Rome

After Paris and London it was only fitting that we finish out the “big 3” by seeing Rome as well. We did just that this past week as we took a vacation in Italy. Rome is an extremely interesting place to visit and different from any other place. There are of course the ruins of Roman empire and the Vatican city to see but when combined the other squares (Piazzas), fountains and castles there is more to see than most places. The only downside of Rome is that it just doesn’t seem to have the green space that many other cities do.

With a metro that is not as extensive as other places we opted to see Rome via the Hop On Hop off bus, this turned out to be a good decision as we rode often and still managed to walk nearly 20 miles over the course of the three days we were there. We started off slowly by seeing the Castel Saint Angelo, this castle was originally built as a mausoleum for the Emperors but later turned into an armament. It was an interesting place and we managed to pop in a free classical piano recital (maybe some inspiration for Becca). From there we headed off to see the sites of Ancient Rome; it’s been on thing to see beautiful churches and works of art in Europe dating between 1000-1500 but now we saw ruins of one of the greatest civilizations in history at a time when Christ walked the earth. We started with the pantheon which is unbelievable, the fact they could build such a perfect and enormous dome in the year 80 AD is astounding. It was very interesting to understand how they varied building materials and techniques to pull off such an architectural feat. From there we saw the forum which was truly awe inspiring, we stood in the spot that was the political and commercial center of the world at the time, a place where Caesar would have addressed the Romans. While in ruins there is still much to see and with the help of a few books we bought and a little imagination we could get an idea of what things were and how Rome looked thousands of years ago. At the end of the forum we visited the colosseum, a site recognizable by most who have been to Rome or not. As we entered the colosseum and started to walk to the upper levels I was taken aback at how similar it felt to walking through any modern stadium. Of course rather than steel and chrome there is rock but the wide tall passageways and large gates that enter the playing field are all strikingly similar. The floor of the colosseum is no longer intact so it’s easy to see the maze of tunnels and passageways that were used to orchestrate the deadly sport of the day.

After the ancient ruins we moved on to the center of the Catholic church visiting the Vatican and St Peters. The line into the Vatican museum must have been a half a mile long but moved quickly, once inside we moved through at a fast walk trying to get through this large museum. The Vatican Museum is much like the Louvre, there is weeks worth of art and tapestries and paintings you could admire, so walking through in an hour or so is overwhelming. Of course the tour ends in the Sistine chapel – truly an breath taking work or art and one that must be seen in person to be appreciated. Depending on your vantage point different portions of the ceiling look three dimensional – amazing!! From there we went right to Saint Peter’s we waited in line only to find out that Yvette’s shorts were too short for her to get in, I seem to recall reading this in a guide book somewhere but it slipped my mind when it was important. Oh well we ducked out into a nearby gift shop bought a large scarf that we fashioned into a skirt and we were good! Once we were in the church we were absolutely awe struck. We have seen many other beautiful churches in Europe but this is in a class by itself – it is absolutely the most massive place we have been.
To round things out we visited the famous squares and fountains. We toured the Trevi fountain, Piazza Navone and Piazza Spagna to name just a few. Finally I can not end this post without mentioning the food which was fantastic! It never took us more than 5 minutes to stumble across a place to eat, we always ate outside and had many great experiences as we sampled the local food and enjoyed the friendly Italian service!! The kids were in pizza and pasta heaven and discovered they love Gelato (go figure). As always a few more picts here