Oh Italy!
This trip began a year ago with the planning of it and of course it changed a bit along the way and even changed a bit after we arrived!
Werner and I left Bremen (65°), landed in Rome (88°) Tuesday June 12, and after checking into the Hotel Alexandra (which I would heartily recommend) we went searching for food - not a challenge in Rome. But it was late, so we picked the first we found and had yummy pizza (not the last, to be sure)
and watched the traffic swirl around the Piazza Bernini. 11:30PM. It never slowed down.
DAY ONE - UP EARLY and off to see the Pope. He is German, after all, so we thought we'd make a friendly gesture and drop in and say "Guten Tag." Besides we'd had several requests to have rosaries blessed and as luck would have it, Wednesday is the General Audience. The Hall seats 6,300, but there were others in the vestibule behind us, and really, it seemed much larger! Groups from various countries gave musical greetings to the Pope, and at the end he blessed our rosaries and us and all who we meet. That is a general blessing, I would say!
After the audience (and more pizza!), since we knew we'd be visiting St. Peter's Cathedral later with our crew, we opted for a visit to the Ara Pacis, a monument from the Augustan Era I'd studied in graduate school and just had to see. What a treat - I was not disappointed! This "classical white" is so lovely, and not at all how it was experienced at the time. All the elements of the sculpture were painted to resemble the plants and fruits they represented, or the people and their clothes. Really, I have to say I like the purity of the white marble.
DAY TWO - Our folks arrive!!! How exciting! Unfortunately, Michelle seemed to have got some bad food along the way. Fortunately, it only took a few (unpleasant) hours to get over it. We went back to our lovely hotel, freshened up a bit and after a bite to eat, headed off for a quick look at the Trevi Fountain.
Good grief - I had no idea! This is a baroque monstrosity. But we took our pictures, Hannah bought souvenirs and the kids threw coins to be sure they will return! Great idea!!
Off to the Colosseum. Wow. It's big and it's cool and it's fun. Our guide was informative about the history and architecture of the place, but Hunter still had a question - Did they really flood the arena and have sea battles? The guide said "no" - after I had said yes! - but then she said "we don't know - no one is really sure." I like to think it was possible - what a spectacle that would have been! Certainly the place is big enough for a small boat or 10.
Our tickets were good for a visit to the Forum and the Palatine museum as well, but after the travel and the walk and the food and the Colosseum and the HEAT, that was enough for one day. We'll save the tickets ...
DAY THREE - Up and out early. We have really great traveling companions who hardly ever complain, except when I am really pushing them hard -- which does happen now and again - but it seems they are up for adventure and / or torture, depending on your perspective. So, off to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel, and later to St. Peter's Cathedral. Once again we are ALL impressed by online pre-purchased tickets and grateful that we get to bypass the long line of folks waiting to get into the museum. Even though Werner and I are the ones who do pre-booking, I am also impressed with the process.
Museum visits - those without a live person guide - seem to be best done at your own pace. So we broke up and looked and admired and gawked and wondered and wandered at our own paces, meeting later at the Sistine Chapel.
When I stop thinking about and considering the particular works of art I see there, I start wondering about the amazing wealth that acquired these fabulous unique items and the eons they were held as private pleasure for the selected few. I'm glad they're more available to us "masses" these days.
It was crowded - that was to be expected - but not as awful as I feared. But, sad to say, the Sistine Chapel itself was a bit of a disappointment. There are so many factors in play - expectations, of course. The pictures reproduced in books and on the internet are vibrant and show such detail. In fact, in the room, it is rather dark and the walls and ceiling are high, and one can't take pictures, and besides all that, it's a Chapel, a place of worship, and the museum staff there are often saying "shhhhhhhhh!!" and "Silence!" and that doesn't add anything to the experience of Michelangelo's masterpiece.Ah, well.
Back into the hot sunshine Vatican City, we find a place to fill our tummies. Frankly, I don't remember this particular meal, but there was not one time I would say that I was disappointed in the food we were served. Anywhere. Maybe a price was inflated, or we were surprised by a cover charge, or the service wasn't so incredibly friendly, or one dish was presented better than another, but to be truthful, I never put anything in my mouth that I'd say was just OK. It was all really GOOD. Some of it was divine.
St. Peter's Cathedral is an experience. Unique. Conveying the immensity of the interior in words is, for me, impossible. I have to use things I know to grasp this space: the marble canopy under the center of the dome is more than large enough to shelter our house, and the height of the dome dwarfs the marble canopy that dwarfs our house under the canopy.
After marveling at fabulous works there, the most wonderful of which is the Pieta by Michaelagelo,
we walked the steps up to view the dome close up and then the exterior - from outside the dome. Wow. I was not expecting that: a view over Vatican City, St. Peter's Square, and Rome beyond. It was so worth the trek!
DAY FOUR
Pack up. Check out. And then go wandering.
The American Embassy is in the neighborhood as well as Gardens of the Villa Borghese. Sadly the church across the street is closed for renovations. We walked to the area above the Spanish steps and thought there was a party going on! Yes, but a union party - groups from all over Italy were in the Piazza del Popolo (the People's Square) to demonstrate against - well, we don't know exactly, but demonstrate they did. We skirted the square and scoped out a place for lunch. Not hard to do.
Along the way we saw folks gathering buds from plants growing at the wall. I had to ask - using my rudimentary Italian - what is that? what are you gathering?
Then we were off to the train and our last encounter with the Roman subway. The subway works well, but it seemed unnecessary to us to have to buy tickets every time just before we traveled. And you need to have close to the exact amount for the tickets. It was always a group effort, pooling our money and getting those tickets!
And off to FLORENCE! Stay tuned.
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