Sunday, April 19, 2009

13/4/09 Rome

We slept in a while and got up around 10. The goal was to go spend the day at the Vatican. Being the day after Easter, that seemed sorta cool. I was hungry and on the way we were going to walk past Piazza Novona so we walked through it. It was huge, with Bernini fountains, an Egyptian obelisk, and restaurants all around the piazza. Turns out it’s in the shape of an old Roman horse racing stadium, with some of the buildings built on the foundations of i

We picked a restaurant that looked the cheapest and best, on the far end of the piazza. We sat outside. I ordered gnocchi while mom ordered ravioli. The gnocci was good, it was in a four cheese sauce and the gnocci was much softer than usual. It was very good. We had some tea as well, which was ok, not worth the ridiculous 5 Euros.

After we went to Tre Semana and got gelato, it was good, not quite as good as the night before, but still good.


We made our way over to the Vatican, which was just down one of our three favorite streets, Vittori Emmanuel. The Vatican is exactly how it looks on TV, the big plaza, the semi circular columns, the big Michelangelo dome, just as I wanted it to be.

Unfortunately there was a huge line to get into the basilica. Since it wasn’t open the day before it made sense that everyone would try to go that day. The line wrapped around most of the plaza, but moved quickly. We probably only spent a half hour at most in line.

After going through airport security, we entered the basilica. It was big and gaudy, lighter on the inside than I expected, and much more decorated, all in the Renaissance style – marble, statues, colors, it was interesting, but nowhere near the coolest church I’d been into in Europe.

The best part was the wooden altar over the spot where St. Peter supposedly died. I read a little about that whole deal (wikipedia) and I find it all very interesting. Other things of note include old dead popes in glass cases, and Michelangelo’s Pieta, which looked much smaller in real life than I expected. That said, it could have been because it was set 20 feet before bulletproof glass after the guy shot it in the 70s.

It was strange to think that this was St. Peter’s, the most famous church in the world. The dome was rather impressive, but otherwise, it didn’t seem all that great, and maybe a little too gaudy.

We went down to the Pope’s tombs. They had all sorts of old tombs of popes I’d never heard of. Pope John Paul II had his own little room thing, and people were lined up to stop by it, a number kneeling and praying by it.

Next to him was St. Peter (sort of). It was just the floor part from under the altar with a little marker kinda deal. Not all that impressive for an apostle.

We left the church and went over to try to get into the Vatican Museum, but it was closed, so we went over across the river to the Ara Pacis, which I learned about in Art History. It was 7 Euros to get in each, and we could see in through the glass, so we decided not to do it. Across the street from it was Hadrian’s Mausoleum, which you couldn’t really get into and looked sorta overrun with vegetation. I guess there were probably more important leaders maybe.

We went up to Piazza Poapo, which was probably the least impressive of the piazza’s we’d be to so far. Kid were playing soccer, probably the most interesting thing going on there.
We walked down to the famous Spanish Steps, covered with people sitting on them. We climbed the 132 (according to mom’s count) stairs. The steps were impressive, with the fountain at the bottom and church at the top. The street that led up to it was one of the ritzier streets there as well, with Gucci and all that. Mom wanted to walk down it, so we did on our way to the Tevi Fountain.

The fountain is huge, very ornate, to the point that it felt fake and Vegas-like. There were tons of people crowded around it. Mom and I threw a coin with our right hand over our left shoulder, which we were supposed to do in order to ensure a return to Rome.

Next we went down by the Pantheon, which was closed, again, not really sure why. I think it had something to do with it being Easter the day before, but who knows.

Since our plans were very much rearranged, we decided to go through Trajan’s Markets, something I’d heard a lot about somehow. It’s basically the first shopping mall, from the second century and uncovered within the last 70 years.

It’s a huge complex, with many shops on different levels. They were mostly small spaces, but some were quite big. On the ground floor, remains of tiling and red paint from frescos were visible, incredible.

We spent a while here going around the whole place, something I enjoyed quite a bit. Sort of like with the Coliseum and thinking of Romans going to see games, thinking of Romans going shopping and living their everyday lives as shopkeepers also made an impact.

When we finished we tried to go up the giant monument to the first king, but it was closed, so we went to go get dinner.

My book I’m renting suggested Da Buffetto as the ultimate pizza place in Rome. It was just a small corner shop, cheap prices (4.50 Euros for a margherita pizza), and the pizza was made with a coal oven which is always way better.

We ordered bruchetta (not as interesting as the night before, but good with beans, oil, tomatoes, and basil) and I had a margherita and mom had a mushroom. It was very good, different from the night before, although more along the lines of pizza I’ve had at old places in New York. Still a great place. By the time we left, there was a line probably 15 people deep waiting to get in.

We wanted to wait a little for gelato, so we went back into the capitol area, just to the right of the monument. The first thing you see are apartments from the second century. They were rather tight, and would have been a major pain to climb up to.



Next we came to the famous steps from 1348 leading up to the San Marco church, and then the Condonta steps designed by Michelangelo, leading up to an entire piazza designed by Michelangelo. All the facades (now museums) and the large geometric pattern in the center of the square were Michelangelo.

Cars aren’t allowed up there so it was a nice break from the usual loud city. They buildings were well lit, and it was picturesque, so we just sat there for a while.

A little bit later we wandered around the back over by the Roman forum . At night it has sort of a ghastly feel to it, and I’m not sure if we saw that part during the day.

We went over by the Trevi Fountain to get gelato at San Crispano, suggested by my book for its fine ingredients and rich taste. It was right, although we got a cup which was a little small for the price. The best flavor I had was honey, very different.

We brought it over to the fountain and sat there for an hour or so eating and watching the water and people. It felt very Romeish to do.

We walked back into the forum area, getting bananas along the ruins and walking down to the Coliseum. We walked around it clockwise and the made our way back to the hostel, where I fell asleep quickly again.

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