Rome November 2003

I was goofing around on the Internet one day and checking out what was on AA.Vacations and I came across a really good deal to Rome (an offer I couldn't refuse, even). I mentioned it to J and he said - we should look into that. We had enough money saved so the only thing stopping us was vacation time.

We checked our vacation time but found I was limited so I looked at the cost of going over Thanksgiving weekend. My grandmother had passed away this time last year and nobody wanted to do anything that would remind them of that. My mother was going to Phoenix, J's parents were going to Houston and J's sister was going camping with her in-laws. So we booked a trip to Rome over Thanksgiving week.

There's no direct flight from Dallas so we stopped in Zurich and went on to Rome from there. We flew Swiss Air for that last leg and scoffed at the fact that they SOLD you snacks on the plane. Were they kidding?

We stayed at a hotel recommended to us by friends, the Colonna Palace. It was a very nice hotel.
The room was much bigger and much nicer that the one in Paris. The location was great as well. It wasn't near a Metro stop but then Rome didn't really have a great Metro system. Every time they would dig to build a metro line, they'd find ruins.

After a little rest, we went out walking around near our hotel. Right behind our hotel was the Pantheon.
Rome has two kinds of history - the Cesar kind of Rome and then the Vatican kind of Rome. The structures were a mixture of both. This building, for example, had an inscription relating to Marcus Agrippa across the top.
We didn't want to get too lost so we headed back to our hotel, which was all lit up at night.
The next day we decided on a city tour to see what was what. On the way to the tour stop, we came across Trevi Fountain. "Three coins in a fountain..." Yeah, I don't know the rest.
We also passed the Piazza de Republicca. It's amazing the mix of architecture. We were in awe just walking around. We took the city tour, which was cool. By the end, it was pretty dark and it had also started to rain. They let us off on a street that was "close to our hotel". "All you do is go right through there". Apparently, that was not "all you do". We got so turned around walking through the streets in the dark - it was not very pleasant. We finally found a main street that we recognized and were able to figure out how to go from the map.

One of the places we went was the Colosseum. You know, the place where the Romans would throw the Christians in with the lions and see who won? I can't believe it's still standing.
We went in and walked around and were just astounded that we were actually standing in a place that other people had stood thousands of years ago.
Here's a view of inside the Colosseum.
You couldn't go down to the floor and you couldn't wander around inside any of the tunnels that led to the floor but you could walk around up top. It was really cool.
From one of the windows of the Colosseum you can see the Arch of Constantine It was erected to commemorate the victory of Constantine I over Maxentius in 312.
I believe this is Palatine Hill, one of the Seven Hills of Rome.

Breakfast was included with our hotel and it was up on the top floor of the hotel. The food was not bad (they had cake!) and the view was awesome.
The dome in the back is St. Peter's basilica, which is where we were headed today. We found that it was easier to walk where we wanted to go rather than take a cab. The subway only had two lines and neither of them took you anywhere close to where you wanted to go. Walking was really a good idea. Did I mention they had cake at breakfast?
This is the Tiber river. It basically divides the city in half.
Piazza de San Pietro - St. Peter's Basilica. This is the heart of the Roman Catholic Faith. The Pope lives over to the right. St. Peter (THE St. Peter who was one of the twelve apostles to Jesus) is buried in under the basilica. The Obelisk (column) in the center was brought to Rome by Gaius Caligula Cesar from Heliopolis in Egypt.
This gallery of 140 Saints surrounds the Piazza San Pietro. Over the front of the Basilica is the statue of the Resurrected Jesus. He's flanked by the 12 apostles. In place of Judas Iscariot is John the Baptist.

We went into the Sistine Chapel (no photos please) but we could take some in the hall. It was amazing. In the gallery of maps, for example, they had all of these beautiful paintings.
This was one of the paintings on the ceiling. The colors were so rich - just beautiful. Unfortunately, there was no stopping. It was like cattle being herded through. Everyone kept shuffling along.

We found this tour that would take you to the top of St Peter's. It was not for the faint of heart as there were a lot of stairs. We're young, we thought - let's do it! We took an elevator to a certain level and then we climbed some stairs. That wasn't so bad.
Here we are at the top of St. Peter's Basilica - or so we thought. (Side note: That moron behind J actually tried to climb up on the walls where these frescoes were painted so that he could take a photo over the fence.) Little did we know, these were just the appetizer stairs.
These were the stairs they warned us about. 320 steps in this corridor so narrow that there was no where to turn around. Once you started up, you were committed. These were one person wide and there was no landing or anything so that you could stop and rest. But the time we got to the top, we thought we were going to fall over. I don't think we could speak for about 15 minutes.
It looks like I'm smiling but I think it's delirium. The view was beautiful! You could see all of Rome. It was like being up in the clouds.
After the climb down, we went into the Vatican. The first thing we saw was the Pieta by Michelangelo. He did this sculpture when he was 25 years old. This is the only sculpture to carry his signature.
Then we went down below to see the tomb of St Peter. You couldn't really get too close but you could see pretty well. Unbelievable!
After the visit to the Vatican, we had lunch on the bank of the Tiber river. We had a pannini. It was a sandwich that had meat and cheese (like salami or something) and it was heated up by this flat iron. Very good. Also Pringles were a big hit there. Those little cans were everywhere.

Normally when we went by the Pantheon, it was closed but this time it was actually open.
The inscription across the top says "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, built as consul for the third time". Inside the Pantheon is the tomb of Umberto I, King of Italy and the tomb of Raphael.

Right around the corner from here is the Piazza della Minerva.
13th Century Santa Maria Chiesa Sopra Minerva. The body of St. Catherine of Sienna lies under the alter. Her head is actually in Sienna. The obelisk dates back to the 6th Century. The elephant was designed by Bernini for Pope Alexander VIII.
The Fontana di Moro - 1576 in Piazza Novana. We had pizza near here that had an egg in the middle. Sounds weird - but most tasty.
All around town were these odd drinking fountains. They are fed from the aqueducts and the water was cold. A nice thirst quencher.
Palazzo Venezia. This monument to Vittorio Emanuel was built in the late 1800s in honor of the first King of Italy. It houses the Eternal Flame over the tomb of the unknown soldier. The Italians refer to this as the typewriter.
The ruins of the Roman Forum. I guess this is where all the action was during the days of Cesar. This is as amazing as the Colosseum. Over 2000 years old.

On Thanksgiving Day, we treated ourselves to a trip to Florence.
Under the arches is where the politicians would publicly speak. Towards the back there is a copy of the statue of David. It commemorates where the original statue actually stood. Can you believe they kept a masterpiece like that outside?? It has since been moved indoors to one of the museums.
In Santa Croce is the tomb of Michaelangelo. It also has the tomb of Dante Allegheri and Machioveli. Very cool. At the entrance of the town is another copy of the statue of David.
We got back to Rome pretty late and we were really hungry so we had our Thanksgiving dinner at McDonald's right across from the Pantheon.

Or last day in town was spent wandering around taking one last good look at the city.
John's quenching his thirst by using one of the many fountains around the city that were fed by the aqueducts.
We had to squeeze one more of these in...Gelato! This was better than any ice cream I've had in the States - including Baskin Robbins.

We had a really great time in Rome. We ate some new things. John ordered a fried seafood platter and it came with all the heads on the fish. We had the pizza with the egg and of course the gelato. Everything we had was good. We never did see the Pope. Maybe next time...