italy part 1: when in rome...

Rome: Wednesday, October 17 - Sunday, October 21, 2012

Accommodations: We stayed in a good-sized apartment outside the touristy area of town, but very close to both the subway and a bus line that ended up at Termini Station, the main train station and the starting point for many of the hop on/off bus tours of the city. Our host Maurizo was very communicative and helpful prior to our arrival, offering a private car (driven by his dad, Umberto) to pick us up from the airport for less than a cab would charge, which was very helpful since my mom walks with a cane and we had a lot of luggage. We also paid Umberto to take us to the train station when we left. The apartment itself was very clean and well stocked. The only issues were we blew the fuse pretty much daily (even using travel adaptors for our hair dryers) and the front room where I slept has a lot of street noise at night from the nearby train tracks and motorcycles.

Day 1:

We arrived at dinner time and basically did nothing but get settled and eat dinner in a local pizzeria where no one spoke a word of English. We meant to ask for one pizza to share, but got one each instead, which we ate anyway. They weren't huge and ended up being the best pizza of the trip... crisp, thin crust with a great sauce and giant pieces of salami on them. We also had vino de casa, which was kind of smokey and good, although, as we learned on the rest of our trip, vino de casa in Rome has no kick at all. I'm not even sure they put a drop of alcohol in it. We also had dessert because my mom can't pass up tiramasu. 

Day 2: 

We ended up sleeping until noon since we'd missed a night of sleep on our 14 hour flight to Italy. But that was okay. No major plans for the day except to get tickets for the hop on/off bus tour and figure out what we wanted to spend Friday and Saturday afternoon visiting. Once we blew the first of many fuses in the apartment and my mom melted her curling iron (it heated up really quick compared to the US), we left around 2pm, got on the 714 bus line going in the wrong direction and finally (about 30 minutes later than we should have) arrived in tourist central in front of Termini Station. 

We then bought tickets for the Rome Open Tour Hop-on, Hop-off bus. This ended up being mistake number 2 of the day. Do NOT, I repeat do NOT, ever buy tickets for this tour company. They either have the slowest or the least number of buses running. While waiting at a stop, we saw four of the big red City Sightseeing buses come and go in the loooooong time we waited for our bus to show up. Oh, and on Friday (Day 3) we also got treated to listening to our tour guide and driver SCREAM at each other after picking us up as they fought (I think) about how to best avoid the demonstrations taking place near the train station. I know Italians are spirited, but that was just not professional at all.  

Anyhoo, we rode the tour bus the entire route to get acclimated to the city and the various sites. It took a little over two hours. Then we decided to have an early (for Italy) dinner at 6pm at a small restaurant near the train station called Osteria Da Luciano that offered a "tourist menu," which is a fixed price for two courses, dessert and wine. I had a fettucini pasta with tomatoes and meat as my first course and a 1/4 chicken and potatoes for my main dish, with an orange as a dessert (odd... I actually thought I was getting orange gelato, but alas I got an actual orange). The food was pretty good as was the wine, but again, it had no kick. Here's my Little Green Alien (who travels the world) with some breadcrumbs and not strong "vino de casa." 

Day 3:

This was the day that I was going to master the Roman public transportation system, and I was doing great until about 5 minutes before we were supposed to reach Termini Station when the bus pulled over and the driver kicked everyone off. We couldn't understand why (since he did it in Italian), but later figured (thanks to the screaming match mentioned above on the sightseeing tour bus) that it must have been because of the demonstrations in the streets, that we never actually saw. He was at least nice enough to point us in the direction of Termini Station, and I was lucky enough that at that moment (vs many, many, MANY others on the trip), my crap loaner global phone from Verizon, using some Italian cell service, decided to work and pull in data from Google maps, so we could find our way to one of the stops on the sightseeing tour. The bright spot of this trek was that we passed an electronics store so Mom could buy a replacement curling iron (note: they sell hair appliances with TVs in Italy, not in drug stores like you'd expect). 

When we finally arrived at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica (photos below) tour bus stop (which was closer than walking all the way to Termini), we got to wait 40 minutes for our tour bus, watching many, many, MANY other tour bus companies come and go. Le sigh.

Once we were finally on the bus, our destination was The Colossuem. The tour bus guide said they couldn't stop there because of the demonstrations. I proceeded to give her my 'Look of Death.' Two more people getting on also said, "WHAT?!?!" She and the bus driver then got into their screaming match. Ten minutes later, after skipping much of the tour between Stop #2 and #3 (The Colosseum) that we'd seen the day before, we arrived at The Colosseum, just outside the Arch of Constantine (below). As it was lunchtime by this point, we stopped for panini's from a cart and ate while staring at two ginormous pieces of history.

After eating, we found our way to the ticket line. Then found a way out of it by joining an unofficial tour for $10 more that also included the Forum and Palentine Hill. While the tour was a bit long, it was interesting to hear the history from humans vs a recording. I was also super impressed by Mom walking up and down two very steep, old flights of stairs to reach the second level of the arena for awesome views of the floor of the arena as well as the Arch and Forum through the "windows."

Me on the first level of the Colossuem.

View from Level 2 showing all the catacombs under what used to be the floor of the Colosseum where gladiators, criminals and animals would lie in wait to be popped up on the arena floor for fights to the death.

Palentine Hill "residences" -- the old rulers of Rome lived on this hill next to the Colosseum. 

Once back on the tour bus after about three hours at one stop, we decided to just ride the bus back to Termini Station for a late afternoon snack before grabbing dinner at a totally overpriced tourist trap (but they had gelato! First flavor of the trip = lemon). On the way I took this photo of Piazza Venezia below, which houses a museum now. We passed this place no less than seven times in three days as it's in the center of the tour route.

Day 4:
The prior evening, I made a call to a local taxi company to come pick us up at 7:45am to get us to the Vatican by 8:30 for our 8:45 tour. "A quarter to eight," the man on the other end confirmed. "Yes," I said. "Grazie."

So what time does my cell phone ring saying the car is downstairs? 6:50am. Luckily, I was dressed (Mom was still in bed), so I went down and pointed to my watch saying, "No. 7:45, not 6:45." Note: This was also not a cab as I expected, it was a private car. How that happened, I have no idea. Luckily, I'd already negotiated a flat rate over the phone.

"Ahh. Un problemo," the driver said, making a call. Duh. He then talks in really fast Italian to someone and then tells me "Ok. Go back upstairs. We'll come back." You better, I thought as I watched him drive away with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Well, he didn't come back, but another car did at about 7:20. And we were actually ready at 7:25 due to our panic so we got to Vatican City in time to stop for breakfast (tea and croissants) before heading into the museum, skipping the massive line cuz we bought our tickets online in advance (Thanks Marcy!).

In the courtyard near the Vatican Museum entrance 

I will spare you most of the 250 photos I took inside the museums and St. Peter's Basilica. Below are the things that stick out most in my mind (along with my mom, within about 10 minutes of being on the tour, saying something to the effect of, "So this is where all your grandparents' tidings from church every week went. It all makes sense now. No wonder the Catholic Church is always asking for money. It must cost a fortune to run this place." ;). Yep, I've never seen so many sculptures, paintings and tapestries in one place in my life. Theoretically, they could sell like one thing a year to fund their budget and be fine, you'd think. But that would probably be sacrilegious.

Our tour was supposed to be three hours. We went about 20 minutes longer than that, but not because we were slow. We hardly stopped walking for any of those three hours except briefly in Raphael's Rooms and in the Sistine Chapel ("No Photos!" allowed, as you will hear over and over again inside, in addition to security guards saying, "Shhhh" [It is a holy chapel after all.] So don't be looking for any photos of the Chapel.)

One of many, many incredible ceilings inside the Vatican Museums

"The School of Athens" fresco inside the Raphael's Rooms' Room of the Segnatura. The fascinating thing about this painting is most of the people are ancient philosophers (Plato, Aristotle, etc). But in the lower left center is a man sitting with his arm on a concrete block, wearing clothes from the 1500s. That is Michelangelo, who was painting the Sistine Chapel at the same time Raphael was painting this. Raphael realized the historical implications Michelangelo's work would have and added him to this painting.

Another amazing ceiling. The cool thing about this is it looks like a marble ceiling with carvings throughout. It is not. The ceiling is pure paint, with the depth effects done via light and shadows.

This is one of many tapestries in a loooong hallway. As you begin walking by it, the angle of the doorway Jesus is standing in is facing you on the left. As you walk by, you are supposed to look in Jesus' eyes. His eyes follow you. And by the time you are on the far right of the tapestry, the angle of the doorway is now facing right. He and the doorway have followed you. Creepy.

"The Holy Door" to St. Peter's Basilica can only be opened every 25 years by the Pope. It was last opened in 2000 by Pope John Paul II. 

Michelangelo's "La Pieta" sculpture inside St. Peter's Basilica -- his second most famous sculpture after The David -- shows Mary holding her son Jesus after his crucifixion and is housed behind bullet-proof glass. It is the only piece that Michelangelo ever signed. 

Pope John Paul II lies inside the second chapel on the right. There were many people praying to him while we were there.

The inside of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, painted by Michelangelo. The level of detail is insane. 

Mailing postcards to my grandparents (not the Catholic ones) from the Vatican City Post Office.

After our long morning at the Vatican, we had two more things on the "to do in Rome" list: See the Pantheon and throw coins in Trevi Fountain. So we hopped back on the tour bus from its Vatican City stop (didn't have to wait at all that time!) and took it one stop, then wandered through tiny streets until we came upon the Pantheon, which looked like a totally fake ancient movie set in the middle of a modern Roman plaza. That said, the interior dome is amazing and still in pristine condition. 

Our first view of The Pantheon.

The amazing interior dome of The Pantheon.

We spent all of about 10 minutes there taking photos, then headed down a street toward Trevi Fountain. Everyone in Rome who wasn't at The Vatican that Saturday was at Trevi Fountain. It was a madhouse! But we managed to get some good photos and I threw two coins into the fountain -- one for me and one for mom. According to legend, this means we will one day return to Rome. 

Trevi Fountain

However, after four days in Rome, I was kind of tired of it. It's like many other big, bustling cities (NYC, Vegas) with too much going on... I can be there about three days then I have to get the heck out of dodge. I saw everything I wanted to see and was ready to move on. And after the rest of our trip, I'd much rather revisit Northern Italy.

Stay tuned for those stories...