantheon and the surrounding square quickly became our favorite part of Rome, which we will talk more about later.  The building itself is visually stunning inside and out.  It was built in 126 AD as a Roman temple and has seen a few face-lifts through its 2000-year existence.  It houses the tomb of Raphael, who was mentioned earlier in this blog.  And, yes, is yet another site used in Angels and Demons… we swear we were not on an Angels and Demons site seeing tour!

It was getting late, time for some dinner!  The food in Rome, as expected, was amazing.  We never found ourselves eating poorly… we’ll put it that way.  The Romans seemed to be big on the antipasti appetizers, so each night we generally shared one of those, each had an amazing pasta dish, and some house wine (which was better than most bottles you can find in the store). 

We took a creative way home due to some public transportation issues (subway closed at 9 due to construction), but it allowed us to take some evening shots of some of the sites we saw that day.

The next day, Saturday, we devoted to outdoor site seeing because we figured most major museums would be swarmed with tourists.  Sites that made the list:

Piazza del Popolo, yet another site from Angels and Demons (Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, the “Earth Alter”) and where there was some Italian police anniversary event going on with some sweet rides.

Spanish Steps  - Completed in 1725, the set of 138 steps take the title as the widest staircase in Europe.

Trevi Fountain – The current structure was completed in 1762 and is one of the most famous fountains in the world.  (It’s said that if you toss a coin into the fountain backwards over your shoulder, you will return to Rome… or you could be more proactive and just buy another plane ticket…)

Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II (aka the Wedding Cake, named because it looks like layers of an extravagant wedding cake).  This also has the tomb of the unknown Italian soldiers, which is guarded by two soldiers, 24-hours a day.

An Angie-sized bus

The Area Sacra.  Now a feral cat sanctuary, it was the place where Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC (not on the steps of the Roman Senate as Shakespeare depicted it).

We also had the pleasure of meeting up with one of our Expedia colleagues, Jennifer, who moved to Rome around the same time as we moved to Geneva.  She is having a wonderful time exploring Italy (it’s kind of funny, she says her number one question is “where in Europe have you traveled?”  Her answer is “Italy,” and only Italy, because there is SO much to see and do there.  We can’t blame her!).  We had a nice lunch and a couple different gelato samplings.  Thanks Jennifer for a fun time! (Silly us, we didn’t even remember to get a group picture).

That evening we eventually made it back to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain to see these amazing sites lit up at night. 

So why is the Pantheon area our favorite?  Besides the incredible structure, another reason was this awesome guitar duo that we stumbled upon in that square.  We stood there for over a half-hour listening to them play one after another of our favorite classic rock hits.  A perfect way to wrap up the evening.

We devoted Sunday to some of the more recognizable sites: the Colosseum, Forum, and Palantine Hill.  First was the Colosseum (originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre).  We opted for another “skip the line” tour guide, which turned out to be just OK.  Regardless of the so-so tour, the structure itself was incredible.  Built in the 1^st century AD, the Colosseum is surprisingly similar compared to sports stadiums of today.  If you can read the “LIII” text in the picture below, this was the section number (different over each archway), exactly like we have today.  You can still see the holes and resting spots which the roof was mounted on wood posts – perhaps the first retractable roof system?  Unlike today’s stadiums, however, the Colosseum was a gift to the people and the events were completely free to attend.

 

Inside of the Colosseum was so interesting.  The partially built wood stage is a reconstruction of what the floor would have looked like.  The large stones below were chambers underneath the stage where performers waited to enter.  Fun fact – at times they even flooded this section to allow for boats to float in the center stage when re-enacting naval battles. 

After the Colosseum, we took another guided tour through the Forum area (this tour was really good, the guide was very knowledgeable and quite funny).  The Forum is one of the oldest parts of Rome, and you can see the different levels that the streets were at during its history.  There are a lot of buildings, only one of which might be recognizable to non-Roman history buffs… Caesar’s Tomb.  The rest was fun to just soak in the history, be amazed by what artifacts still remain today, and imagine Romans from 2,000 years ago walking those same streets.

Caesar's Burial Site

Caesar's Tomb

Palantine Hill, which is connected to the Forum, provided excellent views of Circus Maximus, which was the first and largest stadium built in the Roman Empire.  Originally built in 329 BC, it could seat an incredible 250,000 people at a time, but now is just a shadow of it’s former self with grassy hills barely outlining the shape it once took.  

Right at the end of our visit to the Forum/Palantine Hill, it started to rain… hard.  It turned into an incredible thunder & lightening storm— the skies became so dark.  We took cover rather than paying the Johnny-on-the-spot salesmen for an overpriced umbrella (these guys swarmed out everywhere the second one drop hit the ground).  Conveniently we had our running clothes on that day because we originally planned to do a running tour of some of the sites that day.  That idea didn’t really pan out like we thought (we primarily stayed within the same section of town), but it paid off when we wanted to make a quick escape back to the hotel to get out of the rain— although we were absolutely soaked by the time we got there.

Monday morning would have probably been the better jogging day as we planned to hit all the outskirt sites that we had missed so far.  The only trouble was that we were leaving that evening so we didn’t have a room to shower and change in at the end of the day.  Oh well, we got use out of the public transportation system instead.  

Our first stop was the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls (originally constructed between 386-461, but due to a fire in the early 1800s, was reconstructed later in that century).  This was an unexpected treat for us, as it wasn’t even on our radar until we heard from our Vatican tour guide that the church was erected over Saint Paul’s burial site.  The church was really impressive and it was fascinating to be able to see Paul’s tomb. 

Paul's Tomb

The next couple of stops were more light-hearted.  The first was the Bocca della Veritá ("mouth of truth"), which according to legend, should anyone tell a lie while their hand is in the mouth of truth, the face will bite them.  Look at these brave souls.  For the older generations, this face appeared in the 1953 Audrey Hepburn movie, Roman Holiday.  The next fun place was Piazza Cavalieri di Malta.  Most people that describe this Piazza simply say to go up to the large door and look through the peephole for a surprise.  Definitely worth the surprise!  We won’t ruin it for you, but will show you a picture of the door so it’s easy for you to find on your next Roman holiday.  :)

One of the things we loved most about Rome was the random history, the ancient structures that miraculously still exist, and how the city (as far as we know) is so committed to keeping these places sacred rather than tearing them down for new development.  Every few minutes there was a new structure or monument to look at—and there seemed to be a church every couple of blocks (nearly 1,000 total in the city).  In any other city these would be highlights, but in a city as saturated with history as Rome, they seem to blend in as part of the normal atmosphere.  Below are a few of our favorite random pieces.

Amazing life-like detail

Sadly we needed to end our trip after four packed days.  Before we left we wanted to preview the Borghese Gardens to see if it would be worth a closer look on a later trip.  We ended up renting one of the more ridiculous things in our lives.  We can’t even remember the name of it, but we had an hour to kill and thought, “why not”?  It was a four-wheel cart, which was accelerated with bike pedals.  The weird thing is that both sides had steering wheels yet only one side would actually steer.  It was funny though because the one not steering would subconsciously turn the wheel along with the motion of the cart (it was harder not to turn than to “remember” to turn).  Ang took it off-roading while in the driver’s seat (she takes after her dad) only to later read a sign in the cart that forbids users from leaving the paved paths… oops.  It was a very strange “vehicle” to maneuver, but wasn’t a total loss - we did get this nice picture next to a pond.

So, that was Rome (part one, as we will surely be back).  We caught the train back to the airport for our next flight.  But we weren’t heading home…