Its really hard to believe that its been 12 days, and we’re laying in our hotel room, packed and setting an alarm for sooo early tomorrow am.
Buying tickets to get to the airport via train was super easy, and we had a lovely dinner at a sweet pizza place (complete with wine from south italy and cappuchinos all around) to cap the day off.
Before we forget about all we did today, we’ve got to write it down.
After a lovely buffet breakfast at our hotel, we started off toward the Colosseo – which is on the south end of the city. About a mile from our hotel, the walk went quickly and we took in rush hour around Rome. Its amazing to see guys and ladies in work clothes zipping through traffic on their way to work on their mopeds – Vepas, etc. Fantastic. On our route, you turn a corner and down a long street you can see the facade of the colleseo from the north side – GINORMOUS, even from so far away. Throngs of people all over the place – seemingly out of nowhere – the colleseo sits among a bunch of other incredible relics – all from 2000 years ago (the Colosseo was built in 80 AD). The famous Arch – Arco d’Constantino (yes, that emperor), the Palatino, the Forum, and the Colosseo all sit on the same plot of land. We opted to brave the site ourselves – there are TONS of tour guides waiting to take you through – and with the help of Rick Steve’s Tours on our iPhone (check him out at RickSteves.com, totally cool and fantastically helpful for any city!!!) We stood in line for about 30 minutes, and listened to what we would be looking at. Really incredible. As you have seen in the movies, the Roman’s were an interesting bunch – and kept people and animals below the structure (which seated 50,000 people) for the “fun” of the day. The floor of the amphitheatre is now open to the cells and rooms beneath, but they used to put down boards and 9 inches of sand for the games. We walked through the second and first levels and shot a bunch of pictures. An amazing place, and a feat of architecture. Neither of us has ever been in a building that is 2000 years old!
From there, we rested for a bit and decided to walk around the Palatino – ruins of the original roman city to get a look at some of the archeological sites they have there. We walked all the way around the site – and saw buildings that are older than the colleseo. From there, we agreed that we’d head to the Vatican, and hit the Pantheon on the way back to the hotel. It would make for a long day – but you are only in Rome a few times in your life if you are lucky.
To get to the vatican, we had to walk through wonderful streets, and by some amazing monuments – first, through the Piazza Campidoglio, then to see the great Monumento a Vittorio Emmanuele. He was the first king of Italy, and the building they built in his honor is amazing. gold statues, marble gods, and chariots with four horses each adorn the tops of the piazza. Stunning!
From there, we walked through Piazza Navonna and had a lovely lunch (pizza and cappuchino of course!) while watching the square. filled with cafes, resturants and artists selling original work (these are everywhere in Italy it seems!), it was a great place to people watch. We left the piazza and headed toward the river. We crossed over on Ponte Umberto, which leads up to the pallazzo giustizia – a gorgeous state building. From the bridge, you can see St. Peter’s Basillica already. We walked past Castel Sant’Angelo – a huge fortified structure that does really look like a castle. Then to the Vatican itself.
The square is huge, and filled with 240 columns on either side – hard to believe it is its own country! B really enjoyed it – as did I – so much history there! Both the new and the old Basillica were built on Peter’s burial site – thats the same Peter that was Jesus’ disciple, over 2000 years ago! We hung around the fountains, took a bunch of pictures, listened to another Rick Steve’s episode about the Vatican’s history, and headed out of the square to find some gelato.
From there, onto the Pantheon. When we got there, we had a lovely little cappuchino stop, and then into the building. Rapheal is buried there – as was his wish – and the building is stunning. a tribute to all religions, we could have sat and looked at the dome all day. This dome was the inspiration for the Duomo in Florence, which was the inspiration for the Renessaince art movement, so you could say, it all started here. The only church in all of christendom (and Rome) that has been a working church for all 1400 years of its existence.
We wanted to run to the train station to get our tickets for tomorrow am, but we were caught in the most incredible storm – hail and all! Seems to be an afternoon occurance here in rome. We finally made it home, happy and soaked through about 7 hours after we started. what a day!!
Now, we’re packed and prepped for tomorrow’s flight home. Looking forward to seeing our pups, pony and the cat, but so sad to leave here. What an incredible place, and what a gift it is to be here together.
We’ll try and post again tomorrow before we take off.
much love to you all. k & b
