Italy, Part 3: Roma

It's only been weeks since we've been back from Rome...so this post isn't TOO late, is it? Sorry!
From Santo Stefano we hopped in a car with the albergho's general manager and rode to the bus station. The roads were covered in snow, and his car was about one square meter and weighed about 20 pounds. It was a bit scary- but buses didn't run on Sunday and we needed to get to the station, so we accepted the generous offer. The trip to Roma was pretty seamless, and we found our hotel near the train station with our trusty GPS. We came to rely pretty heavily on it, truth be told. I'm sure it did nothing to disguise us as tourists, but oh, well. I don't think we were fooling anyone anyway.

Even though it was raining, we set out right away to see something- anything- old and Roman. It's not hard to find that within a five minute walk. Since it was Sunday, most stores were closed, but we found our way to the Roman Forum, bought tickets, and walked inside. The Forum is basically a large space where all sorts of important Roman business took place; however, now it's in tatters and it's tough to even make out what pile of rocks was what. Since my knowledge of Roman history is lacking, I had to rely on N to tell me a bit about the Senate, Septimus Severus, the Vestal Virgins, etc. Most impressive is the bit of the Colosseum that you can see from the top of the Forum. It's magnificent.

Behind the Forum sit the Capitoline Museums and the Piazza del Campidoglio, including a huge bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius on a horse. It's big. Real big. The steps leading up to the Piazza were built so horses could walk up them and into the Piazza, and the square was designed by Michelangelo. We spent the afternoon wandering around the Piazza, the other Forums, and finally to the Colosseum before returning to the hotel.

The next day we went inside the Colosseum (along with everyone else in Rome) and stood in awe of the huge, circular space. It's easier to imagine what this place must have looked like in its glory days because more of it is still standing. You are able to see the "basement" of the space and parts of the seating areas. The Colosseum was built in the first century AD by the Flavian emperors and could hold around 50,000 spectators. Impressive for something that old. And, like most of the Roman buildings, much of its marble and stone were stolen to construct the cities numerous churches during other centuries. We spent the rest of the afternoon roaming around (Rome-ing around?) and trying to keep warm. It's amazing that around each corner you turn, there is something of note. Even if you're not particularly looking for it!

The next day we woke up early (for me) and left to get to the Vatican Museum at a reasonable hour. One of the books we had suggested getting to the line before 8 am and then basically running through the museum to the Sistine Chapel before most of the crowds arrive. It sounded good to us, so that's what we did. And it was beautiful. There's a sign that says "No pictures" and a few guards that yelled at people to be quiet every once in awhile, but other than that it was just a lot of people staring up. The ceiling is gorgeous, but the paintings on the walls (including The Last Judgement) are just as amazing. Michelangelo painted the chapel in four years and its incredibly life-like. We stayed until the flashbulbs going off started making us dizzy.
We then walked around the whole of Vatican City (in about 25 minutes) and got in line to see St. Peter's Basilica, Europe's biggest church and the center of Catholocism. The line moved surprisingly quickly, considering the number of people who decided to cut in front of us, including a 65+ year old woman, smoking, with her grandson.

There is a crush of people just as you enter the church because it's so breathtaking. People, including myself, stop short and stare up at the gilded ceilings. It's huge. There was sunlight streaming through the windows onto the Pope's alter. There are amazing marble mosiacs in back of huge marble statues all along the walls. I couldn't even tell that they were mosiacs- they look like intricate paintings. Michelangelo's Pieta sits right inside the front doors and behind glass to protect it from crazy tourists. Although its carved from heavy stone, it looks almost airy, light. The church also has a treasury with relics from centuries, a crypt, and about a million tourists. I can't imagine what the place is like in the summer. Outside in the square are rows of columns (designed by Bernini) that appear to merge into one row if you stand at just the right spot.

When we'd had our fill of the Vatican, we made our way to my favorite Roman spot, the Pantheon. Yet another building that has been turned into a church, the Pantheon was originally a pagan temple built in the 7th century yet remains one of the most studied architectural wonders of today. The front is lined with columns and the inside is the widest dome in Europe. The building could hold a perfect sphere and there is an oculus in the middle- which lets a beautiful stream of sunlight into the otherwise dark and quiet space. It's said that the building is even more stunning on a rainy or snowy day, when the weather falls through to the floor below. I would return to the Pantheon over and over if I could- it's that neat.

On New Year's Eve, we were shopping around the Spanish Steps (not at Gucci, Pucci, or Louis Vuitton) and we chatted up a quintessentially Italian man who gave us dinner recommendations - to the restaurant he owned. But anyway, that was fine. We are really bad a picking restaurants when we're on vacation. We'll wander for an hour even though the twenty places we've already seen are perfectly fine. We keep thinking that Our Perfect Place is the next one, right around the corner. But this place was a cute little bistro with big front windows and a delightful doorman and we booked an 8:30 dinner so we could be done in time to pop champagne with the masses outside. Dinner was fantastic- six courses, including octopus, lobster, and salmon- and we made it just in time to witness the Crazy that happened on the Steps at midnight.

On our walk from the restaurant to the Steps, we kept hearing what sounded like gunshots. Police were all around and the sirens went off after each boom. The Steps themselves were filled with people and there was a huge crowd around the fountain. But the strangest thing- there were spaces on the side of the main fountain that were totally empty. It wasn't until we saw one guy set off the loudest firecracker I have ever heard in the middle of that empty space that I understood why no one was standing there. We saw one poor girl run across the empty space, get her heel stuck in a cobblestone, and almost get hit by some firecracker that was lobbed into that space. The type-A, OCD side of me kept screaming in my head, "This is too dangerous! Retreat!" but the fun side won out and we stayed for the sparklers, singing, and champage spraying. It was wonderful.

We spent the 1st recovering and packing and drinking cappuccinos and making lists of things that had to be done once we arrived home, which was supposed to be on the 2nd. But it wasn't. Little did we know there was a whole 'nutha side of Italy for us to see (Part 4: The Aeroporto and Milan).