After a great weekend in Paris, we flew out to Rome. Our first stop, after checking into our hotel, was the nearby Spanish Steps.
Mom and Dad at the bottom of the Spanish Steps
We snapped some photos in the plaza and then walked through the fashion district to find a restaurant for lunch. We discovered a great Italian bistro where David and I split the melon with prosciutto and pepper/pecorino pasta. Mom and Dad split the cannelloni and Elizabeth and Carrie split the spaghetti bolognese.
Our first meal in Italy
My mom has this thing with splitting food. She works out every day and is in great shape, but she doesn’t eat that much. So every meal she would try to get someone to split something with her. For instance, at our last dinner in Paris, she decided she would just have half of Elizabeth’s roasted chicken… without telling Elizabeth. So when the plates arrived and my mom didn’t have anything, Elizabeth was guilted into giving up half her chicken. Most of the time it worked out, but once we hit Italy and all of that delicious Italian food, we said enough is enough! And after that first lunch, there were no more halfsies. (In retrospect, Italy is probably the worst place to order full meals for yourself, though, because the pasta and pizza dishes are HUGE.)
After lunch we walked to the Trevi Fountain (after a slight detour to Bernini’s Triton Fountain – my mistake). At the Trevi Fountain, we had gelato and tossed in some coins wishing to be back one day. Last time we went to Rome, it was the last leg of our long, tiring trip and Mama had decided she did not like Rome. Maybe it was the heat, maybe the crowds and walking and touring had finally gotten to her. She also thought the fountain was dirty… so she didn’t throw in a coin. And she was back anyway – muahaha! This time she was really enjoying the trip, though, so she even tossed in a coin! :)
Then we walked to the Coliseum and took the audio guide tour. Unfortunately we didn’t realize that to get to the top level of the Coliseum and underneath the stage to the animal’s and slave’s quarters, you have to do a private guided tour (which is actually a little cheaper than the audio guide). So keep that in mind, anyone reading this blog and thinking about going to the Coliseum.
Another great shot courtesy of David House
I read in my guidebook that the Forum closes an hour before sunset (which again, is much later in Europe). So we headed across the street only to find out the Forum closed at 6, which is well over an hour before sunset. Our Vatican tour the next day was scheduled from 1-4 so Dad suggested we just come back after that. But I was a bit nervous about cutting it too close again and I still wanted to do the Pantheon the next day. Good thing I listened to my instinct because our Vatican tour ended up being a 5 hour tour instead of 3 (more to come on that). So David and I convinced Dad and Elizabeth to wake up bright and early on Monday to see the Forum right when it opened at 8:30.
On the way to the Forum the next morning, we also saw Constantine’s Forum and Column and the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of unified Italy.
Constantine's Forum and Column
Victor Emmanuel II Monument
Because we were there early, the Forum was almost completely empty.
We found a great photo op in front of the Coliseum
And of course the guys wanted in on the fun too!
The other great thing about getting up early is the cooler temperature. We were able to enjoy our walk through the archaeological site without pushing through all of the other tourists or constantly stopping for water breaks.
Our water bottles were getting empty and Rome has great public water fountains available all over the city. These are even marked on maps. When we were in the Palatine section of the city, above the Forum, we saw a water feature and decided to refill our bottles. I looked for the marking on the map telling me this was a designated fountain, but I couldn’t find it. As David and Elizabeth started drinking the cold water, Dad walked a bit further up the path and noticed a disgusting, scum-filled pond draining down into the water feature we had just filled our water bottles up in!
Oops!
David and Elizabeth immediately spit out the water and dumped out their bottles. Then we had a quick prayer session begging God not to give anyone dysentery on our vacation. He must’ve been listening because David and Elizabeth stayed healthy as horses!
Back to the Forum – to Dad’s great disappointment, the Circus Maximus was closed. When we also saw that the entrances to the emperor’s residences in the Palatine were also closed, we decided to be rule-breakers and just jump the fence. Dad hesitated but when David chided, “Come on Dave! Don’t be afraid of history!” he hopped those fences faster and better than any of us!
Some of the exhibits that weren’t closed were the old temples, the Senate building (which was not as big or cool as we all thought it would be), and the tunnels beneath the Palatine for servants/slaves.
House of the Vestal Virgins. If those girls broke their
vows of chastity, they were buried alive!
On our way back to the hotel to pick up Mom and Carrie, we grabbed some pizzas. Then we met up with the rest of the group, got changed into some Vatican-appropriate attire, and took a taxi to Vatican City.
I was not prepared for the madness of the Vatican that day.
You see, David and I have gotten used to vacationing during the off-season. We don’t have kids and we’re not teachers, which means our travel schedule is not dictated to Spring Break, Summer, or Winter Break. We’ve usually avoided crowds and lines. But Rome in the middle of the summer is a different story. Let’s just say we were very thankful that we paid a few extra Euros for an official tour of the Vatican, which allowed us to skip the line.
After getting some gelato to hold us over for the tour, we began.
Prepping for our tour
The reason the tour took two hours longer than originally scheduled was due to the congestion of foot traffic inside the museum. You literally could not walk anywhere… it was more of a shuffle. It’s a good thing none of us are claustrophobic.
We tried not to focus on the crowd, though, and our tour guide was so good, we didn’t even realize it was 5:30 when we exited the Sistine Chapel!
The dome of St. Peter's Basilica from inside the Vatican gardens
A crazy twisty statue - our guide's favorite
Emperor Nero's bird bath... No wonder everyone hated that guy!
There are really no words to describe the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, or St. Peter’s Basilica. There is so much history inside there and the works of art are so amazing, we felt very blessed to be able to see these things in-person. A couple of remarkable things we saw were the original maps of Italy, which you can still use today. Most of the “paintings” you think you’re seeing inside the museums and basilica are actually mosaics, teeny-tiny mosaics that seen as a whole, look like paintings. The basilica has the largest interior of any other Christian church in the world. It is so huge that as you walk up the center aisle, there are markings of other famous churches around the world that fit inside. To give you an idea of how huge St. Peter’s is, Westminster Abbey’s marking doesn’t even reach the main alter of St. Peter’s.
“God rays” coming through the dome of St. Peter’s
Michelangelo's La Pieta
We took in the awesomeness of the basilica and Michelangelo’s La Pieta before walking down the street to the Castel Sant’Angelo, where we took some pictures on Bernini’s famous bridge before hopping in a cab to the Pantheon.
After a quick stop inside the Pantheon, we went to a local pizzeria for dinner (where we should’ve split those giant pizzas). We had a lot of fun at our last meal in Rome, singing with the maître d’ to get our picture taken and going around the table with our favorite stories from the trip so far.
The fourth and final blog coming up next...
Aawww......Rule #1 in show business, always leave them wanting more! I can't wait.
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