A Ruinous Day

Day 3 in Rome. Of course I have to see ancient Rome, so I find myself a route on the map. I figured I'd walk down and then ride the metro back. I read that the Colosseum is only 1.5 miles from the Spanish Steps and that's not that far! Little did I realize that I'd be zigging and zagging over about a third of the city! This place has stairs everywhere! Those 7 hills are no joke! If you want to visit Rome, be prepared to climb!

The first place I stopped was Sant' Andrea Delle Fratte, because I wanted to see Bernini's angels. Here's one of them:

Very beautiful as you can see. Then I went to Trevi fountain. This was my first day on foot for any distance and I was having a heck of a time finding the right streets. Most of the streets are very narrow and twisting, so you can't see for any distance. Then suddenly, there it was!

Following Rose's advice, I tossed in a coin to ensure my return to Rome some day.

Then the adventure began! I have this map, MapEasy's guide to Rome, and it's a great map with a lot of cool stuff marked on it. Well in a spot about half way between Trevi Fountain and the Forum, there's a place marked "Stunningly beautiful building here! Don't miss it." Okay, you got me hooked! I walked around for an hour looking for this magnificent structure. Did I find it? NO! Unless someone has a very different idea of the word 'stunning'. And you can't very well ask directions to a place that's unnamed, so I missed that one.

What I did find was the Palazzo del Quirinale where the Italian President lives. So I sat in his front yard (the Piazza del Quirinale) and cursed the folks at MapEasy for sending me on a wild goose chase. In front of the president's 'house' were two guards with rifles. So I didn't curse too loud.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum; I landed at the Piazza Venezia in front of the Victor Emmanuel Monument. They call it a monument, but it's about the size of a city block with all kinds of great statues attached to it! Here's a shot of one of the statues with some other cools stuff in the background.

Just down the street, I FINALLY got to my destination. What a jaw dropper!! Right there in the middle of the city, on either side of a main thoroughfare (actually wide enough for a couple of cars) were the ruins of ancient Rome! I can no longer be surprised here! There are simply wonderful things around every corner. Again, I'm sharing some pictures that can in no way convey the awe I felt as I wandered through this area! Much of the stuff you can see for free. It's right there!! If you want to get real close, you have to get a ticket. It cost me only 12 eoros for the Forum, Palatine and the Colosseum. That's about $17. What a deal!Anyway, here's some of what I saw. This is Trajan's Market. More about that tomorrow, because I actually went inside there today.



Notice the yellowish structure in the upper right. There's an apartment building that butts right up against the back of it. Amazing!!

This shot is from down in the Forum area:






This area is huge. What's really cool is to just stand in there and imagine what it all must have been like!

On Palatine Hill ar the ruins of what used to be the home of Augustus. This was a huge, multi-storied structure with a view like you cannot imagine! Here's a look at the Colosseum from up there:




Good old Augustus probably had someone to carry him up all of those steps!

After coming back down from Palatine, I went into the Colosseum. Here's a view from in there:





Time to run out and wrestle a lion!

Am I tired yet? You bet I am and I haven't even eaten! But there's on more thing on my list for the day. I need to find Michelangelo's Moses. It's pretty close by!

Here it is...


WOW!! I think I mentioned yesterday about the building it's in. Check this out:



Who would suspect that this building held such a priceless piece of art? After this, I finally ate at a little pizzaria around the corner, then took the metro home.

Between the heat and the steps, I was beat. There was quite a storm last night and today was much cooler. It started ou rainy, but cleared to a gorgeous day. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

The REAL reason I'm here!

I came to Rome out of a love for art. I've seem many great works of art over the years, but the one thing I've always wanted to see (well, at least since college) is the Sistine Chapel. That's why I'm in Rome and not in Paris or Hawaii (the next 2 places I hope to go). So on my first full day in Rome I headed straight to the Vatican Museum as soon as I'd had some coffee (Caffe Americano).

The line to get in was around the block. I waited as patiently as I possibly could under the circumstances. Once I got in, I hurried past all of the other amazing exhibits and followed the signs to the Sistine Chapel which is normally one of the last things seen by visitors to the museum. Down hallways, twisting and turning, down and then up again, I followed the signs through the vast labrynth. Then there it was! I have no photos because none are allowed there. But that's okay because none could convey the absolute perfection of Michelangelo's design and the emotion that I felt at seeing this masterpiece. I had heard that the chapel was small, but I was unprepared for just how small. In the pictures it looks so large because of the masterful way that Michelangelo created the illusion of space. There was The Last Judgement, the Creation of Adam, the Delphic Sibyl... All of those wonderful panels I knew so well. It was an experience beyond description. I saw the Chapel twice that day, going back before I left the museum after circling back through all of the other fine exhibits.

After the Sistine Chapel, my favorite part of the museum was the Sculpture collection. It is unbelievable! There are literally hundreds!! ...heads, torsos animals, emperors, popes. Just room after room. Here are a few pictures from that section. This one shows the beautiful ceiling and pillars:

Some of the sculpture was outdoors around a small 'piazza'.

This one I doctored up a bit because I like the agonized face and twisted torso. So do most people. It's part of a quite famous piece.

While browsing the sculpture, we were actually walking on this amazing mosaic floor:

The Vatican Museum is huge and the art collection vast. All of the walls and ceilings are decorated in high style. This is one of my favorite rooms:

The colors were absolutely stunning. Here is a quiet corner in this same room:

Here is a ceiling panel I was especially fond of...

It's rather surrealistic, don't you think?

One thing I really admired about the musem was that there were very few barriers. Hardly any velvet ropes, no 'Do Not Touch' signs. They had these small wooded stool-type chairs scattered about for folks to rest on that, by our standards, definitely qualified as antiques. It was rather incredible.

Another thing I noticed: In the section just before the Sistine Chapel there was a sizeable collection of modern religious art. Now keep in mind that we're near the end of the tour and everyone has been in the museum for several hours most likely and they'e just a few more twists and stairs away from the famous Sistine Chapel, so they hurry by 'this modern stuff''. I did the same thing the first time through. The second time through, however, I realized that I had walked right past two paintings by Salvador Dali! So I stopped to take a better look at what was there. You don't get into the Vatican collection unless SOMEBODY thinks you're good!

After the Vatican Museum, I went to St Peter's to see Michelangelo's Pieta. Just the Piazza and the outside of the building are awesome enough and I spent a good deal of time there oohing and ahing and taking plenty of pictures. Then I went inside... There is no way that I can describe this to you that could possibly convey the absolute majesty of this structure! I was stunned! First, it's huge - massive! And decorated with the most glorious and incredible sculptures I have ever seen. Just unbelievable!! Then, of course, there's Michelangelo's dome!

Here is a photo. Compared to the real thing it's like looking at a bubble gum comic...

As you can probably tell, I'm a Michelangelo fan (as well as Salvador Dali - go figure). Today I hunted down the Moses at the tomb of Pope Julius II. The building it's in is so off the beaten path and so ordinary looking, I never would have found it without my map and a strong desire to see it. I don't want to disgust you with an overuse of superlatives so I'll just say that it was well worth the hunt. If you have never read 'The Agony and the Ecstasy' by Irving Stone, I highly recommend it! It's a biographical novel about Michelangelo and the times in which he lived and created. It's really a great story and provides a lot of insight into his work.

That's it! Had some totally yummy rigatoni with bacon (who knew?) for dinner. The service deteriorated markedly when I ordered a Heineken with my meal instead of wine. (How do you say faux pas in Italian?) How pedestrian of me! Ciao!

A Day Behind

I've fallen behind already. Got here yesterday at what would have been 1:30 AM eastern time. Here it was 7:30 AM. I slept a bit on the plane on the flight from Boston, but not much. Upon arrival, I found the train and road into Termini, the Grand Central Station of Rome. Then took the metro to stop nearest my hotel. Dragging my bags down the street proved a real adventure as the streets are VERY narrow and cobbled. I passed my hotel several times before asking someone and being helped by a very nice fellow from a nearby ristorante. Here is the doorway to my hotel:

It is the brown door on the right. How could I have possibly missed it? Here is the front desk:

That's right! It's right behind that pillar! My room is very nice actually. Brand new and very modern. And orange!! There is, however, no coffee maker or alarm clock. And no dresser. Very odd. The woman who works the front desk does not speak english. I love it here!

So far the only thing I've found to dislike is the 'orange' juice. It's actually red and very sweet! Ech!! The coffee, however, makes up for it. I am already addicted to caffe americano which is very black, but smooth and is served in small plastic cups. The Italians would freak to see the gargantuan cups of coffee we cart around in the US.

My hotel is one block from the Spanish steps. Here is a view from the top:

I explored here yesterday and then to the Piazza del Popolo:

Like everywhere I've been in Rome so far, there were many wonderful sculptures here:

Wait until you see where I went today!!

Other things I have noted about Rome:

• There are T-Shirt vending machines on the street.
• The subway is WAY crowded.
• The cars are small, but big enough to knock you over and it's hard to tell the sidewalk from the street. The cars drive right down the alley ways next to the people eating outside.
• They sell beer on the street. This is my favorite part. You can pick up a sandwich and a Heineken from a street vendor.

I fell asleep yesterday at 6:30 PM (Roma) and slept until 7:00 this morning. Perfect! No jet lag!

You've Gotta Get There First!

Woke to passing storms this morning with wind. After being stuck at JFK overnight during my last travel adventure, I'm nervous about the flight schedules and have spent the last half hour on the internet checking flights and forecasts. Boston looks good today, so I just need to get there from here. I still have almost 6 hours to flight time, so hopefully...

Called my hotel on Friday to confirm my reservation. They informed me that I've been upgraded to their new 'sister' hotel located in Piazza di Spagna. So now I'm 2 blocks from the Spanish Steps, the metro stop and the hottest shopping district in Rome. You can imagine my dismay. :-)

Getting Ready

Today I bought the smallest 'laptop' ever along with a portable hard drive. The PC is about the size of a hardcover book. The keyboard, not much larger than a dollar bill. This is going to be great fun for traveling!

In the beginning,,,

I'm getting ready to go to Rome and Beth suggested that I might create a travel blog so that those that will be left behind can live vicariously through me. I think this is a cool idea, because I like to write and look forward to sharing my adventure with my friends. I've never had a blog before, so let's see how this turns out.

Kyle will know where the title comes from and on the scale of emotion, this is the highest high. It is an appropriate title then for this travel journal.

Interestingly enough, the words 'journey' and 'journal' have the same root.