Roman Holiday

The final segment of my Italian excursion was three days in Rome...the Eternal City. This is one place I had never been to before and it was totally overwhelming. Though I had planned to spend all of my time exploring Imperial Rome, I found myself on our first afternoon in the middle of the Vatican watching them put up the Chirstmas tree and (behind canvas tents, hidden until Christmas Eve) the giant nativity scene.

I was amazed first by the lack of crowds since in any picture of St. Peter's Square I have ever seen there are always thousands of people. Ian, Michael, and I decided to go to Mass there but had some time to wander through St. Peter's and see the amazing architecture (Michelangelo's dome) and art (Michelangelo's Pieta and the 13th century statue of Saint Peter). We walked through the crypt where the popes are buried. Under the Baldiccino and high altar is the tomb of Saint Peter. It was amazing to stop and say prayers there. Also down there happened to be Prince James, the son of James II of England who was forced into exile and eventually died in Rome. When we went to Mass in one of the side chapels of the Basilica, it happened to be the place where, by tradition, Saint Peter was crucified. Pretty cool, huh?

The next morning we were off early to get to the Vatican museum to spend the morning. Once again, no crowds. We walked right in with no wait. The Museum is almost beyond belief. It has Etruscan, Egyptian, and Greek antiquities, tapesries, Roman statues like that of Neptune above, maps, painting, and on and on and on. Of course the highlights of the museum are the frescoes by Raphael and the Sistine Chapel, the latter having frescoes by Raphael, Boticelli, Signorelli, as well as Michelangelo's famed ceiling. It was great to be able to sit along the stone benches along the walls in the Sistine Chapel and just take it all in. I spent about forty-five minutes just trying to look at each of the intricate paintings. All I could think of was the movie, 'The Agony and the Ecstasy," with Rex Harrison yelling "When will it be done?" at Charleton Heston who replies "When I am finished." I should say that outside of the Vatican is an amazing pizzeria. You buy the pizza per 100 grams...about a 7" square of pizza of every conceivable variety." They cut it into small strips and you took it outside on the street to eat while trying not to be pestered by the people pushing faux designer clothes and handbags on the visitors.

Okay so after wandering the Vatican Museum for the day, we found an unbelievable place to eat dinner: "Ristorante da Vincenzo" not too far from the train station. This was a family-run place specializing in seafood. We walked in and were grateful to be seated considering that the place was packed! Now we had passed many other restaurants on the same street that had one table of diners at most. We knew we made the right choice. The antipasti was mixed seafood salads: a small taste of five of their cold dishes including fresh anchovies in olive oil, tiny squid, a crab salad, prawns and tomatoes, and octopus. Each was unique and beautiful. There was a pasta course, a main course of turbot, and a dessert called a Mont Blanc...like a giant circular eclair without the chocolate on top. It was great, as was the tiramisu. We went back to the hotel very very happy!

The next morning we were off again. It was raining just a bit when we started so we decided to start with a tour of some key churches. We went to Santa Maria Maggiore and San Pietro in Vincoli. Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the grandest basilicas of Rome with Byzantine mosaics, medieval bell towers, and the Renaissance ceiling. Gorgeous. The real treat was San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains) where, sure enough, there was a golden shrine with crystal sides containing the shackles that by tradition were those that Saint Peter wore in prison only to be released by an angel. It just seems to keep getting more and more over the top!

After popping into a couple of other churches, the sky cleared and we headed to the center of Imperial Rome: The Colosseum, the Forum, and the Palatine Hill. So, on one hand, I expected the Colosseum to be much bigger but the longer I wandered around it inside and out the more striking it was. Trying to imagine it as I had seen it portrayed in all those movies about ancient Rome...full of screaming people, the clash of swords, and the noise of animals. Again, it was a place where you could just stand still for ages taking it all in.

From there we wandered up the hil to what remains of the Roman Forum. This is just one vast collection of the ruins of old Roman buildings and temples. It gave me chills to walk in all that history. There are two pictures here just to show you something of it. The first shows what those wacky Christians thought would be a good way to get everyone to swap out the old gods and goddesses for the new ones...build the church to the new god right inside the temple of the old one. Everyone is coming there anyway so what's the difference. As we read the tour books and talked, we learned that most of this was underground and was in fact still being excavated. That might explain why the door to the church (it is that blue-green door) is so high up!

Since it was almost the Saturnalia (the feast of Saturn the Roman's celebrated in December), I though it was appropriate to go say a prayer at the Temple of Saturn. When in Rome, after all...

We did wander up the Palantine Hill where the old Imperial Palaces overlooked the city. From the gardens at the top, you get this amazing view back down to the Forum.

By the time I had taken in as much of Imperial Rome as I could, I headed back to the hotel for a nap and then went back to Ristorante da Vincenzo yet again...alone this time...for another lovely meal. This night, I had the Italian equivalent of sole meuniere. I needed more of the mixed seafood antipasti too. I forgot to say earlier that one of the things that made the place so special was the mother and father who moved around the dining room checking on how the customers were doing and sometimes helping to serve. Their adult children were also serving so clearly this was a family business and they cared about what they were doing!

On our last day in Rome, we began again with churches. We started with the Panthenon, the temple to all the gods and goddesses that Hadrian built after the first century BCE temple on the site burned down. The picture above is the oculous...the only source of light. The dome was once covered in gold which has since gone on to be recycled in the various churches and basilicas of the city over the centuries. Again, in a moment of reflection, all of these ancient sites were raided for their marble and gold which are now visible in the Christian churches and buildings. It made me wonder what it must have looked like when it was intact!

I wandered off on my own to see a few other ruins in the city and to go to the Roman National Museum which is where all of the Roman statuary, ceramics, tile mosaics, and other art is housed. On the way, I passed the massive monument dedicated to Victor Emmanuel, the King of Italy who is credited with unifying the country. The momument is awesome and does give a hint at what all of ancient Rome must have looked like when all those ruins still had their facades of while marble in place. This is also where the tomb of the unknown soldier is located so it is a central national memorial.

Continuing on toward the museum, I passes Trajan's colomn and his markets which are one of the wonders of the ancient world.

One of the last sites I went to were the Baths of Diocletion. These were right in front of the train station and were a vast set of buildings that were turned into a monastery and church (imagine my surprise). Now, the Baths house a collection of statuary and these just seem to go on forever. This last picture was taken in the cloister behind the Baths just as the sun was going down...the signal I needed to get back to the hotel and get ready to head to the airport and back to London. What a great last view to take with me.

Postscript: I learned that a group of male students spent 190 euro drinking all day at the Hard Rock Cafe...ostensibly because they didn't have money to go to any museums or other historic sites. Can you believe it? That's how you spend your last day in Rome??? We also were delayed leaving Rome so got back to Heathrow at 11 pm only to discover there were no baggage handlers in Terminal 4! People who had arrived two or three hours before were still waiting for their luggage which did eventually come out but seemingly at a rate of one plane every three hours. If you decided you wanted British Airways to forward your luggage to you in London (yeah right!), there was a two hour wait in the queue. It was sheer chaos! Meanwhile our students resorted to elementary school taking rides on the empty conveyor belts and playing some sort of makeshift kickball game. We were trapped without any way to get food or drinks since those things were all on the other side of the customs door and we couldn't get back in once we left. I kept my hopes up that the luggage would appear before 2 am and I'd be able to get on the tube at Heathrow and get into London before the trains stopped running. My luggage appeared at exactly 4 am! I couldn't wait another hour just to get the first train back into London so I thought I'd bite the bullet and get a cab. Bad idea! A cab at 4 am on a Friday night runs at a higher rate than during the day. My ride to my friend's flat cost me a cool 84 pounds...you read that right...$140! But by this point, bidding farewell to the students and getting back to sanity was what mattered most so there you go.