Roma. Well, I am not sure what to write about Rome. We had a good enough time, but this was the only place that I felt we were checking things off a list. We spent about 4 days here, but it just never really gelled with us.
We went to the Palatine Hill and the Forum, the center of Roman life. It is fairly cool, but the audioguide we got kinda sucked. It was not very descriptive on where to go and nothing was really labled. It said things like ´walk two score paces west of the grey rock and look east, you see the column in front of you (um,no) good, that is all that is left of Apollo´s temple, now use your imagination to imagine what it lookéd like´. We commiserated with other people using the guides as they were wandering around aimlessly too. We could have probably used a tour guide here. It is good to see all these things since they were the center of Rome, but there are better preserved if less significant ruins elswhere. Good views over the city though.
The Coloseum is quite massive and well preserved for a 2000 year old building. We got a tour here because of our bad experience with the audio guide and it most certainly was not worth it. I am pretty sure our guide was a drunken hobo they pulled off the street and coached a few minutes before. Expensive and with about the same information you can get from watching a history channel special. These things left a bad taste in our mouth.
It is such a big and touristy city it was hard to connect with the ´real´ city. We even heard an older woman complaining about all the tourists, and this is not even the high season. We ate some decent food, but we ate better for less in other cities for sure.
The Vatican was something we were looking forward too and did not disapoint. The massive lines that were promised were not there so that was a plus. St. Peters Basilica is massive and stunning and deserves it´s place as Catholicisms big enchilada. Michelangelo´s Pieta is here which is quite a fine piece of work. We didn´t get to admire it as much as we would have wanted because somebody almost puked on Brooke. Whether overcome with the spirit of the Lord, or just nautious from some cruise ship chicken fingers, we won´t know, but we gave her some space. Plenty of other stuff to check out anyway, several massive sculptures by Bernini. Every time we were like,oh this is cool I wonder who did this, oh Bernini. He did some of his best work when he was 81. These popes really worked this guy till the end.
Brooke loved the adorable Swiss guards.
Although they do not look intimidating I am sure that they could still kick some ass,that is if they don´t trip over their tassles.
The museums on the Vatican grounds are enormous. We spent about 4 hours wandering around and could have seen more. Raphaels ´School of Athens´ was here which I didn´t realize, just turned a corner and like,oh check that out,there it is. Other notable and not so notable works by everyone you can think of, and Etruscan museum, an Egyptian wing. Little bits of everything when the Vatican controlled the known world. Of course the Sistine Chapel which is impressive and massive, but we are a fan of other of his works more (the Pieta or that Dave guy for instance).
On a lighter note of worlds colliding, we have been doing some anthropological studies on different cultures and their ability to wait in line. Ever since some old Italian woman (like 80 year old) pushed past us to get on a half full bus first, we have been taking note. Waiting patiently in line is something American culture has inherited from the civil, overly polite British. These people invented ´queing up´. Some cultures wait, others don´t. It is comforting to know that we are not the only travelers to ponder these facts as a quick Internet search will show. Now not to knock the Chineese culture, but waiting in line is not their forte. The Chinese government had to teach the populace on how to wait in line before the Olympics instead of just pushing their way through. (Don´t believe me, ask the NYTimes
It is just not their way. So anyway, we are in a crowd at a bottleneck in the Vatican museum and there is a Chinese family just pushing their way through, without a concern in the world. Brooke overheard a British woman who was in their way exasperatedly exclaim ´You pushed me, please, don´t push´ and I heard another British family basically saying ´well I never..´. Of course this really had no deterring effect. Even though we were in the same crush of bodies, all we could do is laugh it off.
We went to the Appian Way, the first highway out of Rome. It was a little pilgrimage for me since I have read about it a lot and carries some significance in my mind. Most of it is still used as a regular road and it is lined with ancient structures which could warrant days of exploring.
A highlight was meeting up with our new friends Rachael and Mark for dinner and sharing travel stories.
Spanish Steps, Trevi fountain, the Pantheon. This city is just littered with famous ancient relics. We managed to see most things but the city is big and even though we had a transport pass it was still some work to get around.
All in all a good time, although exhausting. Not our favorite part of the trip, but seeing what we saw is a must, unfortunately it was a must for every one else too.
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