Europe Day 14: Rome

Sleep is overrated?
Today we had a really early morning start – I wanted to die. I missed breakfast trying to clear my camera cards – I don’t remember why, but I forgot to clear them last night.

Rome ahead!
We got a bus lift to the train station to take the train into the city. The rail ride wasn’t too long but we had to switch lines twice – this was a little confusing since the Metro lines in Rome skirt around the city, rather than running through it. This is because of all the ruins that exist in Rome, and how 95% of them are all 50% below the current level of the ground. We got off at Colosseum station (which unbelievably is RIGHT across the street from the actual Colosseum – it looms in your view as you exit the station) to make our way to the entrance of the Forum for our two-hour walking tour of both (the Forum and the Colosseum).

Roman Guide
Our historical guide was quite good and quite funny, and told us a lot about the city’s history – though I fully admit I’ll need to look through the pictures to recall it all. I’m definitely a pictorial memory person – plus – I was certainly paying more attention to my photographs, and only my secondary multitask ear was keeping track of her.


The Colosseum
We made our way though the Forum, which she explained as being the centre of the original city, where citizens gathered and conducted business and affairs, and we learned some interesting facts about the centre of Roman civilization. From the Forum, we then went to see the Colosseum. Our guide referred to it as the Roman Amphitheatre – as most of the outer layer of the Colosseum was demolished (only one side remains) and what you can actually see is what the Romans called the Amphitheatre area. That ring of walls is still mainly intact.

So many facts
Our guide was filled with lots of facts to share with us about how the Colosseum worked, where the word arena came from, and how the Colosseum was used for both water games and dry games due to the access to the Aqueduct. She actually spent quite a lot of time explaining tons of details to us which was a nice change since many times we have been visiting sites without really knowing too much about what we've been seeing, and not really having anywhere to turn to for finding out. One of my "Millionaire Wishes" is that one day I'll get to travel with an actual personal guide to historical sites, because the emotion of the history really comes through when you know the actual stories behind "what's left behind" instead of the random guesses of people who don't really know.

Running free in Rome
Our tour ended in the Colosseum and from there we were free to do other things. Because we only had the day in the city, and had been told about long lines and crazy wait times, we decided to head right away to Vatican city. After hopping the Metro and getting off at the right station, we decided to grab some lunch first. We went to the “suggested” pizza place – but it really wasn’t all that “hot”. However – we were hungry – and couldn’t bother to find anything else – so we sat and ate.

Line-up
From lunch, we then went to find the “line-up” for the Vatican that we were told about – but there wasn’t one! Apparently the Pope was in Australia, and regardless of it being a summer day in the height of travel season, there simply really wasn’t anyone in line to enter Vatican City from the museum entrance. We got right in, right away (sans the mini-wait time when Heather had to re-line-up to get her student discount since they only give the discount from one ticket window… wtf’s with that?).


Vatican City Museum
They’re pretty good about cameras in the museum so we took lots of pictures – especially in all the areas with statues and sculptured art. When we moved into fresco areas – we weren’t allowed to use our flash, but still allowed pictures. I’m not sure how the pictures in these areas came out – they always look in focus on the camera but not necessarily so on a computer when there’s no flash allowed and the shutter speed is so slow – so we’ll have to see how they come out later.

Sistine Chapel
We then got to the part that I had been waiting for forever – the Sistine Chapel. It was so absolutely beautiful and magnificent – I was awestruck. I could have stayed in that room all day. I know people think I’m crazy for the emotion that takes over me for movies, touching stories, seeing history in the flesh, etc. – but I don’t care – I find it much more crazy and depressing to think of the poor people who AREN’T moved by it. How sad their life must be to not be able to expand their minds in order to feel and envelope in appreciation what that room has to offer, or anything that has a story to tell.

While I would have been absolutely content to not go anywhere else in the city, I was also with a bunch of people, and there were other things to see, so we made our way to the secret exit that Leona told us about. Instead of leaving through the museum exits and having to –re-enter the area to get into St. Peter’s Basilica (which had an enormous line-up), our secret exit led us through a small stairway and side door that dropped us right in front of the entrance to St. Peter’s!

Tombs
Before entering the church, we decided to enter the small line-up that would take us down into the tomb area of the Basilica, where all the Popes are buried. All of them have tombs with sculptures of themselves in a lay-down position on top of the “boxes”. The only tomb unlike this was for Pope John Paul II. There wasn’t any reason for it laid out, so we’re either figuring he asked for such a tomb – or perhaps that’s the way the tomb for the last deceased Pope always looks. It was separate in a brightly lit room, flat and made of white marble. There were many people gathered in front, paying their respects and praying. At the end of the tomb walk, you get to see St. Peter’s tomb that is housed under the Basilica altar.

St. Peter’s Basilica
From the tomb walk, the exit actually leads you directly up a set of stairs that have you coming up from the belly of the Basilica into the centre of the church. Inside – the Basilica is absolutely beautiful and exquisite. There’s so much detail in the artwork – and evolution certainly hasn’t stepped inside this Basilica at any time. Perhaps the upkeep of historic artwork is the only time such a concept is a good thing. After getting our fill of the church, we then walked out into the Square to get a look at the whole picture.

Easy day in Rome
After finishing with the Vatican – we then had the rest of our day in Rome to really just relax and hang out. We went shopping and H-Rabbit bought lots, getting her shopping kicks out. We walked along the Tevere (Tiber) River and saw Hadrian’s Mausoleum (Castel Sant Angelo), and came upon a local market area walking towards the north of the city.

From there we then revisited the Trevi Fountain for me since I loved the site so much. After, we just wandered around and had a great pasta dinner in a small restaurant. Afterwards, we made our way home on the multiple trains in time to catch the coach ride back to our hotel.

Saying goodbye
Once at the hotel, we took some time to get rested and showered. We then joined the group in the hotel patio to say goodbye to part of our tour group. In the beginning – our Road to Athens group was combined with the Road to Rome group and this was their last day, and tomorrow morning we would be heading off to Greece without them. Leaving us was Natasha and Belinda, Tatiana, Mic and Ali, as well as a few others, for a total of 15 in all. Joop also joined us for a few glasses, as after he drops us off in Brindisi for the ferry to Greece – he too would be leaving us.

Europe Day 13: Getting into Rome

Short drive ahead
We got to have a pretty late (for our trip standards) start for once! It’s only three hours to Rome from Florence apparently so we didn’t have to rush. Once on our way – there wasn’t anything much to note on the drive – probably more so because we’re so tired now on bus days that we’ve even stopped looking out the window so much.

Rome in the evening
We got into Rome fairly quickly and decided to sightsee in the city before checking into our hotel, so as to get as much time in the city as possible. Leona led us on a small walking tour, and we started in Piazza Navona, which is a central square with three sculpture, tower and fountains in the middle. We got time to catch a snack, “trick” our way into a café bathroom and then gather again before we headed off.


Pantheon
From the square, we then went to see the Pantheon, which was quite magnificent; the domed ceiling, opening for light, the beautiful sculptures, frescos on the wall, and mosaics on the ground. We also got to see Raphaelo’s tomb, which is inside. There's actually nothing tangible in the middle of the Pantheon. The space is wide open and only lends to the expansive beauty of the artwork inside. It was an unexpected favourite, but I'll definitely list this site as one to see in Rome.

Trevi Fountain
From the Pantheon, we then headed to another site that was on my must-see list. We worked though the streets and alleys to the Trevi Fountain. This visit was definitely one of my absolute favourites on the trip. The detail, largeness and beauty of the fountain were magnificent to me. H-Rabbit and I made our lucky tosses – twice to make sure we would be back one day as well as get our extra wish – we’ll now have to see what the future brings.

Spanish Steps
After the fountain, we made our way to the Spanish steps – which really – Leona couldn’t tell us much about so I’ll have to look that up as well. I’m realizing now that there is SO much I’m going to have to look up, but it might be nice – getting to live through my trip twice as I go through the pictures and find out more about the places we visited.

We didn’t really spend too much time there as it was a bit chaotic and I really wasn’t up to walking up all of those steps – especially since all there was to do was come right back down again. So, at that point we were released from the group for some free time before our dinner in the city.

The Cave of Skulls
We ran off with Chris and Liz to find the church of the capuchin monks who had created a unique and eerie tomb of their fellow brothers… with their own bones! It took us awhile to find it, as Leona’s instructions weren’t exactly on the mark – but after utilizing Liz’s Italian skills, we managed to work our way to the right location. It was a sombre and electric experience, mingling my own feelings of fear about death and the comprehension of the Catholic beliefs that these monks followed and believed in, where once the soul has departed, the body is but a physical material that is left behind. I know some will disagree, saying that true Catholic belief has nothing to do with "desecrating" these bodies for art - but I don't really believe it was desecration. I'll have to do much more research to understand it better.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures, and while I did manage to sneak one – H-Rabbit asked if I could please erase it, as it made her a bit freaked out. After having been to see it in real life and understanding the reality of the bones and lives that existed in order to create it, I agreed with her in the end so I erased the picture. However, Chris bought a postcard, which I photographed so you guys could get some idea of the how each tomb was decorated and why it was so wild and crazy to see. The postcard also nicely explained why things were the way they were in each room, which was cool.

I loved best the quote that was contained in the last tomb: “What you are now, we once were. What we are now, you will be.”

Off to dinner
Because we hadn’t found the church right away, we only just had time to get back for dinner at the meeting place. We met in a fairly nondescript piazza that a lot of people passed over twice before realizing it was the one we needed. We had also lost Doug again as well – so we took a group “Where’s Doug?” picture on the steps if the piazza.

NOTE: Doug was one of our group members who always managed to wander off by himself. It had become a tour staple to ask, “Where’s Doug?” no matter where we met because 9 times out of 10 he hadn’t made the meeting time. Good thing he was great at taking care of himself – props to him for never missing the bus even if he did miss out on a few side excursions.

Roman dinner
We then went for a buffet dinner that was really quite good – sans the water bottles that were refilled with local water throughout the night and were not bottled water at all. However, no one got sick, so we were good. From dinner, we then headed to our hotel – but somehow we managed to get lost along the way, and it took much longer than we thought.

Home!
When we finally got there we were so happy though, since for the first time ever on the trip – we were booked at a 4-star hotel! We had a pretty amazing stay for the night – fell right to sleep in prep for the huge day we had ahead in Rome.

Side Story!
At rest stop earlier in the day, our friends Belinda and Natasha actually met musician Shaggy. His peeps and him invited the girls to their show that night in Rome. The girls went and said they had an amazing time. Leona said it’d be one of those Contiki stories that she’ll tell for ages. So random!