When in Rome . . .

I thought of several cliches to title this blog, and had to settle on that one. I really think that when we were in Rome, we didn't do as the Romans do, but more what tourists do. We had an insane last two days in Rome, and just as a warning, this blog will be long as I try to retell everything. BTW, Pictures from Venice are up now on www.dropshots.com/sebrock, naturally in the folder titled Venice. So, back to Rome:

Friday (Feb. 29)

On Friday we did Ancient Rome. I really loved this day (and Saturday too really). We headed to Palatino (Palatine Hill really) first to buy tickets for Palatino and the Colosseum, which is a great idea for those of you headed to Rome as the line for the Colosseum is long, but there was no one at Palatino. Palatino was a lot larger than what I thought it would/larger than the map made it look. It used to be the home of the emperors and other rich people, and it's right next to the Roman Forum. After seeing ancient Rome and all the artwork in churches, I've decided that a lot of the awesome things that were built and painted in the past only came into existence because a bunch of rich people needed something to amuse them and a way to spend their money. I suppose that's how a lot of things come into being really.

The ruins at Palatino are still very much intact. There were whole arches and corridors that were still standing and in incredibly good shape. I actually walked through one corridor (or what was presumably a corridor), and as I ran my hand along the cold bricks, I could just see a little kid running down the hall, doing the same thing, maybe chasing after a sibling or hiding from their parents. It's strange to think that at one point, an incredibly long time ago, someone was walking where I walked and running a household that is now in shambles. One unfortunate thing about Palatine is that nothing is labeled, so you really don't know what you're looking at. At the same time, excavations are still being done, and it hasn't yet been determined what some of the ruins once were. Of course, we weren't about to try and find a tour guide for this as we all remember our previous tour experience. But to those of you who go to Rome, I would suggest getting a book/doing research/maybe finding a tour guide to explain what you're seeing. Even without knowing exactly what we were seing, it was still very awesome.

Seeing the ruins was also a good break from all the religious art we'd been seeing. Towards the end of our time in Palatino, we were walking, and to our left was the ruins, and to our right was a busy street with tons of cars on it! It was a very odd juxtaposition seeing modern life right next to these very old ruins.

We then headed to the Roman Forum (Foro Romano), which is right next to Palatino. The Forum was where the government was at, and I believe it was technically the center of the city. It's also free to get into the forum, so there are a million and one people running around, so it's a bit hectic. Again, nothing was labeled, and other than a few columns, not much was left standing. It still looked cool, but I often didn't know what I was looking at. One trick that I would occasionally try was to just eavesdrop on English or Italian tour groups to try and catch a few explanations.

A side story about tour groups. There were a ton of Italian schoolchildren touring the same sights we were at. I have to say the Italian schoolchildren I have seen are some of the worst behaved children! In Florence, there was a high school group, and only 2 of them were listening! The rest of the group was talking amongst themselves/smoking instead of paying attention to the guide. And then in Rome, the elementary kids were running all over the place and not paying attention either, which is a bit more understandable for little kids. Still, it's so weird to think that this is just a class field trip for them. They're seeing sights that people come from all over the world to see! Most of them don't even appreciate it or realize what they're seeing (and I doubt I would have either at that age). It's a real shame, though. The only field trip I remember was going to the dumb Fernbank Museum in Atlanta.

After the forum, we ate lunch at a cafe and got really ripped off (something key to remember later). We know about cover charges and service charges. A lot of places will charge you more if you sit down instead of taking your food away. But they didn't have a separate menu for sitting down, so we ordered our food, then took it to a table. We thought we had ordered two small bottles of water and two paninis, for 3.50 each. Then the bill came and it was 18 euro!! Twice as much as what we though it was going to be. We probably should have argued it, or tried to figure out why it was that much. There was no service charge listed, but the paninis were 6 euro each, not 3.50. So, false advertising there. We headed back to the Colosseum (Colosseo) .

I should note that crossing the street in Rome is also a bit like playing Frogger. Each time I stepped out into the street, I knew I had about a 50-50 shot of getting hit by a car. But the cars don't stop for you, even if you're in a crosswalk, so the only way to ever cross the street is to start walking, eyes closed, praying that the cars will stop. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. 50-50.

We made it to the Colosseum alive. The Colosseum was absolutely incredible. It was probably my favorite thing in Rome (although the Trevi Fountain and St. Peter's Basilica come in at a close second). It's also amazing how much of the Colosseum is still standing! Another incredible thing, as Clay pointed out, is that we design and build stadiums practially the same way still today! It's pretty cool to think that the Romans came up with a design so long ago that we really haven't improved on that much. I guess that means Jordan-Hare will still be standing years and years from now! War Eagle! In the Colosseum, when I closed my eyes, I could almost hear the roar of the crowd, watching the show. It's actually a bit gross when you think about how many people died in there. The stage is no longer there, so we could see the staging area for the animals and gladiators, which was pretty cool.

Outside of the Colosseum, there were a bunch of tour guides trying to get people to join their English-speaking tours. Most of the guides were actually Americans, I believe, and so when they asked if we spoke English, we just pretended we didn't. I really wanted to ask all those guides where they were the day before when we were trying to get into the Vatican! As we were inside, it started to rain, but thankfully we were in the Colosseum, so we could take shelter!

After the Colosseum, we headed to San Pietro in Vincoli. The church looks like absolutely nothing on the outside - not even a church. Inside, though, the church is home to two impressive artifacts: Michelangelo's Moses and the chains that bound Peter when he was in Jerusalem. Legend goes that when the chains were put next to some other chains that had bound him in Rome, the two miraculously fused together. Not so sure about that part of the story, but the chains looked real. That sounds silly - of course they looked real. They felt real. I stood before them, and they felt real to me. They were the chains that bound Peter.

The Moses statue was impressive, but like Monreale, it wasn't lit until someone put in their 1 euro, and even then, it was only lit for one minute. Rome really knows how to rip you off.

After that, we headed back to the hostel to relax, and then we went to this really good pizzeria for some Roman pizza! It was fantastic, but I was so hungry before we got there, that when I ate, I got a stomach ache, so I couldn't even really appreciate the excellent food!

Saturday (March 1)

Our last day in Rome! Also our busiest. We left at 9 a.m. in the morning, and walked all day. We didn't get back to the hostel until 10:30 that night. Insanely long day, and my legs were exausted. We started out at the Roman Baths (Terme di Caracalla). It's insane to think that they built such a huge place just for bathing/exercising, etc. I don't think I've ever seen a gym or spa quite the size of this one. It has a full-size olympic pool in it at one point!

After the Baths, we headed to see la Boca della Verità (the mouth of truth), but the line was long, so we opted to skip it. After heading back to the hostel to drop off a few things we had bought, we then headed to Piazza Spagna to see the Spanish Steps. I don't know if it was all the people on the steps or what, but I didn't think the steps were very impressive at all. Maybe they only look good when they have flowers on them (which isn't very often - I think only in April). We were a bit disappointed, but we kept walking and grabbed some lunch at this place that serves hamburgers and starts with an M and ends with a Donalds. Don't worry, at the end of my trip blogs, I'm going to be able to justify this. Just wait for it.

We then walked to Fontana di Trevi (The Trevi Fountain), which I thoroughly enjoyed. The Fountain looked really cool (I realize I describe everything as "really cool" which isn't exactly helpful . . .). We could actually hear the rushing water from a few blocks away. I threw two coins over my shoulder into the fountain (one to ensure my trip back to Rome, one just for good luck).

After the fountain, we headed to the Pantheon. It was very unlike the other churches we had seen. It actually wasn't technically a church really, but more of a temple to the gods. It is easily the best preserved building we saw. It is also the burial place of Raphael and Vittorio Emanuele II, a former king of Italy (and like MLK, every town has a street named after him. No lie). We then walked around trying to find the alledged best coffee in Rome at Cafe Eustachio. I don't drink coffee, but Clay said it was the best coffee in the world. We then went to find the best gelato place in Rome - Giolitti. It was the best gelato I have ever had. I had white chocolate and strawberry (the first time I've ordered two flavors together). Both were amazing!!! Gelato here just doesn't taste the same. :(

We then headed to Piazza Navona, but the famous fountain there was under renovation (naturally). But the piazza was fun to hang around. There were lots of artists doing sketches or caricatures. The whole area between the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona reminded me of Florence a bit, which is maybe why I liked it so much! We then walked to Castel Sant Angelo just to take a few pictures of it. It used to a be fortress, and there's a underground passageway connecting it to the Vatican. I'd tell you more, but we literally only spent 10 minutes outside of it. It's something I'll have to hit up on my way back.

We actually then decided to walk to Saint Peter's Square since we could see it from where we stood. (You should really look at a map and realize that we just walked from Piazza Spagna to the Vatican - and it doesn't stop there). On the way, we stopped at some political gathering. There were TV crews and lots of people. We really have no idea what we were at, but one of the political candidates was stopping by according to the sign. Unfortunately for us, we don't know who is who (I think Prodi is probably the only person I would recognize). Someone stepped out of a car, and everyone gathered around, so I snapped some photos thinking I just saw some Italian bigshot politician, but two minutes later another semi-celebrity politician got out, so I took some more pictures. After that, everyone was still waiting around, but we decided to leave. I later saw the news on this guy, and the two people we saw weren't the ones everyone was waiting for. So we actually missed the main event. And now I have pictures of two guys who probably aren't all that well-known.

We headed back to the Vatican beacuse we didn't go into the treasurery in the basilica on Thursday. We headed back to do that because we thought the cloth used to wipe Jesus' face and the spear used to pierce his side while he was on the cross were both in the treasurery. We saw neither one. I don't know how we kept missing things in Vatican city! But somehow we always left there disappointed! One awesome thing, though, was that we got to see/hear a service. I actually can't believe they leave the basilica open during services (the services happen towards the front). We heard singing, and it sounded so gorgeous as it filled the entire basilica. I watched part of the service from the back. Some people were taking pictures, which was totally inappropiate and thankfully some guards finally stopped them.

We then just sat down in the Square as night fell to relax our exhausted feet. The Square looked beautiful all lit up. We walked back to the Pantheon then as there were lots of dinner options available there. We had a wonderful dinner, although our waitress insisted on speaking to us in English. She was probably the only person we met who couldn't really speak it either. Oh well. I actually think she insulted that we kept responding in Italian, like it was because her English was bad, when really it was because we wanted to practice our really bad Italian. After dinner, we walked to the Colosseum to see it lit up at night. It was absolutely gorgeous! And I think some of my favorite pictures came from taking night shots of the Colosseum (yes, they're about to be posted).

We finally headed back to the hostel, this time taking the metro. I basically crashed right away as my feet were about to fall off! So that was our trip! On Monday I'll tell you a bit about the return to Taormina, some general observations from our trip, and my theory on McDonalds. Have a great weekend!