Then began the journey to Rome, which included: walking to Cibeles (a roundabout in Madrid), taking a bus from Cibeles to the airport, taking a plane to Rome, taking a bus from the airport in Rome to the train station in Rome, taking the metro from the train station to our B&B neighborhood, and walking to our B&B from the metro. When we arrived around 11:00, we felt like we had ran a short marathon. I guess there's no such thing as a short marathon but you know what I mean :)
In Madrid, Mom and Ali got a taste of what it's like to fly Ryanair. They saw the mass chaos of Ryanair opening their desks with barely enough time to get everyone's bags checked, they got their Passport checks done, and they witnessed the mile-long line that forms to get on the plane. Luckily I convinced them that it was pointless to wait in line, so we sat down and watched the line until it got to the end. Thus, we were the last people on the plane. But somehow we all got aisle seats and were in the first group off the plane. I've learned all of your secrets, Ryanair!
Speaking of secrets, (or not so secrets), there is a 20€/kilo fee when your checked bag is overweight. This could cause an extreme damper on one's travels if one's bag was, oh I don't know, 6.5 kilograms overweight. Oh wait, that was us. Thankfully, there was an open scale at the end of the check-in counters and we realized this before we got to the counter to check the bag. So after 15+ trips back and forth with the three suitcases, we managed to rearrange fabric, shoes, shower supplies, etc. until each suitcase read exactly 15.0 kilograms (about 33 pounds). It's possible that our backpacks were bulging and it was no longer comfortable to hold them for long periods of time, but we saved 140€ so we felt pretty dang good about ourselves.
When we got to the B&B, we were quite happy to find a super cozy place to relax for the day. After a busy first few days, we had definitely earned it. We were also delighted to meet our wonderful host (shout out to Campanella 3!), who had her 5 month old daughter with her. When Mom pointed out the little girl's chubby cheeks, our host corrected us, calling them "mozzarella balls" (chubby and pale). How precious!
The kitchen nook in Campanella 3
Mom, Ali, and I delayed our naps until we enjoyed our first pasta lunch. Then, with full bellies, we settled in to catch up on our missed sleep from the night before. That got us rejuvinated to meet up with the Canonacos at Nonna Betta (a restaurant in the Jewish quarter) for dinner.
Postcard day 4: On our bus ride to the Jewish ghetto, we got our first glimpse at the Vatican!
We had a blast, and I'm pretty sure everyone at the restaurant knew it. When at one point we realized we were practically all shouting, we stopped talking and discovered that the restaurant was practically silent... and the majority of the other diners were staring at us. AKA, we were blending right in ;)
And the best part of this whole situation was...
I got to see my bestie!!!
After dinner, Jackie took us for a walk around to have some gelatto, to see the Spanish steps, and to throw a few coins into the Trevi fountain. (Did you know that the coins are used by an Italian charity to fund a supermarket for the poor? It's a good thing to hear that the 3,000€ that are thrown in there each day are being put to good use! Check out the BBC article if you want to know more!)
Here's Mom throwing a coin in... looks like she'll be returning to Rome someday!
Rejuvenated from a relaxing Sunday, we hit day 2 full force...
Of course, that means we started off the day with a croissant and a cappuccino.
Then we took a nice long walk from our neighborhood to Campo di Fiori, the large outdoor market in the center of Rome. On our way, we walked across the Ponte Sant'Angelo, which is the bridge from the city center to the Castel Sant'Angelo. The bridge is covered with sculptures designed by Bernini, all holding the instruments of the passion.
Angel with the crown of thorns
Spices galore!
Next we headed to Piazza Navona, where there are a lot of artists selling originals and prints of their work.
Postcard day 5: A view of Piazza Navona!
One of the foutnains in Piazza Navona... with pigeons, of course.
The cute painting/drawing that I bought from Marcel in Piazza Navona. He even drew little faces into it to represent Mom, Ali, and I.
Leaving Piazza Navona, we continued on to Via dei Coronari, a quintessential street filled with antique shops and whatnot.
Doorbells on one of the apartment buildings
And it was there, at Gelateria del Teatro, that I had my favorite gelato to date. Mmmmmmm....
Ginger mixed with white peach lavender
To finish off the day, we hit up the Pantheon and the Colosseum.
In Latin, Pantheon means "[temple consecrated] to all gods." It was originally a pagan worship space, but it was converted into a church in the 7th century. It is extremely well preserved; the dome of the Pantheon is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. (Wikipedia)
Inside the pantheon, the oculus lets in a decent amount of natural light.
The Coloseum was the largest amphitheater of the Roman Empire and is the largest amphitheater in the world. It's estimated that it could hold between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators. Back in its day, the site was used for "gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as moch sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology." (Wikipedia)
The Rogers girls in the Colosseum!
And this is the glass to the gift shop that Mom didn't realize was there. Judging from the other marks on the glass, a few other people made that mistake as well...
Disclaimer: Ali is not picking her nose in this picture.
From the Colosseum, you can get a nice view of the Arco di Costantino (Arch of Constantine). The Senate built it to celebrate Constantine's victory over Maxentius.
Arco di Costantino
Then we: Headed back to the apartment. Ate. Slept. Woke up, ready to start again.
Our next day in Rome, we headed back to the same area, but this time to check out the Roman Forum and Palentine. We had tried to go there the day before, but when we bought our tickets at 5:30 PM, the girl suggested we go to the Colosseum because the Forum would have taken at least 3 hours to walk through and it was going to close at 7:00 PM.
Well, it definitely took more than an hour and a half; however, it did not take 3 hours. In the intense late morning heat without water, there was no way we were going to last more than 2 hours!
You may be thinking, "What is this 3 hour, outdoor monument?" Well, the Roman Forum was the main plaza of the city and now has the remains of multiple important, ancient government buildings. The other part, Palentine Hill, is the centermost hill of the 7 Hills of Rome, which are thought to have been different settlements that made up the city at the very beginning. Also, "according to Roman mythology, the Palatine Hill was the location of the cave, known as the Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf that kept them alive" (Wikipedia).
Overall, it was really cool to imagine these things existing in 8th century BC. However, after a while, it all started to look the same:
Important portico
Important columns
Important fragments of walls(?)
To all you intense history buffs out there, please accept my apologies. It really is super interesting to know the details of all these archeological archives. But the summer sun has left my mind a bit empty of any details besides old and important :)
Venus
After lunch, we continued on to the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano. This church was gorgeous. It is the oldest and ranks first among the four Papal Basilicas or major basilicas of Rome because it is the cathedral of the bishop of Rome. (Wikipedia)
Postcard day 6: The apse of Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano
Mom and Ali, seated in the pews off to the side of the nave. The angelic light illuminating Ali is a nice touch!
The ceiling
To congratulate ourselves for a day well spent, we headed to Pompi, where I got the best tiramisu in Rome and Mom and Ali got gelato.
SO DELICIOUS.
Then we back tracked to Basilica di San Clemente, which was closed when we first tried to enter. We took in the church from a comfortable seated position, wondering if we had been wearing pedometers, how many steps we would have accumulated over the past few days. We still have no clue, but we decided that it was definitely enough to justify a 4 day diet of pastries, pizza, pasta, and gelato.
We also decided that we had walked enough for the day, so we headed back to the apartment to hang out, nap, upload pictures, read, etc. until dinner (pear and cheese pasta bags in a walnut sauce).
Then we: Headed back to the apartment. Slept. Woke up, ready to start again. (Sound familiar?)
Our last day in Rome, we headed over to the Vatican. Conveniently (though we didn't know it), the Pope was giving mass at the same time we entered the museums. Thus, they were relatively calm.
We enjoyed wandering around the museums and admiring all of the artwork, but it is crazy to me to consider how the Vatican represents the church to so many people. At one point when I was traveling throughout Spain, someone said to me, "You know, I think more people would attend church in the United States if it looked like this." Yes, it's impressive, but I think these things are the very problem that many people have with the church. Spending money on impressive ceilings, expensive statues, and intricate marble floors is the very opposite of what 'the church' should be doing. I most definitely prefer the 10 person weekly gatherings of my house group in a European-size living room; I prefer it when 'the church' spends 3€ on a tortilla española to share and spends their time encouraging each other and sharing life with one another.
Nevertheless, we did see some beautiful works of art...
Standing in the Sistine chapel today, I couldn't help but think about Good Will Hunting. In the movie, Sean challenges Will about how he pretends to know it all, but has never really experienced life or allowed himself to be vulnerable.
Sean says, "So if I asked you about art, you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that...."
I'd just like to comment that the Sistine Chapel doesn't have a very noteworthy or distinct smell.
Anyway, after wandering through the museums, we headed into the center so Mom could find her souvenir from Rome. She decided to buy a scarf from each country that we go to... a nice addition to her wardrobe. As we wandered around, we (not surprisingly) stopped for lunch and gelato.
For our last night, (after a brief rest for postcard writing, etc.) we hit up all the neighborhood joints: the restaurant (Micci) around the corner, the gelateria between the restaurant and our apartment (where the guy tried to teach us Italian and then proceeded to give us double the normal serving), and the fruit stand next to the gelateria. Now we're packing up and using Google Translate to learn a couple of key words (yes, no, please, toilet, thank you, English) in Czech before heading to Prague in the morning. Stay tuned to find out if we say any of the words correctly!
Much love,
Amber
Our last day in Rome, we headed over to the Vatican. Conveniently (though we didn't know it), the Pope was giving mass at the same time we entered the museums. Thus, they were relatively calm.
We enjoyed wandering around the museums and admiring all of the artwork, but it is crazy to me to consider how the Vatican represents the church to so many people. At one point when I was traveling throughout Spain, someone said to me, "You know, I think more people would attend church in the United States if it looked like this." Yes, it's impressive, but I think these things are the very problem that many people have with the church. Spending money on impressive ceilings, expensive statues, and intricate marble floors is the very opposite of what 'the church' should be doing. I most definitely prefer the 10 person weekly gatherings of my house group in a European-size living room; I prefer it when 'the church' spends 3€ on a tortilla española to share and spends their time encouraging each other and sharing life with one another.
Nevertheless, we did see some beautiful works of art...
Ceiling
Armoires
Postcard 7: The Sistine chapel ceiling
Standing in the Sistine chapel today, I couldn't help but think about Good Will Hunting. In the movie, Sean challenges Will about how he pretends to know it all, but has never really experienced life or allowed himself to be vulnerable.
Sean says, "So if I asked you about art, you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that...."
I'd just like to comment that the Sistine Chapel doesn't have a very noteworthy or distinct smell.
Anyway, after wandering through the museums, we headed into the center so Mom could find her souvenir from Rome. She decided to buy a scarf from each country that we go to... a nice addition to her wardrobe. As we wandered around, we (not surprisingly) stopped for lunch and gelato.
Our lunch was a bit filling. In addition to an antipasto of meats and fresh mozzerella cheese and a napoli pizza, we ordered a calzone that ended up being a little larger than we expected. Check out the size comparison with Mom's iPhone....
On our last day, we just "happened" to pass by Gelateria del Teatro. Okay, maybe I was leading with a hidden agenda. This time I got tiramisu and coffee.
Throughout the four days, walking the entire way across Rome (Seriously... we have spots marked off from the upper left corner of our map to the bottom right corner of our map.), we got quite thirsty. Thus, we enjoyed finding the water fountains to refill our water bottles and keep us from passing out on the cobblestone streets where a seemingly massive compact car (At one point, Ali pointed to an Audi sedan and said, "That thing is massive!") could run over us.
Outside Gelateria del Teatro
After we had satisfied our stomachs and Mom found a scarf from the artsy-fartsy Roman store, abitart, we headed back over to Vatican city to check out St. Peter's Basilica.
In St. Peter's Square
The light coming in from the windows in the cupola
The Vatican guards, rocking those stripes
For our last night, (after a brief rest for postcard writing, etc.) we hit up all the neighborhood joints: the restaurant (Micci) around the corner, the gelateria between the restaurant and our apartment (where the guy tried to teach us Italian and then proceeded to give us double the normal serving), and the fruit stand next to the gelateria. Now we're packing up and using Google Translate to learn a couple of key words (yes, no, please, toilet, thank you, English) in Czech before heading to Prague in the morning. Stay tuned to find out if we say any of the words correctly!
Much love,
Amber
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