I realize I have the wrong "Rome" in my reference, but that didn't stop the B-52's from invading my head when we traveled there. Besides, it seems appropriate given the amount of roaming Dan and I have done around European cities this year. :)
After Christmas, Dan and I took a four day trip to Rome. We arrived pretty early, so we decided to take the metro into the city and just walk around a bit. Walking around was one of the most enjoyable things we did because we kept stumbling onto really cool stuff! We started our exploration at the Triton Fountain by Bernini that sits just outside a metro stop. From here it was a short walk to Trevi Fountain. Now, I knew that Trevi was a huge tourist attraction and supposed to be impressive, but when I think of fountains, I think on a smaller scale. I was not prepared for the gorgeously carved scene that covered an entire side of a building with multiple cascades over rocks into a huge pool. It made my jaw drop. The mob that was photographing the fountain was also so impressive that I took a pic of them too. :)
From Trevi, we intended to walk to the Pantheon, but on our slightly circuitous route, we ran into the MASSIVE monument to Vittorio Emanuele II. It was not on either of our lists of sights to see, but it was so large and interesting that we detoured to go see it. I wandered up to a little park area across from it to take some pictures, and here we noticed some ruins and a big column. Dan checked the map and realized we had found Trajan's forum and column! Those were on our list! whoops. Perfect. Our now fortuitous route to the Pantheon also took us past Minerva Square where Dan took some posterior pictures of a super cute elephant sculpture by Bernini. We sort of missed the Michelangelo sculpture located inside the church on this square, but we must be forgiven our ignorance. There's just too much cool stuff in Rome to see!
Just past the Elephantino, we finally found the Pantheon. The pillars outside and the weathered facade are impressively ancient looking, which makes the rather immaculate interior a bit jarring. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful, with tiled floors and statues recessed on the walls, and the dome was impressive. I was also surprised to see that it is currently in use as a church. I shouldn't have been. Even though I associate ancient Roman gods with the Pantheon, it has actually been a Christian establishment since the seventh century. :) From the Pantheon we strolled to the Spanish steps, which other than being pretty and in some movies, were not actually that noteworthy. At this point we were exhausted from our wanderings and our early start, so we headed back to the hotel. We ate all of our dinners in the Italian restaurants around the hotel, and they were all quite tasty! I was pretty sure we were going to turn into a carbohydrate by the end though...or possibly salami.
Day two was rainy, so we hit the Capitoline museum, which like many of the museums in Rome, is housed in a former palace. Each room had a name and featured some bit of prominent artwork (and of course the floors and ceilings were works of art unto themselves), but my favorite room was the duck room. It had a pair of ducks flanking a metal bust carved by Michelangelo. I was also quite taken with the statues here. I took several pictures of some beautiful and some sassy ladies, and I really enjoyed emperor bow head. An emporerer with his hair sculpted on top of his head in the form of a bow! Hilarious! Bow head was even funnier than the equestrian sculpture we found in the Borghesi parks of a king wearing a duck on his head. King Duck head! Sometimes I think I'm too immature for fine art, but the sculptures of the ladies were amazing. These were truly the first ancient portrayals I had seen that had attitude! One arched eyebrow, a satirical smile, I loved her!
After the Capitoline, it was a short walk to the Colosseum. The guidebooks indicate that you can skip the interior of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, but I wouldn't. Besides, you get access to the Palatine Hill with the same ticket, and that is definitely worth going into. I must say that I wish there was some sort of floor still in the center of the Colosseum. It is really cool to see all of the innards from above and to read about how things were lifted to the surface back in the day, but it made it difficult to get a good scope of the place without a center. It was also interesting to note that while the walls were mostly intact, all of the seating was missing. While much was left to the imagination, it was, well, colossal! End of day two!
Day three took us to the Vatican. We started with just a walk around St Peter's square, which was a sight in itself. It is massive, and the columned, covered walks that stretch around the sides are impressive. From the square, we headed through security (the day after the Pope was tripped) and into St. Peter's Basilica. This was probably my favorite stop on our trip, and maybe Dan's too. It was just...Oh, I'm tired of fancy words for large and beautiful. This post is too full of them. I spent the whole time smiling with my mouth open and sighing with pleasure. How's that? Ceilings, floors, walls, statues, paintings. All things to behold in amazement. There is a touch of humor near the entrance though where you see an enormous manger scene complete with ducks, a moving water wheel, and an LED starred sky. While really neat, it was definitely in juxtaposition to the rest of the interior decor. :)
The only sad thing here was that we breezed too quickly past the Pieta.
We had to exit St. Peter's square to get to the Vatican Museum entrance, and the line wrapped half way around the wall surrounding Vatican city. Despite the length, it only took about an hour to get in, and entering the museum is necessary if you want to see the Sistine chapel, which is the main attraction. I'm sad to say that of all the things we saw in Rome, the Sistine was the most disappointing. Beautiful paintings are usually in beautiful settings, but I guess when they are on the ceiling, you are stuck with the given surroundings. It is too bad that so many master works, so many iconic scenes, are relegated to the ceiling of a cattle car. I'm not kidding. The Sistine Chapel is small and rectangular and completely empty so that they can cram more tourists in. Guards are there to herd you toward the interior (and to guard against picture taking) so that more folks can squeeze in behind you. And sadly, the room is dim in order to preserve the paintings. sigh. I was so sad. I wanted goosebumps and some proximity to God, but I experienced neither.
The museum itself had an overwhelming amount of sculpture and some nice paintings...quite the treasure trove. We finished our tour in a garden with an enormous head and a giant pinecone. :) Sitting in the sun, we realized that it would be great weather to finish exploring the ruins, so we made a mad dash across town to the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum to make the last entry. You can see most of the ruins of the Roman Forum from the road, but Palatine hill was fantastic. As you walk back you see the faces of some old churches, but the coolest part is going up on the hill where there are some well preserved ruins and fantastic views of the city. There's even a little garden up there. And the best part was that it was warm enough to take off our coats! :) End day 3.
Our final day in Rome started out at the Castle San Angelo which was huge and old and very medieval feeling. Again the best thing here was going to the top for the views of the Vatican and the city. We strolled along the river a bit, and then accidentally walked back up to the Spanish steps. Fortunately, you can walk through the metro here and reach the Villa Borghese and its surrounding gardens. The Villa is another museum, which is supposed to have some impressive works. Strangely the banner out front when we visited announced, "Caravaggio Bacon" I'm familiar with Caravaggio, but the bacon part eluded me. I'm hoping it's somebody's name. Made me giggle though. We were sort of museumed out, so we didn't go in, but chose to roam the 148 acres of park that it sits in. We found many pretty statues and fountains, and we even found King Duck head here. This was a short day for us because it was New Years Eve and we wanted to rest up before the festivities.
To celebrate the New Year, we decided against all the crazy expensive set menus on offer, and we raided the grocery store instead. We picked out some fresh bread, deli salami, and a variety of stinky cheese, and we complimented this with some bubbly and some boxed wine. Now, before you scoff at this, consider, we were going to spend NYE on a huge square outside with a bunch of revelers and needed drinks we could tote in our pockets.....what better than juice boxes of wine?! I'm not kidding. They looked like kiddie lunch box fare, but they were truly wine, and actually better than some vinos I've had from a bottle. :) Thus armed, we ventured out into the party atmosphere, which was a little too electric due to a huge thunderstorm. We had an umbrella but were soaked in minutes anyway. The other revelers were all huddled with us under awnings and in store windows. We stuck it out for a while, watching wet young people set off fireworks and dodge puddles, and watching God's fireworks display which completely drowned out the noise of the mortal version.
Eventually we decided that sopping wet pants are No fun for New Years, so Dan and I headed home, boxed wine in pockets, to count down the Italian New Year in our jammies....warm, dry, and giggly from our adventure. I think the most fun was riding the subways. They were packed and the mobs would try to enter and exit the trains at the same time causing quite a mosh pit. This could have been volatile if everyone hadn't been cheering and laughing the whole time. Good, old-fashioned, full-contact fun to celebrate the New Year.
