Rome, part 3
Jul. 2nd, 2006 04:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jenn_unpluggedWe've been here for a week, and we're really feeling settled in. We leave a week from today, sadly, though we have a quick overnight in London to ease the trip home.
On Thursday evening, we wandered around a part of the old city that doesn't see a lot of tourists: the area between Largo Argentina and Piazza Venezia, just north of the Jewsish Ghetto area. We visited some old sights we'd seen before and some churches that are off the beaten path, then wandered around the ruin of the Teatro Marcello.
This is the Portico of Ottavia, the front part of a former temple that survived because it was afish market through the middle ages and eventually became incorporated into a church.
It's so amazing to me that these ruins are just everywhere!
People live and work around them all the time, and they're thousands of years old. I love the juxtaposition of old and new here.
After that, we wandered through the old Jewish Ghetto (where the church forced Jews to live behind high walls for 500 years), and past several kosher Italian restaurants. We found an Irish pub that was nice and cool and had some beers, as id now our custom at 7:30 in the evening. It's far too hot to eat dinner until the sun sets, around 9:00 or so.
We went back down to a restaurant near the Portico and ate pasta amongst the ruins, which was lovely.
Friday was a lazy day. We had intended to get up early, but when morning rolled around, we just didn't want to get up. So we didn't! One of the nice things about spending a lot of time in one area is that the pressure to be on the go all the time isn't there. We have another week to see stuff, and besides, we're on vacation! We did wander around a bit in late afternoon, but mostly to map out a tour route and make arrangements for our weekend visitors.
This was an eventful weekend because my cousin and some friends (who are studying in Sicily this summer) came up for the weekend to see the city. None of them have been to Europe before, and they'd just finished the first week of their exchange program. Our earlier apartment trouble turned out good for them, because it meant they had places to sleep that were not the floor. Their visit was short: they arrived about 9:00 pm on Friday night and were leaving again first thing Sunday morning. And so we endeavored to show the as much of Rome as one can possibly see in one day.
They arrived in time for us to walk down to one of the riverside bars and catch the Italy/Ukraine match, which Italy won handily. They were excited to be in a place they described as "cool" (it's apparently scorchingly hot in Sicily). We just watched the Italians watch football and caught up on what their experience had been like so far. We had dinner around midnight in the main square in Trastevere and stumbled back to bed at 1:00 am.
We got up bright and early to start our mega-tour of Rome. It was cool enough in the morning to walk, so we walked from our apartment, across the river, up through the Campo de' Fiori and Piazza Navonna, and then started looking at churches. We visited so many that I'm not sure I will recall them all, but I can at least name the ones in these pictures.
This is the front of the Pantheon. (There's a bit of video of the interior below.)
Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is the only Gothic church left in Rome, and it has a beautiful ceiling. (There's a better view of it in the video below.)
I believe this was taken in Gesu, but I'm not sure. That was a church we'd never been to before, and it's actually the first church built by the Jesuits. The art in the church is stunning, and is basically all propaganda explaining why Catholics rule and Protestants are going to hell.
We saw at least two other churches, but I can't remember which ones now. After Gesu, we headed up towards Trevi Fountain, going by the Temple of Hadrian and the Column of Marcus Aurelius (in the picture below). The sight of it cause quite a bit of excitement in Ryan's friends Robert and Michelle, who had studied it in an art history course they took together.
There's really nothing like seeing these things for yourself. You can read about them in books, but standing next to them is just fantastic! Next, we made our way to Trevi Fountain, one of the most famous sights in Rome.
Me and Ryan in front of Trevi Fountain.
From there, we headed toward the Spanish Steps, where we sopped to rest our feet a bit. This is a picture looking down from where Doug and I were sitting. You can see Ryan, Robert, and Michelle on the left.
We took the subway over to the Vatican and found a place to have pizza for lunch. We got some gelato and then met up with our guide for our tour of the Vatican Museum. It's one of the largest and most famous museums in the world, and it's really hard to describe what the experience is like. You just can't look at everything because it would take years, but our tour guide showed us the highlights, including works by Rafael and of course, the Sistene Chapel. He gave us a great overview of the story of Michaelangelo's life, as well as the history of how he came to paint the chapel. Being in that room is nearly overwhelming, because there's just so much to look at. It's hard to believe Michaelangelo didn't really know how to paint frescos when he started, because it's a masterpiece.
After the museum, we had just enough time for a quick look around St. Peter's. The scale of it is almost impossible to comprehend. I don't know if this photo is helpful or not, but I thought the rays of sunlight were interesting.
St. Peter's is also full of relics, including what are apparently a piece of the cross and a thorn from the crown Jesus wore. I know that the Vatican has a team of scientists whose job it is to verify the validity of these relics, but I'll just say I remain as skeptical as always.
Here is a shot of St. Peter's Square from the church.
We took a taxi across town for a tour of the Palatine (the ruins of the Imperial palaces), the Forum (the heart of ancient Rome), and the Colosseum. We were all nearly exhausted at that point, and our feet were killing us, but we saw the highlights.
We finished at 7:00, after having gone for nearly 12 hours without really stopping. Doug and I had originally planned to walk back through the Jewish Ghetto, but none of us were up for it. We took a taxi back to the apartment, where we rested and cleaned up a bit.
We went to a pub and hung out for a while, and eventually went to a Sardinian restaurant for dinner. Our waiter was fantastic and the food was great, and we all had a lot of fun. And amazingly, we had actually managed to see all of Rome's major sights in one long day! I think Ryan and friends had a great time, even though it was probably a very intense day. They all seemed like they'd enjoyed it a lot. I hope they have a chance to do more traveling while they're here this summer.
Doug and I headed back after midnight, but Ryan and friends wandered around the area for another hour. The streets are packed with locals then, as that's when everyone is out. It's funny to see shops open after midnight, and lots of people shopping!
Our tired but happy visitors left early this (Sunday) morning, and Doug and I went back to bed until nearly noon. Our feet still hurt, so we've just taken it easy today so far. We went over to the Campo de' Fiori for lunch, and we're going to go to an area of town neither of us have been to later this evening to do some exploring.
Here is a really short video clip showing the interior of some of the churches we visited.
And that's all for now! I'll post more in a couple of days.
On Thursday evening, we wandered around a part of the old city that doesn't see a lot of tourists: the area between Largo Argentina and Piazza Venezia, just north of the Jewsish Ghetto area. We visited some old sights we'd seen before and some churches that are off the beaten path, then wandered around the ruin of the Teatro Marcello.
This is the Portico of Ottavia, the front part of a former temple that survived because it was afish market through the middle ages and eventually became incorporated into a church.
It's so amazing to me that these ruins are just everywhere!
People live and work around them all the time, and they're thousands of years old. I love the juxtaposition of old and new here.
After that, we wandered through the old Jewish Ghetto (where the church forced Jews to live behind high walls for 500 years), and past several kosher Italian restaurants. We found an Irish pub that was nice and cool and had some beers, as id now our custom at 7:30 in the evening. It's far too hot to eat dinner until the sun sets, around 9:00 or so.
We went back down to a restaurant near the Portico and ate pasta amongst the ruins, which was lovely.
Friday was a lazy day. We had intended to get up early, but when morning rolled around, we just didn't want to get up. So we didn't! One of the nice things about spending a lot of time in one area is that the pressure to be on the go all the time isn't there. We have another week to see stuff, and besides, we're on vacation! We did wander around a bit in late afternoon, but mostly to map out a tour route and make arrangements for our weekend visitors.
This was an eventful weekend because my cousin and some friends (who are studying in Sicily this summer) came up for the weekend to see the city. None of them have been to Europe before, and they'd just finished the first week of their exchange program. Our earlier apartment trouble turned out good for them, because it meant they had places to sleep that were not the floor. Their visit was short: they arrived about 9:00 pm on Friday night and were leaving again first thing Sunday morning. And so we endeavored to show the as much of Rome as one can possibly see in one day.
They arrived in time for us to walk down to one of the riverside bars and catch the Italy/Ukraine match, which Italy won handily. They were excited to be in a place they described as "cool" (it's apparently scorchingly hot in Sicily). We just watched the Italians watch football and caught up on what their experience had been like so far. We had dinner around midnight in the main square in Trastevere and stumbled back to bed at 1:00 am.
We got up bright and early to start our mega-tour of Rome. It was cool enough in the morning to walk, so we walked from our apartment, across the river, up through the Campo de' Fiori and Piazza Navonna, and then started looking at churches. We visited so many that I'm not sure I will recall them all, but I can at least name the ones in these pictures.
This is the front of the Pantheon. (There's a bit of video of the interior below.)
Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is the only Gothic church left in Rome, and it has a beautiful ceiling. (There's a better view of it in the video below.)
I believe this was taken in Gesu, but I'm not sure. That was a church we'd never been to before, and it's actually the first church built by the Jesuits. The art in the church is stunning, and is basically all propaganda explaining why Catholics rule and Protestants are going to hell.
We saw at least two other churches, but I can't remember which ones now. After Gesu, we headed up towards Trevi Fountain, going by the Temple of Hadrian and the Column of Marcus Aurelius (in the picture below). The sight of it cause quite a bit of excitement in Ryan's friends Robert and Michelle, who had studied it in an art history course they took together.
There's really nothing like seeing these things for yourself. You can read about them in books, but standing next to them is just fantastic! Next, we made our way to Trevi Fountain, one of the most famous sights in Rome.
Me and Ryan in front of Trevi Fountain.
From there, we headed toward the Spanish Steps, where we sopped to rest our feet a bit. This is a picture looking down from where Doug and I were sitting. You can see Ryan, Robert, and Michelle on the left.
We took the subway over to the Vatican and found a place to have pizza for lunch. We got some gelato and then met up with our guide for our tour of the Vatican Museum. It's one of the largest and most famous museums in the world, and it's really hard to describe what the experience is like. You just can't look at everything because it would take years, but our tour guide showed us the highlights, including works by Rafael and of course, the Sistene Chapel. He gave us a great overview of the story of Michaelangelo's life, as well as the history of how he came to paint the chapel. Being in that room is nearly overwhelming, because there's just so much to look at. It's hard to believe Michaelangelo didn't really know how to paint frescos when he started, because it's a masterpiece.
After the museum, we had just enough time for a quick look around St. Peter's. The scale of it is almost impossible to comprehend. I don't know if this photo is helpful or not, but I thought the rays of sunlight were interesting.
St. Peter's is also full of relics, including what are apparently a piece of the cross and a thorn from the crown Jesus wore. I know that the Vatican has a team of scientists whose job it is to verify the validity of these relics, but I'll just say I remain as skeptical as always.
Here is a shot of St. Peter's Square from the church.
We took a taxi across town for a tour of the Palatine (the ruins of the Imperial palaces), the Forum (the heart of ancient Rome), and the Colosseum. We were all nearly exhausted at that point, and our feet were killing us, but we saw the highlights.
We finished at 7:00, after having gone for nearly 12 hours without really stopping. Doug and I had originally planned to walk back through the Jewish Ghetto, but none of us were up for it. We took a taxi back to the apartment, where we rested and cleaned up a bit.
We went to a pub and hung out for a while, and eventually went to a Sardinian restaurant for dinner. Our waiter was fantastic and the food was great, and we all had a lot of fun. And amazingly, we had actually managed to see all of Rome's major sights in one long day! I think Ryan and friends had a great time, even though it was probably a very intense day. They all seemed like they'd enjoyed it a lot. I hope they have a chance to do more traveling while they're here this summer.
Doug and I headed back after midnight, but Ryan and friends wandered around the area for another hour. The streets are packed with locals then, as that's when everyone is out. It's funny to see shops open after midnight, and lots of people shopping!
Our tired but happy visitors left early this (Sunday) morning, and Doug and I went back to bed until nearly noon. Our feet still hurt, so we've just taken it easy today so far. We went over to the Campo de' Fiori for lunch, and we're going to go to an area of town neither of us have been to later this evening to do some exploring.
Here is a really short video clip showing the interior of some of the churches we visited.
And that's all for now! I'll post more in a couple of days.
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no subject
Date: 2006-07-02 04:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 12:59 pm (UTC)What a trip of a lifetime and I know Ryan and his friends will never forget the tour and the meals...Ryan said that the food was wonderful..
I can't wait to see you at the wedding...
Love you,
Mom
no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 04:00 pm (UTC)The food is so, so fantastic. At one point, Ryan said, "I want to go home and throw rocks at Pizza Hut and the Olive Garden for making me think that was Italian food!" But one of the best things I heard said was when either Ryan or Robert (can't rememebr which) said, "Now I understand why you travel." That made me happy, because at that moment, that was exactly it -- you travel for moments like that, where everything around you is just so stunning you're nearly overwhelmed by it all.
So yeah! It was a great day. :-)
Hi Jenn
Date: 2006-07-05 04:22 am (UTC)Hello again
Date: 2006-07-05 04:28 am (UTC)I was so cool that you got to meet up with Ryan. It sounds like all of you had a great time. I know it will be a trip that he will never forget.
I can't wait to see you at Julie's wedding on July 14th and 15th. She is a nervous as a cat on a hot rock. She wants everthing to be perfect and I have told her that it will. I told her not to worry....
I was wondering if you could surprise her with a song at the reception. Could you ask the DJ to let you sing a song to Julie using Joni, Lindsay and Donna as your background singers. Something like "we are family" or anything you think will be cute!!! I think she would love this. You have such a great voice and it would be great.
Let me know what you think..
Love Ya
Aunt Bonnie
Re: Hello again
Date: 2006-07-05 08:09 am (UTC)Ooh, a song sounds like fun! We could even do it under the name of The Kissing Cousins, which was always our karaoke group name. Let me email Donna and the others to see what they think. If the DJ happens to be able to get hold of a karaoke vesion of that, it would be great.
Those pictures of Julie were great, by the way! She's going to be so gorgeous! I can't wait to see her all a-glow that day.
Re: Hello again
Date: 2006-07-05 06:08 pm (UTC)Only 10 days left.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Aunt
Bonnie
no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 04:16 am (UTC)And if you aren't familiar with this trick, the thing to do in St. Peter's is climb up the dome and look down at it from the ceiling. The whole church is built to reduce the perspective, to make it seem smaller and more intimate than it actually is. When you climb the dome, the perspective is reversed and you realize how f#*(^ huge the place is. (And yes, I learned that trick from Rick.)
It's kind of the reverse of the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul. There, the church seems bigger on the inside than on the outside. It's an unparalleled genius of engineering: inside it just feels like this enormous empty space. It is quite possibly my favorite building in all the world. (The Pantheon is up there as well.)
And speaking of the Pantheon, Diocletian's palace in Split has an entryway to his private chambers that is clearly modeled on the the Pantheon, though not nearly as big. It features a domed ceiling with a whole where the capstone should be. I haven't checked out your video yet, but yes - you need either video or a fisheye camera lens to get any sense of the Pantheon. But of course nothing substitutes for the actual experience of it. Hell, I'd go back to Italy just to visit the Pantheon again!
no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 08:12 am (UTC)