Rome in a Day!

Friday, March 22, 2013

We knew we wanted to see Rome, but we weren't so sure we wanted to drive in Rome. Our host at Fattoria San Lorenzo strongly encouraged us to take the train into Rome and not have to worry about finding parking. This was indeed one of the wisest decisions of the week. So much headache was avoided by not having a vehicle in that city. What a nightmare that would have been!

When our train arrived in the city, we set off on foot in the general direction of the Colosseum. Within a couple of blocks we purchased a map knowing that we would definitely need one to conquer this city. Rome is so large that even with a map we knew we'd be putting a lot of miles on that day. We ended up walking between 15-18 miles....something I am not sure we will ever do again! Plus with all of the cities being built around a central piazza(s), the streets in Italy are really hard to follow. They are like spider webs all over the city.

Seeing the Colosseum was worth the trip to Rome.

We ended up being stuck here for a bit trying to figure out how to get
beyond this fencing behind us. It was about a two story drop without any
seeming stairways to get to the street below. One of the boys suggested
scaling the wall. An option. Not our first. It was quite a walk to get
around the fencing, but we finally made it without rappelling.

~ Eating lunch outside the Colosseum ~
We were sitting in the area where the lions were held
prior to releasing them on those in the arena. Sobering
thoughts on Christianity were pondered over lunch.

~ Arch of Constantine ~
This spans over the road that the emperors would have taken as they
entered the city in triumph. It is situated in between the Colosseum
and Palatine Hill.

Everywhere you turn in Rome, there are ruins being
excavated. The boys remembered the three styles of
columns from our history studies and picked them
out all over the city. It was surprising how often we
saw columns that were then filled in with rock and
debris to form a wall. Changing of the styles, I guess.

~ The Pantheon - Temple to the Roman gods~
Knowing that we didn't have time to see all that we
wanted, we chose to hit the highlights. By the time we
reached the Pantheon, everyone was starting to feel
the effects of lots of walking....and there was still so
much to see!

At over 140' in diameter, the dome of the Pantheon is
the largest un-reinforced dome in the world. Crazy that
this structure was built around 125AD and is still in such
incredible condition. Some say that is a result of it
being turned into a church which was then well maintained.

Micah and Josiah look back at me while I try to snap a
picture capturing the enormity of the doors and the
beautiful marble floors. No flash was permitted inside
so it made it challenging for me to get some good shots.

At 39' tall, 5' wide and 60 Tons in weight, the columns
outside the Pantheon are a mystery to me! How did they
bring these granite columns from Egypt? Can you
imagine the work? They made a nice resting place
before setting off for The Vatican.

~ Bridge ruins over the Tiber River ~

~ Piazza Navona ~
This area is the original stadium of the first century. There
are three lavish Baroque fountains in this piazza. I had
read on-line that the best ice-cream in the city is found
here so, of course, we stopped for a rest to enjoy some of
the best the city had to offer!

I had read that a Tartufo was the dessert to buy. At 10 Euros a piece, I
think not! Thankfully, we found a place that was half that price so we got
one to share...umm, mostly for me. The boys were very thankful that they
didn't have to get one as it was made from dark chocolate and there were
a lot of other flavors that looked tremendously better to them.

This was a first! I've seen lots of pizza deliveries on bicycles but never
a wine delivery. Only in Italy!

~ Castel Sant'Angelo - Castle of the Holy Angel ~
Built by Hadrian around 125 AD, it was originally a mausoleum for himself
and his family. Later, it was used by popes as a fortress and a castle. Now, it
is a museum but not one that we toured.

~ Our first glimpse of The Vatican ~

We were so thankful to be in Rome after the election of the new pope. Had
we planned this trip just a week or so earlier, Rome wouldn't have been an
option to tour as fighting the crowds would have been too much. The average
number of visitors per day is close to 20,000. That is insane. Thankfully,
there were a lot of tourists but not so many that we were bumping into
people all day long. March is a nice time of year to see Rome.

Where are my pictures from the Sistine Chapel, you ask? Well now, I don't have any. At this point in our day, we were all tired and still needed to walk the same distance back to the train station. Also, everyone was hungry. And the lines were long. Ugh! I was this close to seeing The Sistine Chapel yet we opted for going for food instead. That was a hard one for me but in the end, it was best for the family and saved us a lot of money. It's not cheap to see these places. Micah commented that paying to see Michelangelo's work is like buying brand name clothing. It's not worth it in the end. I am going to remind him of that when we get back to the states where he'll be resupplying his wardrobe.

We worked our way back to the train station via some
of the neat sidewalk cafes that we had seen earlier and
didn't stop at then.

Pizza again! Though the atmosphere was really neat, this was our least
favorite eating establishment. We had gotten spoiled by really good
Italian so to have just a so-so meal was a new experience for us.

One of the things that was so overwhelming in Rome is that every time you
turned a corner, there was another five story marble monument to some dead
guy. Literally, every corner. We were making a beeline for the train station
and not really stopping at anything anymore because of experiencing
monument overload. We really had hit our max. And then we saw this! A
monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king over a unified Italy.  

Though almost too small to recognize, the Colosseum sits just to the left
of this white marble monument. Also, I forgot to take a photo of the
unique trees in Italy. They reminded me of Zambia. All of the lower
branches are trimmed so that it looks like a little mop of green
hair sitting on top of the tall thin trunk.

One more little gem as we popped around another corner. We didn't even
take the time to figure out what this church was! Overload for sure.

This is a better shot of the trees. They were this way all over Tuscany, too.

We ended up having to run to catch our train. We could have caught the next one an hour and a half later, but by the time we were close enough to catch the 5:30ish train, we really wanted to be on it. As if we hadn't gotten enough exercise that day! The last ten minutes of our day in Rome were spent hoofing it to the train. We made it with just minutes to spare. And talk about pure joy in sitting down for the two hour ride back to Grosseto! We were already feeling sore from all of the walking but what a great day that we had!