Rome 2008

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This trip took place in November 2008. I figured I'd post my notes from the road and link it to my pictures. Pictures are in the link to the right under 'Photos From the Forum'. Notes are, in reverse order, below.

Hank

Rome Over

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I'm back home in sunny San Francisco looking at a mound of laundry to be done and a stack of bills to be paid. Fun.

I left the hotel in Rome at 7:30AM on Wednesday morning and walked in my apartment door at 7:30PM on Wednsday night. This is with the 9 hour time difference. Going Frankfurt to San Francisco may seem like a great way to knock off a lot of time but 12hrs in one plane is too much. After about hour 8 you start to go stir crazy.

You can divide a city map of Rome into seven sections - Ancient Rome; Centro Storico; Vatican City and Borgo; Northern Rome and Villa Borghese; Trastevere; Esquilino, Quirinale, and Piazza di Spagna; and Southern Rome. I covered just about everything from Piazza del Popolo (north) to the Porta San Sebastiano (south) and Vatican City/Piazzle Giuseppe (east) to the Basilicas San Giovanni in Laterano and Santa Maria Maggiore (west). All of this ground was covered by foot with the one exception of a taxi ride to see friends northwest of Vatican City and Borgo. Things I missed doing were taking a train out to see Pompeii or going up to Florence or getting south to see the Catacombes (and the Church of Lord, Where Are You Going? - seriously). I would have needed another week to do all this.

My last day started at Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli. The basilica houses St. Peter's chains and the tomb of Pope Julius II. St. Peter's chains are one of the relics you look at and say, "oh, come on". As a matter of fact, many of the religious relics require that you either suspend belief ("another piece of the cross? really??") or reach for a barf bag (there are only so many mummified appendages or jaw and teeth fragments you can take). I guess this all falls under the mysteries of faith. Anyway, the tomb of Pope Julius II was designed by Michelangelo with it's centerpiece being a statue of Moses with horns. Michelangelo was knowingly working from a mistranslated bible verse but went with the horns anyway.

I bounced from San Pietro to Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterno. Up until the late 14th century, this was the pope's principal residence. The entrance at the front has two bronze doors that came from the Forum. These seem at least thirty feet high and are only opened during Jubilee years. Inside the church are fifteen colossal statues of the Apostles plus Christ, John the Baptist, and John the Evangelist. These each are large enough that they could be in their own parks. Supposedly you can find Borromini's fingerprints on some of the church pillars he completed here. Oddities inside the Palazzo just off the basilica include four columns that are alleged to be the height of Jesus (which would make him about six feet tall) and a red slab where it is said that Roman soldiers threw dice to see who got Jesus' robe. Back in the church and over the alter is a reliquary that contains the heads of both St. Peter and St. Paul. Below that is the confessio that houses a piece of what is supposed to be St. Peter's wooden alter table.

I bypassed seeing Pontius Pilate's staircase that was brought to Rome by St. Helena. This was in a building across the road. Jesus was to have walked up these stairs to enter Pontius Pilate's palace. It was just across the street but I figured that if it was good enough for Martin Luther to skip over, I could, too.

So I went down the hill (I swear I did walk all seven of Rome's hills) to Basilica de San Clemente. This was interesting to see not so much for the church itself but rather the diggings underneath. On top is a 12th century church over a 4th century church over a 2nd century pagan temple over a 1st century Roman house.

I crossed back over to Terme di Caracalla. This used to be a massive Roman bath. You do not realize how massive the complex was until you are actually inside. The place could be used by up to 1600 people at a time and it is estimated that 6-8000 people per day passed through. For San Franciscians, it dwarfs Sutro Baths. There was not much to actually see here but it was interesting to go in and wander among the walls and ponder the volume of people who moved through.

Although my legs were already dead, I was still entertaining ambitions to walk down to the Catacombes (a couple of more miles down the road). To get there, I need to walk down to Porta San Sebastiano. The Porta marks the start of Via Appia Antica - the road that 'all' would take to get to Rome. As with most roads in Rome, the walk started off with a little sidewalk and then you find yourself hiking along the yellow line while cars and motorcycles whiz by at eight billion miles per hour. You feel like the crazy homeless person wandering along the side until you see other people doing it to.

While getting to the Porta is taking your life into your hands, it is worth it. You are there at the old walls of the city. It was a little like being at the foot of the Lincoln Tunnel going in and out of New York City. Actually, it was a lot like being outside of the Lincoln Tunnel as there were people with squee-gees working car windows for spare change. So I played Frogger and got across the road to check out the map. The Catacombes and the outlying churches were just within reach. I looked up the road I had come down and the eight lives I had used up to get here. I looked down the road with the rising walls and the narrowing features. I looked at the map again. I pondered going around and down. I thought about jumping the gated community fence and doing the Ferris Bueller sprint to get to my destination. I debated trying to hitch hike. Finally, I checked out the closing times, loooked at my watch, calcualted the variables and vectored the distances, and decided that I did not want to become Roman road kill on my last day in town. I headed back into town.

I avoided the death walk back by going along the outside of the city walls until I reached Porta Metronia where I could actually see the space between the road and the walls. There I ducked in and made my way back to the heart of ancient Rome. Gillian and her husband Mark had offered to meet me for dinner so I cleaned up and met them at San Lorenzo in Lucina. We had a few cocktails out in the open air piazza which was really nice. Rome has so many outside cafes where you can just sit and watch the crowd go by. Then they took me to a place to get some local fare - so local the menu had no english translations. The drawback of going local is people seem to like a lot of things stuff in entrails. The benefit is, if you are with someone who knows what they are doing, you can get some really spectacular food.

I got back to the hotel at midnight. My ride to the airport came at 7:30AM. I folded myself into my economy seat. Two hours to Frankfurt. Twelve hours to San Francisco.

Hank

Rome Nov 6-12: Final Day

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You are spared for a day. Too tired to write.

Saw a few more churches; another Michelangelo; went through a 12th century church, a 4th century church, a 2nd century pagan temple, and a 1st century Roman house all in the same building; stood in Roman baths; saw the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul; did not walk up Pontius Pilate's steps; stood where St. Gregory dispatched St. Augustine to convert the heathen British; saw St. Peter's chains; hiked to when the 'all roads' actually get to Rome, and almost became Roman roadkill in my final Roman sunset.

Off to the airport in a few hours.
Hank

Rome Nov 6-12: Day 5

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For those of you concerned, I have not eaten McDonald's here.

Today I spent six hours at the Sistine Chapel/Vatican Museum complex. That included the line to get in which was actually pretty short (half hour?). From a sheer volume perspective the Vatican Museum, which includes the Sistine Chapel, has got to be as large or larger than the biggest museums in the world. The key to actually enjoying the place is to catch the time between the tour guide waves. You'd think it would be best to be in the tour but, really, sitting in the middle of one of those groups is like being stuck in line at the pudding bar in Stuckey's. Do I really need to hear what a wonderful job they have done with the fruited jello?

The entire complex is grouped into 19 different areas (twenty, if you count the Audioguide Rent as they do in the coded map they give you). While I did not want to have the tour guide, it is not so simple to navigate the museum without one. It is very easy to make a wrong turn and find that you have missed large chunks of the exhibits and there is no going back as that is like swimming against the tide. The big items are the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel. Minor stuff is about 500 years of Etrurian history (around 4 BC); enough Egyptian artifacts to be it's own museum (including at least two mummies); about 15 rooms of sculptures; another garden of more sculptures; halls and halls of tapistries, globes, proclaimations and other odds and ends (including a gift from the US of two porcelain swans that look like they came from the Franklin Mint - oh yeah); and many, many rooms of paintings including Raphael's last work, The Transfiguration (supposedly the last item he ever painted was Christ's face in this picture).

The Raphael Rooms are ok. I guess I was expecting something more elegant and not so dark (pope rooms tend to look like the old proper den in your grandparents house where everything is in heavier colors and smells like old library books). As you queue up for the Sistine Chapel, which is actually not the last stop, you pass through a couple of 'U' shaped galleries that no one seems to venture down (usually because they are all so giddy to get to the big show). Around these corners are where the Vatican hangs the left over modern art (like a few Salvador Dalis). The Sistine Chapel fresco is a HUGE work. It makes you realize why it took so long for Charlton Heston to paint that ceiling.

So by the time I rolled out of the Vatican, it was 3:30PM. The Lonely Planet Guide Book had ten top picks to see in Rome and I had seen seven of them over the last few days. Unfortunately, the other three were, and are, scattered to the edges of the city. I chose to try and tackle Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere. I asked the guard about the best way to get there and he shook his head discouragingly indicating that it was Monday and there were transportation strikes. Welcome to Italy (and think about that next time you complain because the bus is ten minutes late). I told him I was walking anyway and he gave me the 'good luck!' look.

It's a haul to Trastevere. Like everywhere else in the city, there is no straight line because you have to walk around something. Usually it is ruins; in this case it was gated communities. Oh, and I got to go over one of the seven other hills in Rome. The good part of the detour was that I ended up at Plazelle Anita Garibaldi which gives you a cool view back into Rome.

So anyway, I stumbled into Trastevere and checked out the Basilica. Like all churches, you drop a coin in the meter and the ceiling lights come on. Basilica di Santa Maria has these massive glittering gold mosaic ceilings over the alter so I was happy for the illumination. I thought it was nice that someone was practicing the organ this late in the evening and then I noticed that it was being pumped in through the Bose speakers bolted to the wall (I guess this is church 'house' music).

It was getting late but I figured I had one more church in me for the day so I checked out the Basilica di Santa Cecilia (patron saint of music). Oh, somewhere along the way I stepped in Italian dog poop. It works like American dog poop. The two old Italian guys behind me got a chuckle at my expense ("buono fortuna! It means good luck, my friend!").

Anyway, late again. One more day.
Hank

Rome Nov 6-12: Day 4

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Today I used an alarm.

These days are all starting to blur together (only two more to go, in case you are thinking of activating your spam filter). Sunday is an interesting day to site see. Since most of the sites are churches and all of the churches are active, one needs to dance around the various services. Also, a number of museums are closed on Sunday. But it was 68 and sunny and there was plenty of stuff to see outside, too.

Many people have suggested ventures outside of Rome. Others have suggested I extend my trip (I suspect these are for personal reasons - yes, I am going to Fight Night; no, you cannot have my ticket to the Stanford-USC game). Unless I cover a lot more ground tomorrow, I am going to stick to walking Rome.

To avoid seeing the Colosseum, I walked out the other door in my hotel and headed the other direction. Now what people do not realize is that in addition to over 300 churches, there are a couple different forums and a couple of different colosseums. While there is only part of one colosseum still really standing, all of the forums have some sort of rubble piled up. My first stop was the Imperial Forum. This one has a lot of good exhibits but you start to tire of broken statues after a while.

Went off to find Museo del Palazzo Venezia and ended up at Palazzo del Quirinale (just down the street from the "Celinto Catayente Towers. It's quite a fine example, in fact. I recommend that next time you're up that way that you drop in and take a gander at it yourself"). That turned out ok because the Museo del Palazzo is closed on Sundays. Moved from there back to Trevi Fountain because a) it's on the way back to Museo del Palazzo, which is closed on Sundays, and b) to see if it was just as much of a zoo during the daylight. It was.

I am slowly being tempted to buy the noise-whizzing, bubble-making, ray gun that the vendors are hawking at every site. I read about how the Romans used those against the Vandels. Wait, they lost to the Vandels. Maybe if they had the noise-whizzing, bubble-making ray gun they would have won.

Did I tell you the Museo del Palazzo Venezia was closed on Sundays?

Next stop was the Chiesa Del Gesu. This is where Ignatius Loyola is buried. Spanish soldier and much used college name. After that I headed to the Pantheon and the Elefantino with the Chiesa di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. This Chiesa has a 'lesser known' Michelangelo called Christo Risorto. First, no, Christo Risorto does not mean the Rice of Christ and, second, can there be a lesser known Michelangelo? Christo Risorto also has a couple Lippi's (if you only justa gotta a one a lippi then all of the water a falla outta you mouth). At this point I stopped trying to take pictures inside of churches. It is impossible to capture what is going on in one shot. Every corner has some sort of masterpiece and the ceilings are unlike anything I've seen anywhere.

The Pantheon also had a service in it! Even though it was built as a Roman temple it was consecrated as a church in 608. The dome is amazing and, once again, too big to capture on film. It is the largest masonry vault ever built AND it was built in 1 BC. Wow.

I am still trying to figure out the church uniforms - nuns, friars, priests, everyone. Who is on who's team? Are there home and away jerseys? Is there some sort of coding like residents and doctors? Do they do throwback uniforms to sell extra replicas to fans? Or is it simple color scheming like Star Trek where the red guys are the engineers or security people, the blue guys are the doctors or scientist, and the gold guys are the captains?

(Too much writing and I am only half way through the day.)

Went from the Pantheon, where the only McDonald's in Rome is located (seriously), to the Piazza Navona. Hopping outdoor spot with a couple of cool fountains. Moved on to the Mueso Nazionale Romano: Palazzo Altemps. Cool statues and cool building. Thought I was kind of walking towards the Spanish Steps but ended up at the Mueso del' Ara Pacis. Did not go in. Figured I was off course anyway and headed to the Palazzo del Popolo. Found out that Italy is celebrating the 90th anniversary of their armed forces with a concert on the Palazzo (military bands, Andrea Bocelli, and a bunch of other Italian classical singers) so decided to come back to that.

For those of you that have tickets to the Verona performance by Wayne Newton, scheduled for Friday at the Oneida Nation’s Turning Stone Resort and Casino Showroom, it has been postponed. Ticket holders may retain their tickets for the rescheduled performance, date to be announced, or return them to the location where they were purchased for a refund. I found that out while searching for Italian military concerts trying to find Andrea Bocelli's name.

Finally got to the Spanish Steps. A whole lot of people sitting around. Climbed to the top and ducked into Chiesa della Trinita del Monti. Was bemused by the lady who was upset when informed that her chihuahua was not welcome inside (and is a chihuahua really welcome anywhere, anyway). Went outside. Grabbed some food and sat on the steps to watch the sun creep down. The Italian version of the Blue Angels flew overhead streaming red, green, and white smoke. Bounced back to the Palazzo to see the concert. Big crowd. Outdoors on the Palazzo. A couple of military bands. Presentations to veterans and military Olympic medal winners. Lots of flag waving (I'm still puzzled over which military had been intact since 1918; didn't they fight on the wrong side in the last big one?). Andrea and friends came on and sang more patriotic and Italian music.

Pooped. Hiked back to the hotel (visible, straight line - no need to check the map; no desire to get lost). Now trying to shorten up this write up and to turn out the lights before midnight but missing both.

Tomorrow, the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum.
Hank

Rome Nov 6-12: Day 3

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Mixing Italian effervescent aspirin with American Nyquil was probably not such a good combination. I did not wake up until 1PM! It's that or the jet lag caught up. Anyway, I feel like I slept great.

So I got a late start on an abbreviated day. This will be a quick update so I don't make the same mistake tomorrow.

My primary objective was to get to one of the four Basilicas today. I did St. Peter's yesterday so I trudged off to Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. Walking out the door I had to pass the Colosseum, again (I see the Colosseum everyday; if you are curious, here is the hotel link - http://www.hotelforum.com/). The Basilica is on one of Rome's seven hills so my walk took me up a nice view back on the Colosseum and the Arco di Constantino. As I turned back for one last look, my attention was disrupted by two things - the 'roar' of an Italian jet fighter (looking like Vietnam-era US surplus) over head and the chanting of a pro-Obama march being led by Americans in Italy. Weird. You figure out which.

Santa Maria Maggiore is huge. If I had not seen St. Peter's the day before, it would have looked massive. Again, too much for the eyes to take in. Amazing statues, amazing paintings, amazing mosaics. One oddity was there was a box you had to put coins in to get the ceiling to light up. The entire ceiling. So you had hundreds of people milling around, confessions being taking, nuns working their rosary beads, and a service going on in a side chapel and then some overweight German in bad trousers with a belt hiked too high, a murse with too much junk in it, and b.o. that would burn the paint off a barn would waddle over and plunk a coin down and the entire Basilica ceiling would light up and tourist would quietly oooh while the whirl and clicks of cameras would go off everywhere. This would happen every ten minutes. It was almost interesting enough to just to do it myself to watch the pavliovian reaction. But not that interesting.

It rained most of the day but I only saw the puddles. Slept through the morning rain; was in the Bacilica for the afternoon rain. I left Santa Maggiore and made a dash for the Galleria Nazionale D' Arte Antica. First, nothing in Rome has a simple name; second; naming anything in Rome 'antica' is repeatitive. This was a cool little art gallery! This was a building commissioned by Pope Urban VIII and worked on by Borromini and Bernini and has this amazing fresco by Pietro da Cortona that will blow yer mind. It has the classic Henry VIII portrait by Hans Holbein as well as Raphael's The Baker's Girl. Ok, I admit I could not have match the artist name with the pictures but I certainly recognized the pictures.

Besides no Gap, Rome has no American fast food chains. I think I saw one McDonald's. You are forced to grab a cheese and tomato sandwich from a corner stop that serves espressos in teeny, tiny cups. Even the fast food makes you feel bohemian.

I had to meet my friend Gillian and her family for dinner at seven-thirty so I figured I'd make a quick swing by the Trevi Fountain. One thing I have notice in the last few days is that Italian street maps are hard to follow. To make things more interesting, streets will suddenly switch names. But, if you want to find the Trevi Fountain it is hard to miss. Even late in the day people are ten deep. I mean there were hundreds of people standing around this fountain. The famous custom here is to through a coin over your shoulder into the fountain. Supposedly, that will ensure that one day you return to Rome. I threw. By the looks of the crowd, I figured I could probably fish out enough coins to pay for my trip. However, apparently some homeless man beat me to that idea. People claimed he was making 1000 Euros per week for 34 years just raiding the fountain at night! Now the cash gets swept out for charity.

It was getting late so I darted back to my hotel, past the Imperial Forums which are only three blocks from my hotel door but with all this other stuff flying around I had not noticed, to change and hop a cab for dinner. I had my first real Italian pizza and it was awesome (thanks Gillian and Mark!). It does not have the bulky crust like our Americanized version and the toppings are not so pre-pressed. I also had my first real Italian cab ride. It was easier than I expected as my Italian has not improved. Although I now know how to say, "Sei la donna piu bella del mondo," that was not going to help in this situation as the driver was some little old dude with more hair coming out of his ears and nose than on top of his head.

Anyway, as I said it was an short day. I'm looking at the list of what I have seen and what I need to see and am thinking I still have a lot of walking to do.

Buono notte.
Hank

Rome Nov 6-12: Day 2

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Covered a lot of ground today including criss-crossing the Tiber River a few times. After stumbling through the Colosseum, Palantino, Roman Forum, and Musei Capitolini yesterday, I was ready to clear out of the part called Ancient Rome today. But then I realized I had missed Circo Massimo and Bocca della Verita so I had to pass through one more time this morning. For those of you who don't know what all that stuff means, my Italian still ain't so buono.

By the way, my room has a boo-day. No clue how it's spelled but that is how it sounds. That is an accident waiting to happen as I have almost sat on it twice in the past 24 hours. Although, if my luggage had not arrived that could have cured the clean underwear issue.

So, Circo Massimo was a much bigger colosseum. 250,000 spectators. However, there is almost nothing left standing. Instead what once held a 600m race track now looks like a NATO used equipment expo. Military Maximo. A bunch of castaway US and British planes and armored vehicles surrounded by what looks like US Reserves but are probably Italian regulars. If you took your eight year old to this air show he would be sorely disappointed.

Rolled past that one and checked out the Bocca della Verita. People who saw Roman Holiday will recognize this. I assume no man has seen or will admit to having seen that movie. Basically, legend has it that this item is a finger guillotine for liers. In reality, it is just an ancient manhole cover (but don't tell the ladies this).

From the Bocca I went off-the-map because, quite frankly, it is too hard to look at the map because it looks like every block there is a church or other old place of interest. I figured my discriminating eye could pick all this out. I headed towards the Tiber. Passed on ancient temple. Passed another ancient temple. And saw the Ponte Rotto (Italian for busted up old bridge). I had walked two blocks. Going off the map means you see things and don't know what you are looking at until you read the map.

Accelerating forward... walked through the Jewish Ghetto, jumped into the Mueso di Roma, and put my head down to trudge to St. Peter's. I ended up at Castel San't Angelo. Off the map also means you miss your target destination by four or five blocks. Italian side streets are very tight and turning so it is tough to keep you sense of direction. However, if I had asked for directions I probably would not have seen the Castel which was so cool (yet another reason to never ask for directions).

The Castel was supposed to be a mausoleum for Hadrian but ended up Pope Clement VII hid out in while Rome was sacked. He probably had a good view. I wonder if the bar at the top was there? I bet the Pope could have used it.

St. Peter's is huge. It looks like it would fit two or three National Cathedrals. Every cubby hole has some major work by some major artist. It is the New York Yankees of cathedrals. I covered the Plaza, the basillica, did the dome, saw the Museo Storico Artistico, and rushed through the grottos. I spent 5-6 hours there and then realized I still had not seen the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums! So with the sun down I decided to at least see where the entrance was. It is a long, long way around a corner along an imposing wall. I am not looking forward to that walk.

Italian cars sound like mopeds.

On the way back I passed through Campo de' Fiori. It's a main square that is hopping with activity. Very cool. Should have gotten food here but saved myself to enjoy some sort of sewer carp (think Potomac catfish but not as clean or tasty) next to a chain smoking Frenchman and his elfin girlfriend. Yum.

Ok, every Police Station here has a lot of people with a lot of time. All the people look like a cross between Hill Street Blues and Life on Mars. How do these people have so much time to mingle with all the polizia constantly running though the town with their siren's on?

Anyway, I'm exhausted. That's all I can write today.
Hank