Our first full day in Rome, officially Day Two, was filled with visits to what I would call some of the "high spots" on everyone's must-see list, plus some extras along the way.
We started the day with breakfast at our hotel. Delicious. The selection was vast and varied. I chose fresh fruit, some local meats and cheeses, and some great pastries. More than I would have for breakfast at home, but my rationale was that it would have to sustain me through the rigors of walking to all sorts of interesting places in the Eternal City. Since the morning was billed as "free time", we decided to head toward the Fountain of Trevi. We got there by taxi. The ride was filled with interesting sights, which I snagged out of the taxi window, since we did not have time to explore them. A particular lovely church (which I later learned was Santa Suzanna), the Quirinal (which I recognized immediately), as well as charming side streets and the random palazzo, and we were there.
And so too were half of the citizens of the known world.
The Trevi Fountain is gorgeous in and of itself. It also has a charming reputation for the coins in the fountain (cue the song, "Three Coins in the Fountain") and for being one of many places in Rome visited by Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in that love letter to Rome, "Roman Holiday". So yes we were glad to be among the throng. We made our way down to the fountain's edge and did the coin toss over our shoulder, as did the others in our family group. The day was beautiful, and so our photos were quite nice, with the white of the fountain and the blue of the water and sky.
After we had done our best to assure that we would return again to Rome, we then set out for our next place of interest, the Pantheon. A marvel of architectural engineering, now more than 2000 years old, with one of the biggest domes ever built, certainly an inspiration for many of the domes that came thereafter. Originally built as a Roman temple to all the gods, now a church, the Pantheon is every bit as marvelous as all of its hype.
The walk there took us past some places we did not know about, and I was especially taken with the smallish piazza that had, along one side, a row of huge, impressive columns that looked as they had withstood fierce attacks as well as the test of time. I took a few photos which have turned out to be among my very favorites in Rome, and learned upon research thereafter that I has fallen under the spell of the Temple of Hadrian, or what remains of it. I am so glad we took that route to the Pantheon.
Also in that same square I noticed for the fist time the cast iron drinking fountain called a Nasone (meaning "big nose"), which is one of more than one hundred similar ones situated all over the city, providing man and beast with pure drinking water. Later in our sojourn in Rome, our guide Marco would show us the proper way to enjoy a drink from them. But at that moment I was taken by the quaint charm of the fountain, and it was "taken" as well, as in I took its photo. In that same piazza I took a photo of Judy, Donna, Karen, and Kent, which preserves the moment. Then, on to the Pantheon.
The late risers had caught up with us in the piazza at the Pantheon. There was a line to get in, that encircled 3/4 of the piazza. It moved surprisingly quickly, and took us around the threes sides of the piazza not occupied by the Pantheon. So we had views of the Pantheon and the piazza fountain, as well as the charming buildings all around. Some of them have great stories behind them.
[I will insert those stories here, eventually. Already posted on my Instagram feed.]
Just as with the Trevi Fountain, Judy and I had been to the Pantheon the last time we were in Rome. We had enjoyed it then, and enjoyed seeing it again. My sense of the interior was that it was beautifully light filled from the oculus in the center of the dome. I actually had one of the other tourists standing near by say to me, "What do they do when it rains?" and I was glad to be able to tell her that there were drain holes hidden in the floor to drain the rainwater away. At one point a shaft of light filled the room at one of those startling angles that make for a great photo, and I was glad to have preserved it. I find that it is every bit as beautiful in black and white, if not more so.
After leisurely savoring the details of the Pantheon, we continued on our way to the Piazza Navona. Long and narrow, filled with architectural wonders, chief of which are the famous fountains. We enjoyed the play of the fountain's waters, and the dramatic and charming sculptures.
From there, we made our way along one of the streets leading out of the Piazza, and happened upon a restaurant window in which a young woman was making fresh pasta. Of course, this was a treat for us to see, and we photographed her at her work. Later, I learned that the restaurant gets consistent high marks for its food - but we did not get to sample a meal there. Oh well, we did throw the coins in the fountain, so we can do it when we return!
Our taxi ride returned us swiftly and safely to our hotel. Where we had our lunch. The meals at our hotel restaurant were consistently delicious and beautifully presented.
In the afternoon, we re-joined the entire tour group, for a trip to the Vatican.
Our first stop, was the Vatican museums. As we found everywhere in Italy on this trip, the place was absolutely mobbed. There were huge lines of people waiting outside the main entrance to the Vatican museums. We were somewhat fortunate in that we had a group advance pass, but let us skipped a lot of the lines . Inside the museum it was also very crowded. We made our way to a first security area. And after that to a place where we showed the tickets that we had been given. I believe they took our tickets at that time, which meant that I was very glad that I had photographed it before they took it. It had a nice detailed illustration of The School of Athens by Raphael.
From there we began our ascent of the first of many long staircases. The Vatican museum might be famous for what we saw at the end, but along the way is famous for interminable galleries, corridors, and long stairways both up and down. It’s definitely designed to make sure that people who really just want to see the Sistine Chapel have to spend a few hours making their way there, through the many other galleries. Admittedly, the galleries are filled with priceless works of art. However, it’s really hard to see them, when you are shoulder to shoulder with half of the people in the world. And I’m putting it mildly. Along the way we started on the terrace and overlooked the Pope's gardens. We did not see His Holiness, still, I could imagine him slowly meandering through the well-manicured grounds contemplating great matters of theology. We also had a good view of Michelangelo's dome atop Saint Peter‘s, from that same terrace. At the same time, we had a great view of about 3000 other visitors who were packing the terrace. No wonder the Pope remained indoors.
From that point they were many twist and turns, many brief looks at art or out windows, many many stairs. And I took occasional photos of some of the great art that we were passing by. The Vatican Museum would be a great place to go back to if no one else was going to be there. And quietly stroll and contemplate the art. But for most visitors, most of the time, such an opportunity is not possible.
There have been many people that have described the modern-day experience of being in the Sistine Chapel. When we had been there in 2006, I had encouraged the family, once we entered the chapel, to inch our way to the middle of the room, among the throngs of other visitors, so that we could then look directly had at the Last Judgment. Which was at our backs when we enter the tiny chancel door. And then look up ceiling. And take as long as we wanted, there in the middle of the room. Judy and I tried the same technique on this visit. However, there were even more people than on the last visit. Most of them had come to stay for the weekend. They weren’t moving. They had claimed their little piece of history, and they were going to be there till the next papal conclave. Having seen the ceiling before, after we did the middle of the room thing, we then went to the wooden benches, found a spot on one of them, and contemplated the art sitting down. Well, good luck with that. Because the whole time that you’re in the room you’re being yelled at by the guards. I don’t know if these are Swiss guards, but in every-day, current day, guard uniforms, or some other contingent of the Pope's army. But they seem to only know two phrases. One is silence. The other is no photographs. They save them both in English. Which leaves the distinct impression that people who spoke any other language, were not subject to these rules, or never ever violated them. Which, of course is offensive to Americans, and anyone else who speaks English as their first language. Indeed. But we were waiting for someone to get up so that we could sit down. We were yelled at several times by the guards to move along. We weren’t interested in moving along. We were interested in staying put until there was a spot on the benches. But we didn’t even have a chance to explain that because they kept circling the room like a bunch of hungry piranhas.
If it sounds like our experience seeing the Sistine Chapel was not of the best, just keep in mind that I am downplaying the rigors of it. It really was an awful experience.
When at last we decided that we weren’t going to get anything more out of the experience, even though there was lots more to be gotten, had you cleared away the guards, and other tourist, we then made our way out of the front of the chapel. Do you understand that you enter near the Chancel, and you exit near the Narthex. Backwards of how the room is supposed to be seen by any normal visitor. From there we returned to a long staircase and down and down and down we went. At that point we had our first glimpse of several Swiss guards dressed in the uniforms that were designed by Michelangelo. They always look very dashing. And colorful.
After regrouping under the colonnade, we made our way to Saint Peter’s proper.
Saint Peter’s never disappoints. Thank heavens it’s the biggest church in Christendom. Because it gives you a little bit of elbow room even if there are many many visitors. That was the case on our day. It always feels calm and cool and spacious. The scale of the architecture is more than grand. The artwork is more than beautiful. And the opportunity to have a calm and even spiritual thoughts while walking around is more than ample. I took lots of photos. I’ll probably post many of them here. Because it’s hard to pick and choose which are the best.
As a group, we then exited Saint Peters, stage right, and made our way post haste along the far side of the colonnade, to a place that was designated as an official Papal shop, as well as a place where if you went down yet another set of stairs, you could find restrooms. Papal or otherwise. We found the restrooms. We did not shop. We were told to re-gather in about a half an hour. We were too tired to stand there and wait, and too tired to even survey the shops. That's tired! So, we found something cold to drink, and found a place where we could sit, at the base of one of the many lamp-stands that line the street that leads to the Vatican. As we looked around, we realized that many of our crew had done exactly the same thing.
We returned by bus to our hotel, where we had a small amount of time to perhaps change our outfits, or wash off the dust day. Then we boarded the bus for a very nice drive to Testaverde across the river. Our trip took us past Santa Maria Maior, which is perhaps my favorite church in Rome. Also passed the Colosseum, with the Arch of Constantine. Even though we would be revisiting them on foot, I did manage to take a few photos along the way. As well as the photo of us crossing the river.
Once across the river, we were in what is now the trendiest, and certainly one of the oldest neighborhoods in Rome, Testaverde. It’s popular with Romans, but it’s been discovered by tourists. Our presence there was one indicator. We had a meandering walk after we left the bus, went through some quaint, narrow streets. Visited what is perhaps the loveliest church that we visited while we were in Rome, Saint Cecilia‘s, a hidden gem both outside and in. We happened to be there when a group of priests, or perhaps, seminarians, or maybe even monks, were having evening worship, so we got to listen to them singing, which added to the beauty of admiring the church interior.
Then, we were on to a quaint and typical kind of a restaurant in the neighborhood. They were ready for us, the room was filled with all kinds of quaint antiques, hung on the wall from the roof. We had a very nice dinner, and as we ate, strolling musicians came by and sang old Roman songs, including a woman who looked like the queen of the Gypsies, who crooned in a mellifluous baritone, while she thwacked her tambourine. I enjoyed the whole thing thoroughly.
All in all, a very full day, and very enjoyable. If you don’t count the many hallways and stairs in the Vatican museum. indeed, as we were going to bed that evening, I looked at Judy and said, “Now that we’ve been to the Sistine Chapel twice, when we return to Rome again, can we manage to miss it?”
Advice I commend highly to one and all.
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