We got into Rome around 10:30 p.m. with just our backpacks on our backs (I've always wanted to travel Europe that way) and met our cab driver who was to take us to our apartment near Vatican City. After a twenty minute drive, we pulled up the cobblestone street to a cute little apartment building sandwiched in-between other apartment buildings and various little shops. Our landlord lived in an apartment on the next street over with her family and told us to stop at her home when we arrived. Pierra, our landlord, was a very nice Italian woman who let us in and showed us around the apartment. The apartment was nice -- larger than our apartment in Prague, with a full-sized kitchen, a washer, and television! It also had air conditioning (which we cranked on "high" and enjoyed the entire time because we don't have air conditioning in Prague). Unfortunately, however, our Rome apartment did not have internet, which turned out to be pretty inconvenient.
Bethany's bed. (Schawnne and I slept on pullouts in the living room.)
Bethany's bedroom decor.
Kitchen.
Bathroom.
Day 11 (Saturday) - Ancient Ruins (Colosseum, Palatine Hill, The Forum), Trajan's Market and Column, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps
Saturday morning we woke early hoping to get an early start at the Colosseum. Before hoping on the metro, we decided to grab a bit to eat. One block from our apartment, we ran across a little cafe called Me. Ca. Bar. Turns out, this little cafe had the best orange juice in the entire world (in my opinion) and awesome croissants. It took 1 1/2 oranges to fill each glass of orange juice as he (our bartender) didn't mix anything else to it (no concentrate, sugar, or water). After breakfast, we felt ready to tackle a long day of sight-seeing.
Our tasty Me. Ca. Bar food!
A truly breathtaking sight. And even more amazing inside! I've posted more pictures of facebook of the Colosseum if you want to check them out!
Next, we decided to check out Palatine Hill, which is right across the street from the Colosseum and made-up of ruins from what was once a huge Palace where emperors resided for three centuries.
Ruins of the Palace on Palatine Hill.
Private Wing of the Palace (Domus Augustana).
Stadium (Stadio).
Thankfully Rome has free water fountains with fresh drinking water everywhere!
Domus Augustana - Lower Courtyard.
House of Augustus (Casa di Augusto).
The Huts of Romulus ("Romulean Huts").
Bethany, Lindsay, Ashleigh, and Schawnne (left to right) taking a break on Palatine Hill before heading to the Forum.
Part of Palatine Hill overlooks the Old Roman Forum, which made the Forum an obvious next destination. The Old Roman Forum was the political, religious, and commercial center of the city. Likewise, Rome's most important temples and halls of justice were located here. Interestingly, this little plot of land became the center of the civilized world as Rome began to conquer more and more land. It was pretty cool to see what was left of these "once-glorious" buildings.
Arch of Titus (Arco di Tito).
Me in front of the Temple of Saturn.
Ruins of what was once the Forum's Main Square.
Temple of Vesta (housed the vestal virgins).
Courtyard inside the Temple of Vesta.
After leaving the Forum we stumbled upon a fruit stand that was a bit overpriced (in a touristy area), but had to best smelling fruit. Ravenous, we decided to stop off in a little park to eat. That fruit might have been the juiciest fruit I've ever eaten!
Fruit filled, we trekked off to find Trajan's Column, however, what we didn't know was that the column was right behind were we had sat to eat our fruit. However, because we hadn't turned around, we walked off in the other direction. Thirty minutes later, we finally ended up back in the park where we had eaten, which overlooks what was once Trajan's Market. The 140-feet tall column is decorated with a spiral "relief" which unfolds like a scroll and includes 2,500 figures. These figures tell the tale of Trajan's exploits in his conquest of modern-day Romania. What was once the Trajan's Market is now just ruins, but you can still make out individual shops that may have sold exotic fruits from Africa, spices from Asia, and others.
Trajan's Column (with a statue of Trajan on top).
"Story-telling" relief.
Trajan's Market.
Group (minus Evan who is taking the picture) at the base of the Bruno statue.
Before arriving at the Pantheon we passed through Piazza Navona, which houses the Four Rivers Fountain created by Lorenzo Bernini. This fountain sports four burley river gods (representing the four continents that were known in 1650) who together support an Egyptian obelisk. The four gods include: Nile who has his head covered (since headwaters were unknown then), Ganges who holds an oar, Danube who turns to admire the obelisk, and Uruguay's Rio de la Plata who tumbles backward in shock (presumably wondering how he ever made top four). In this square, there are many people dressed in decorative costumes and appear like statutes until someone throws money into the bucket at their feet. Once "paid," these "statues" come to life and perform a little trick. The Egyptian "statue" freaked me out when he (or she) bent to bow at a tourist who dropped in a few coins (I had thought he was a statue).
The Four Rivers Fountain with the creepy Egyptian "statue" in front.
Danube
Rio de la Plata
Nile
Ganges
Another creepy "statue" that would do tricks with the ball if paid.
The Pantheon was a sight to see but smaller than I had expected. Nevertheless, this free attraction was packed with tourists. Check out all those people in the picture below. It was pretty dark inside so unfortunately I wasn't able to get any good pictures of the interior.
Pantheon.
We decided to stop for dinner at Miscellanea, a authentic Italian restaurant that is known for keeping foreign students "well-fed." We heard a rumor (from Rick Steves) that if we placed his book on the table when ordering we might get a free glass of the owner's "sexy wine." Our dinner turned out to be a great experience! Not only was the food phenomenal and fairly well priced, but we were each given a glass of "sexy wine" and a shot of Limoncello (a tasty Italian liquor) on the house!
Cheers to our FREE "sexy wine!"
After leaving the Trevi Fountain, we headed for our last stop--the Spanish Steps. As we neared them, we began to hear opera music. Turns out, a free opera (with live symphony) was being performed right on the Spanish Steps! It was beautiful. Given the situation, we could hardly be upset that we weren't able to climb the steps.
As it turns out, we weren't able to bring any sunscreen from Prague because we carried our backpacks onto the plane. We figured we'd by some when we got to Rome. However, we weren't able to find any on our way to the Colosseum, which left us outside all day in 95 degree heat without any sunscreen. Somehow my face didn't get burnt but my exposed shoulders and neck were pretty toasted (and painful) by Saturday evening. Even with the continual application of lotion, my shoulders feel like leather and are peeling. I'm going to have to be careful about putting lots of sunscreen on my shoulders from now on!
Day 12 - Sunday: Capitoline Museum, National Museum, Borgese Museum
For breakfast, we tried to drop by Me. Ca. Bar, but it is closed on Sundays. Luckily, however, another cafe was open just down the block, but it charged about 2x a much for food (and it wasn't nearly as good). Full, we headed toward the Capitoline Museum where we had planned to meet Evan and Ashleigh.
Knowing the general location of the museum, we came across two flights of stairs. Without much thought, we began climbing the stairs on the left (which turned out to be the steeper stairs). After reaching the top of the 120-step staircase, we realized that we had climbed the wrong set of stairs and had instead wanted to take the staircase to the right. Sweaty, we finally made it to the front of the Capitoline Museum and sat down on a step to wait for Evan and Ashleigh. A few minutes after we sat, an older man named Daniel (probably around 60) walked up and started talking to us, asking where we were from and telling us all about Rome (he was born and raised in Rome). He seemed nice enough and invited us out for coffee and lunch (which we respectfully declined -- never know who you can and can't trust over here so it's better to be safe than sorry). We started to feel a little creeped out, however, when we gave us his home address, told us to write him, and offered to let us stay with him next time we visit Rome (especially when he added that he lived near the beach where we could wear our bikinis all day long and that he would supply us with gold jewelry).
When we finally got rid of Daniel, Evan and Ashleigh still hadn't showed up, so we decided to go in and start looking around the museum. The Capitoline Museum is supposed to be the world's oldest museum complex, founded in 1471. This museum holds thousands of sculptures (including the Capitoline She-wolf, the ancient symbol of Rome nourishing Remus and Romulus (the supposed founders of Rome), and the Boy Extracting a Thorn, a famous sculpture by Spinario).
She-wolf.
Boy Extracting a Thorn (such a literal name).
Statute of Marcus Aurelius that appears in Capital Hill's main square (right in front of the Capitoline Museum).
Next, we decided to check out the National Museum, another prominent Roman museum (were we luckily ended up running into Evan and Ashleigh). A few of the well-known works housed in the National Museum include: Aphrodite Crouching, the Discus Thrower, and the Hermaphrodite Sleeping (all pictured below).
Aphrodite Crouching.
Discobolo (Discus Thrower).
Hermaphrodite Sleeping.
Lastly, we visited the Borghese Gallery which was once the villa (or palace) of Cardinal Scipione Borghese. Today, the villa is surrounded a beautiful park. Accustomed to luxury, Borghese built his villa just outside the city (at that time) to showcase his fine art while wining and dining other prominent members of society. Similarly, he hired the best artists of his time to create many of the masterpieces now located inside his villa. This gallery houses various statues including: The Rape of Proserpine, Pauline Bonaparte as Venus, David (with his sling ready to take on Goliath), and Apollo and Daphne. These statues remain beautifully intact and were some of the most impressive works of art we saw in Rome. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures in this museum, so I wasn't able to post any to show.
Exhausted, we decided to call it an early night and headed back toward our apartment. After changing into jeans and a sweater (an earlier rain had cooled the night air), we headed out to find some dinner. Two blocks from our apartment, a well-dressed man who stood near a restaurant door informed us of their evening special -- pasta or pizza, dessert, and a glass of wine for 10 euros (a pretty good price for food in Rome). Tired and hungry, we decided to take him up on his offer. As it turns out, the restaurant was supposed to be closing as we ordered but stayed open just for us. We ended up getting phenomenal wood-stove pizza, and because we were the only people in the restaurant, got top notch service. :)
It was an all-around great day, but... I think it was safe to say that we were "museumed out" by the end of Sunday.
Day 13 - Monday: Vatican City (St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel), Trevi Fountain
Evan and Ashleigh decided to meet up at our little breakfast cafe before heading to the Vatican because our apartment was only two minutes from the Vatican walls. After a wonderful orange juice and pudding-filled croissant (super healthy -- I know), we headed to St. Peter's Square.
St. Peter's Square is expansive and filled with eager tourists. It's a sight to see! After hearing Rick Steve's description of the square, we decided to head for the line that would lead us to St. Peter's Basilica. This Basilica is enormous and probably one of the most beautiful churches I've ever been in. With stain-glass, marble (of all shades and sizes), huge statutes, and various tombs of Saints, it's truly incredible. Just entering it took our breath away. Luckily, we had downloaded a free audio tour by Rick Steves who helped us make sense of the massive church. Here are a few pictures -- the rest will be uploaded on facebook shortly.
St. Peter's Square.
Bethany and I in St. Peter's Square.
St. Peter's Basilica.
The main alter in St. Peter's Basilica.
After the basilica, we headed over to the Vatican Museum which holds the Sistine Chapel. The chapel was much smaller than I had imagined, but truly amazing when considering that all of the elaborate paintings in the entire chapel can be attributed to Michelangelo alone. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel.
Taking a "rest break" in the Vatican Museum.
Eating gelato in front of the Trevi Fountain!
Make a wish!
Ashleigh, Schawnne, and I on the Trevi Fountain benches.
Day 14 - Tuesday: Fly home (i.e. Back to Prague)
Our last morning in Rome was bittersweet -- on one hand, we were exhausted from all the sight-seeing and excited to get back to our "home away from home," but on the other, we were sad to leave such an amazing city. This truly was a trip that I will never forget for the rest of my life! Before heading to the airport, we decided to make one more visit ot the Spanish Steps (because the opera hindered us from actually climbing the steps on Saturday night). The steps are sloped downward making them a bit dangerous and tricky to climb (especially since they were still wet from the night's rain). Luckily, however, all three of us made it up and down without any incidents.
On the Spanish Steps.
Fountain at the base of the Spanish Steps.
Schawnne and I at the top of the Spanish Steps.
We also decided to visit the Baths of Diocletian (where a large church sits atop what was once the co-ed steam and cooling rooms of the baths), which we had missed during the previous days. Interestingly, the Romans who utilized these baths didn't use soap, but were instead rubbed down by a masseuse with a stick. (I think I prefer the soap option.)
Entrance to the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, which was once the Baths of Diocletian.
La Meridiana (a meridian) points due north and acts as a sundial. As the sun arcs across the southern sky, a ray of light beams into the church through a tiny hole in the wall and a cut in the cornice of the right transept.
I found the hole!
Then we headed off the the airport and back to Prague. At 5:30 p.m., we made it back to "home sweet home" and our internet connections (which we had sorely missed during our 4-day stay in Rome). Although we loved Rome, it felt good to get back to Prague and rest!
*I will be putting up more pictures from Rome on facebook shortly!
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