Roman Holiday: Day 3 - Ancient Rome

Roman Holiday: Ancient Rome

After leaving the Colosseum we walked toward the Roman Forum. The area is still being excavated, but there is a great deal to see. It’s so hard to believe that, around 2000 years ago, the people of Rome lived in the middle of a thriving city, with huge buildings.

Augustus Ceasar (known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus) was the first and one of the most important of the Roman Emperors. During his reign he built many of the buildings in what is now ancient Rome. He marked the beginning of a long period of stability which became known as the Pax Romana, which means Roman peace. The Romans welcomed this time of peace in the Roman Empire. There had been a number of conflicts within Rome and within its territories; the Roman people were ready for a time of peace.

Many Romans lived in large cities and at the heart of each city was a forum. A forum was a large open area, used as a market and a public meeting place. Because the only wealthy people had cooking areas in their homes, most people went to the forum to eat their meals. People could buy cooked food from stands in the forum. Temples for worshipping gods and the current emperor were also built in the forum.

Public entertainment was another important aspect of city life. Amphitheaters, such as the Colosseum, and circuses (long race tracks), were built to hold public sporting events. A circus was used for chariot racing. Ttwo or four teams (riders, chariots, and horses) would compete by racing seven times around a long, narrow track which had turning points at each end. Each chariot was pulled on average by four horses that ran side by side. This was a very dangerous sport--men and horses were often killed when chariots crashed. The teams were named after colors; there were the reds, whites, blues, and greens. The people in Ancient Rome supported their favorite charioteers just as we cheer our favorite sports team today.

Many Romans also enjoyed going to public bathhouses. Public bathhouses were places were people went to not only wash their bodies, but to also exercise and socialize. Instead of soap, Romans used olive oil to clean their skin. They rubbed the oil onto their bodies and scraped the oil and the dirt off with a curved metal tool called a strigil (STREE-gil). Some people did this three times a day! I suppose they needed to bathe that frequently after walking up and down all those hills in the middle of summer. Whew! That would have to be hot! The bathhouses had many different rooms with hot or warm water baths, cold water baths, and swimming pools for exercise and entertainment.

The Romans had developed structures called aqueducts to bring water from rivers and lakes into Roman cities. An aqueduct is a channel for carrying water on a bridge across a valley or underground in pipes. It was extremely important to provide a supply of water to the towns, not just for drinking, but to provide water for bathhouses.

We finished exploring the ruins and decided to find a place for lunch. By this time we didn’t care where. We had finished all of our water and any energy from our morning meal was long gone. We stopped at the first place we came to. Definitely not our best meal in Rome, but it was food (and water and Coca-Cola – which probably cost more than our food) so we were happy.

Travel Tip: Drink lots of water! You’ll know that it’s warm, but you don’t really think about how much you’re sweating. You can get dehydrated in a hurry if you’re not careful. It might also be a good idea to carry a small snack with you – a granola bar or piece of fruit would be great. You never know how long you might be out, have to wait in line, or search for a restaurant.

After lunch we felt revived and set off for the Monument of Victor Emmanuel II. This monument has two large fountains on either side of the grand stair case, and also houses the tomb of an unknown soldier complete with eternal flame. Kara took a few minutes to cool her heels in the fountain. We even convinced her to get more than her feet a little wet, although I think she was a little surprised at how cool the water really was!

On our way back to the Metro, we passed the through Trajan’s Forum, which was the last of the great imperial forums of Rome, and Trajan’s Market, much of which is still part of a major archeological excavation. It was quite a sight. I found it interesting to look at different areas and try to imagine what took place there.

We took the Metro to the Spanish Steps. Unfortunately there aren’t any great pictures of this since the front exterior of the building is currently being renovated. I did take get a few great pictures of one of the bell towers, and of Kara with her feet in the fountain again. She was actually waiting on us when we found her there. It’s probably a good thing we came when we did too! Just after she finished putting her shoes on a policeman came over and shouted at everyone around the fountain to move and take their feet out! Oops! I guess they need signs – or maybe we should learn to read Italian?

We stopped for gelato, which was way good, then had a leisurely walk back to the hotel. We napped for a couple of hours and then had dinner close to the hotel. We loved our waitress. She was very nice, gave us just enough attention and spoke English well. We tipped her handsomely when we finished our meal.

It was a good thing that the hotel was just a few steps away. I don’t think any of us were up for walking any more. After three days we were all getting tired. Even after a nap before dinner, all I could think of was a warm bath and a nice bed! And it was heaven. I will tell you that if you’re having trouble sleeping, try walking around Rome – about 10 miles or so a day – for three days in a row. I assure you that it will do the trick!

Roman Holiday: Day 3 - The Colosseum

Coloseum

On Saturday morning, after eating breakfast and purchasing our Metro tickets, we went to the Colosseum. It was early in the day, so the line wasn’t very long when we got there. I found a great spot in line – most people were standing in a single file line and there were 5 tills open, so I went with several other people to stand in a shorter line. After they were sure that I wasn’t going to be attacked by other tourist for “cutting” in line, Michael and Kara joined me.

Travel Tip: At the time of this writing, the Colosseum does not accept any payment other than cash, so make sure that you have enough on hand to cover your entrance fee (€11 when we were there). When you’re like us and depend mostly on credit cards while on vacation, it can really put a dent in your pocket book if you haven’t brought enough cash along for your trip. You might be able to use credit to purchase your tickets online, or purchase the Rome Pass which includes the Colosseum.

Once inside, we all enjoyed the vast sight before us! We took tons of pictures, but they don’t even begin to show what it was like to really be there. In ancient Roman times, the Colosseum housed gladiator fights. These were flights where men would against another gladiator or an animal. Gladiators were usually slaves who were owned by masters or criminals. The contests lasted until one gladiator was killed or badly wounded; the wounded man threw away his weapons and begged for mercy from the crowd and the emperor.

The crowd would shout out its verdict, but the final decision was left up to the emperor. If the gladiator had fought well, the emperor could spare his life by giving the "thumbs-up" sign; if the gladiator had not fought well, the emperor would give the thumbs-down sign and the winner would kill the losing gladiator. If the gladiator won, he would sometimes win his freedom.

We took our time exploring – and listening to some of the other tourists’ impressions. There was a group of 3 or 4 American high school students standing around us at one particular lookout point. We were cracking up by the time they left, and then they became the brunt of our jokes for the remainder of our trip. This might sounds cruel of us, but after you read their conversation, I think you’ll understand.

First Girl: “Wow, this is so…epic!”
Guy: “Yeah, it’s really tight, you know?”
Second Girl: “It’s just so dope, man!”

Now do you understand?!? It was hilarious! I must be getting old. I thought of all the words we used in school and how cool we thought we were way back when. Believe it or not, Mom and Dad, I shook my head and laughed. How funny you must have thought we were!

Roman Holiday: Day 2 - Exploring Rome

Roman Holiday: Day 2 - Exploring Rome

After leaving the Sistine Chapel we began making our way back to the hotel. We stopped at a local pizzeria for a fabulous lunch. As we were sitting down at the table the couple next to us began giggling at something we had said or done. Oh well, we were obviously tourist – what do you expect? The pizza was great. I even ate the bruschetta with tomatoes! It was fabulous!

After a brief rest at the hotel we headed back toward the river. Kara – who loves water – had suggested a river cruise. So, we signed up and set out. It wasn’t really one of Kara’s better ideas! We gave her grief about it for the rest of our trip, but she knows we love her! The walls along the Tiber River are built so high that when you’re on the river there is really nothing to see. Well, nothing except graffiti and more homeless people than you can imagine. I think the most interesting and unusual (at least to us) thing we saw was the advertisement for gay dolls that we saw at the boat pier. I had to take a picture! Homosexuality is definitely more widely accepted in Europe than in the U.S.

Once the tour was finished (and most of us had taken a short nap) we wandered through the streets of Rome. We came to the Piazza Navona and as soon as we emerged from the alley into the piazza it took my breath away! There were artists everywhere! I could have stayed there all day looking at paintings and watching people.

Michael and I had already decided that we wanted to buy a painting to remind us of our trip. We looked for some time for that extra special something and we finally found the perfect one. Well, two actually, but they were small and will look great framed to match! We also bought two paintings while we were in Paris. I hope Michele is planning to be very busy framing all of these for us once we get back!

After great shopping, pictures, and people watching we finally left the piazza. On our way toward the Trevi Fountain, we stopped at the Pantheon. Michael and I were a little disappointed that even this ancient building has been taken over by the church. The Pantheon is located in the Piazza della Rotunda. It was built around 25 B.C. as a Roman temple. Pantheon is a Greek word which means, “to honor all Gods”. Much of the building was destroyed by fire in 80 A.D. and had to be rebuilt.

The interior of the building was interesting. It contains the tombs of several Italian Kings. It was built so that the distance from the floor to the top of the dome is exactly equal to the diameter of the room. There is a large round hole in the ceiling which was meant to allow natural light into the room. The building was turned over to the Pope in 609 who turned it into the Chiesa di Santa Maria ad Martyres. They still hold masses here on special occasions.

The Piazza della Rotunda where the Pantheon is located is a lively place filled with bars, cafes, and restaurants. We saw a lot of street vendors selling their wares. Of course they disappeared in less than 30 seconds when their lookout spotted a police officer. I’ve never seen people move so fast in my life!

Next we saw the Trevi Fountain. It is the most famous and romantic fountain in all of Rome. It was beautiful. There were so many people around that it was difficult to take a great picture because I had to stand so close, but I still think you’ll get the idea that it was lovely! We found a human statue near the fountain that was quite good – Kara tossed a little money his way and was rewarded with a great photo opportunity!

We stopped at a charming outdoor restaurant for dinner on our way back to the hotel. It was my favorite meal during our trip. I don’t even remember the name of it. I only know that it was at the end of the long open area called the Piazza del Parlamento. It’s a little off the main road and made for a peaceful, relaxing dinner.

Travel Tip: If you think you like American coffee, then do not under any circumstances order coffee while in Rome. You will be sadly disappointed to be given the equivalent of mud to drink. You’re much better off to ask for a latte or even espresso. Be willing to try it! The espresso I had after dinner was flavorful and smooth – not bitter at all.

After dinner we continued our leisurely walk back to the hotel. After a full and busy day, we decided to sleep a little later the next day before meeting for breakfast. We knew that we would need our rest before tackling the Colosseum and ancient Rome on Saturday.

Back on Track

So, just in case any of you are wondering, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth -or even been washed away by all the flooding in Britain! I've just been really lazy! I loved have Kara and Rachell and Jeff here, but I think I was a little worn out after three weeks of sightseeing everday. So, I spent last week catching up on laundry, housework, errands, sorting through three weeks work of pictures, and talking to Mom, Dad, Billy, and Nicole on the phone. Of course I was also wrapped up in the book I was reading - I'm sure many of you can relate to that! Well, I finally finished Altas Shrugged - a fabulous if long book - and I'd love to discuss it with anyone who is interested! Perhaps I'll post a review on one of my other blogs.

But first, for those of you who are still waiting patienly for the next installment of Roman Holiday - Norman style, I will dispense with the excuses and get on with the show!

Roman Holiday: Day 2 – The Sistine Chapel

Vatican Museum

We were up early on Friday morning so that we could get to the Sistine Chapel before the crowd. After breakfast we went to the Metro Station and bought a daily ticket for each of us. We didn’t attempt to figure out the bus system in the short period of time we had, but the Metro saved us a lot of time.

Travel Tip: Ride the Metro! It is so inexpensive to get a day pass that is good for the local Rome transportation system including the Metro and buses. You’ll save yourself so much time and, most importantly, energy!

Our early start apparently wasn’t early enough, unfortunately. By the time we arrived to the Vatican City, the line for the museum and Sistine Chapel stretched from the entrance on the north wall, around the northeast corner and down the east side of the city. We were about to lose hope when we heard the phrase “two hour wait” – and it was still an hour before the museum opened. We had seen several tour company guides advertising tour groups. Michael and I aren’t usually much on tours, so we had ignored them for the most part. It was Kara who decided to approach them and get more info. That was the most brilliant decision ever (and preemptively made up for the major error in her judgment that I’ll get to later)!

She discovered that for a little more money we could join the tour group that was forming and skip the entire line. We had a lot to see and do while we were in Rome, so the thought of saving three hours of our day made the extra bit of money seem more than reasonable.

We enjoyed the tour, well, for the most part anyway. About 10 minutes into the 3-hour tour, Kara’s headset stopped working. Michael was good enough to give his headset to her so that she could hear what the guide was saying. I think Michael enjoyed the tour better without listening to the guide anyway. Kara and I shared funny or interesting tidbits with him as we went along.

We saw several interesting things in the museum before arriving at the Sistine Chapel. One of the most interesting things was the painting on the ceiling that was made to look like carving or molding.

We learned a lot about Michelangelo and the hidden meanings in his paintings. I don’t even know where to begin! He was fascinated by the human form. At an early age he was allowed to assist in the dissection of male human corpses. He was not allowed to dissect females. Many experts believe this to be the reason that many of Michelangelo’s female sculptures had feminine faces, but masculine bodies.

He (nor anyone else) was allowed to dissect the heart or the brain – where the soul was believed to reside. It is interesting, then, that in the Creation of Adam painting in the Sistine Chapel, The cloud around God is the very image of the brain, and also a human heart turned on its side.

This image is also very controversial for many other reasons. One glaring oddity is the woman wrapped up in the left arm of God. Many scholars claim that it is Eve – mainly because it would be scandalous to think that God was with a beautiful woman in heaven!

It seems that Michelangelo was pretty much ordered by the Pope to paint the Sistine Chapel. Apparently he and the Pope didn’t really get along, and fought frequently. Michelangelo was quite a cheeky fellow, and so exacted his revenge on the Pope through subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) means via his paintings. After one fight, Michelangelo was especially angry. He painted a blatant naked ass on the robe of an angel flying away from God. The Pope was furious! He fired Michelangelo and ordered the entire work to be destroyed. So, the removal of the paintings began. Then, one day shortly after Michelangelo had left, the Pope walked into the Chapel that was now free of the scaffolding and painter’s cloths. He realized immediately upon seeing the masterpiece on the ceiling that he had made a terrible mistake. He stopped the removal of the painting at once. He begged Michelangelo to return and finish. It took the Pope several years to convince him to return. Michelangelo repaired the portion of the ceiling that had been scraped away, but the section was weakened. This section fell during a bombing of Rome and is still missing today.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of the interesting facts we learned, but I won’t bore you. If you're interested, I’m sure that you’ll follow the links above, or do your own research. The rest of Friday was fabulous as well, but it’s getting late, so I’ll have to save it for another blog.

Roman Holiday: Day 1 - The Vatican City

Roman Holiday: Part 1

We left for our trip to Rome early last Thursday morning. Out taxi arrived promptly at 5am, and we lugged all of our baggage down three flights of stairs. The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Rome about 10:30. We took a cab to the hotel. The driver was certainly aggressive. The traffic was horrible and in order to make any progress at all he would create lanes between other cars where no lane really existed. I think Kara was a little scared for a while, but we finally arrived without a scratch.

The hotel was nice. Most of the staff spoke English, so we had no trouble communicating. The location was fabulous – pretty much right in the middle of everything we wanted to see. It was also right across the street from a Gelateria (Ice Cream Shop). Yay! Easy access to ice cream!

After lunch at the hotel we headed for the Vatican City, hoping to see the Sistine Chapel. When we arrived, we stood in a long line just to get through security. We kept seeing signs that said no tank tops, but when we looked at everyone else in line, we thought they just must not be enforcing that rule. That was the hope anyway, as Kara was wearing a sleeveless shirt. Just before we ascended the stairs to enter St. Peter’s Basilica two guards stopped us and told us that Kara couldn’t enter. We looked at the people entering ahead of us, and all these women had whipped scarves and wraps out of their bags to cover their shoulders

We tried to figure out what to do. We weren’t going to go in without Kara. Then I remembered that I had a small towel in my bag – wrapped around the extra lens for protection on the plane. I took it out, but it was much too small to cover her shoulders. I wasn’t having any success trying to rip it, so Kara used the corner of a credit card to start a tear and Michael finished ripping it apart. We took each half and tucked it under her shirt to cover her shoulders. Success! The guards told us we could enter. They even smiled at our ingenuity. They weren’t so happy when I tried to take a picture of Kara in that get up. I think they felt we were making fun of the church, but we just thought she looked funny in her makeshift sleeves.

Travel Tip: If you’re planning to visit any part of the Vatican City while in Rome, make sure that you have something to cover your shoulders and knees. Many vendors sell wraps and scarves, and also paper pants for anyone wearing shorts.

We entered the Basilica and walked toward the line for the Cupola. We couldn’t find any signs directing us to the Sistine Chapel. While we waited in line to go up into the Cupola we chatted with a very nice American couple that had been to Rome before. We learned that we had to enter the Vatican City a different way to get to the Sistine Chapel, but it closed at 3pm. We were too late for that day, but we decided to stay and finish exploring the Basilica.

We purchased tickets and rode the elevator up to the Cupola. After seeing the beautiful view at the base of the Cupola, we decided to climb the remaining 320 stairs to the top. That’s really a lot more stairs than you think. It might have been better except the walls were sloped in, so you had to angle you body away from the walls. It was awkward to say the least. We finally made it to the top. I was worried about Kara because she’d had to stop to rest before reaching the top, but she finally made it after resting and a very nice person offering her some water. The view from the top was beautiful. We had a great bird’s eye view of Rome. It was breathtaking!

After taking a lot of pictures, we decided to call it a day. We left the Vatican City and walked along the Tiber River back toward our hotel. Along the way we came across the most unusual statue. It was a female figure wearing a beautiful dress. She was completely surrounded by a red transparent box. It was quite a striking blend of simplicity, drama, and elegance. The building turned out to be the Valentino Fashion Museum. It was closed for the day, but we enjoyed seeing the beautiful dresses in the windows as we walked by.

We took a brief rest at the hotel before heading out for dinner. We ended up in this nice little restaurant – Italian food of course.

Travel Tip: If you’re not fluent, or at least semi-fluent, in the native language, don’t try to order dinner in anything except English!

While we were eating, a group of seven Americans were seated not far from us. We believe that the younger couple – probably in their early 20’s – was either engaged or at least very close because this girl had been invited along on a family vacation. Apparently she had been learning Italian and felt this more fully qualified her to order dinner for everyone. The waiter came and she began, having to ask one of the family members who did know some Italian how to say different word. Needless to say, she completely butchered the language – more than half of what she said to the Waiter was in English. When she finally realized that the waiter spoke English, she was a little embarrassed, but still seemed pleased with her self. It was hilarious!

On the way back to the hotel, a flower vendor tried to sell us flowers. Of course, first he says he’ll give them to you, and then once you take them he follows you around begging for “just a few coins.”

Travel Tip: Guys, when a flower vendor approaches your wife or girlfriend and you’re playing the romantic – buy the flowers from him before he offers so that you can give your girl a rose. Otherwise he’ll shove it into her hand telling her how beautiful she is and then follow you around begging for money. If you don’t cough up, he’ll take his flowers back. This is a very frequent occurrence so ladies, you need to learn to just tuck your hands away and not take the offered flower every time because otherwise you’ll end up with a hundred of them, a shrinking pocket book, and not even a vase to put them in!

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and crashed for the night. We had only been at it for a half day and we were exhausted. We knew that we would need more sleep before tackling the Sistine Chapel and other sites we wanted to see on Friday. I can't wait to tell you all about it tomorrow!

Roman Holiday

We made it back safely from Rome. I’m sure that everyone is anxious to hear all about our trip, so I wanted to get some information up on the blog. There are so many things that I want to talk about! I’m not going to write everything in one blog – that way you don’t have to wait weeks for me to finish it all. Kara is here until Saturday afternoon, and Rachell and Jeff arrive that same day, so as you can imagine, I’ll be quite busy over the next couple of weeks. I’ll just write when I can and give it to you in smaller installments. I’ll do the pictures that way too. We took over 1700 pictures over the 4 days we spent in Rome, so there is a lot of work ahead of me just to find the best ones for the web album!

When Kara was making plans to come over, she mentioned that she would like to visit a place other than London while she was in Europe. She mentioned southern Europe or the Mediterranean, so we decided on Rome. Michael took 2 days off work so we could have a long weekend to see everything we wanted to see.

Travel tip: Wear tennis shoes! We averaged 10 – 15 miles each day while in Rome. My feet are still sore!

Without keeping you in suspense for too long, I will tell you that we had a great, if exhausting, time. We all enjoyed some things more than others, but overall it was a great vacation. I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

Kara's Here!

Kara Exploring London

Kara got in on Sunday and after a day or so of adjusting to the new time she has been out on the town. Yesterday we were in Wimbledon, Hyde Park, Piccadilly Circus, and Trafalgar Square. At the Marble Arch, Kara got a kick out of all the pigeons - and all of the bird proofing material all over the arch.

After a busy day of exploring (and some new pictures) we headed for home. While dinner was cooking it started to rain...and then it started to hail. It hailed really hard for about 5 minutes. I snapped a few funny pictures from our apartment window. After dinner it was still sprinkling, but the sun had also come out. We glanced out the window and saw a huge rainbow across the sky. The pictures do not even do it justice, but I hope you enjoy them.

Today we saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, then Big Ben and Parliment. We even went inside the Parliament Building and watched them debate a new bill. I have more pictures from today, but I won't be able to get them up until we get back from Rome on Sunday night.

We're off to bed soon. The taxi will be here at 5am to take us to the airport for our flight. I'm sure after 4 days in Rome I will have a lot of exciting things to write about!