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Published: January 16th 2009
They got some Funny No No´s.
Gonna go out on a limb and guess the one on the left means "don't do the cha cha on the way out" and the other one well duh...why would you let that happen?(Clover)
Arriving in Rome was the finale of a one taxi ride, ten hour night ferry, one flight, three metros and a minivan. To say the least we were exhausted when we arrived at our campground after dark to set up our tent. To top it off it was raining. Now there is a man in Italy who runs a check in counter that is on my "evil person" list for being the most unhelpful. It is concluded Scott has way more patience than me. Just so you know there aren't very many people on my "evil person" list.
Lucky for us the rain wasn't very heavy and by morning it was gone. Blue skies. Which was very lucky for us. The crummy tent we got in Asia was exceedingly crummy. Every stitch was a tiny skylight. I was missing our tent back home. The thing can with stand a tornado I am sure.
Our first contact with Roma was confusion and chaos. Athens was a busy city but it had a small town feel to it somehow. Even though it was bigger that Rome, Rome felt much more daunting. When we walked out of the metro we
stood on the sidewalk with blank looks. We knew where we were supposed to be but not where we were. Rome has a way of swallowing you. Street signs are problematic because more often than not there aren't any. After awhile we learned that you have to look on the buildings for plazas or road signs carved into the stone on marble plaques.
Our first destination was the Vatican and we did find it. But upon finding it and staring up at it and the swarms of people every where we hurried off overwhelmed. We wound ourselves back into the small streets and promptly indulged ourselves with a two beers and a pizza to recoup. (chuckles) So that was out first day in Rome.
Another thing I have noticed about both Italy and Greece is that they have a way of tipping themselves extra if you give any service employee an option to do so. While buying a metro ticket Scott got flustered with the coins and tossed them down for the ticket master to exact his total. Needless to say he tipped himself. And so did the barmaid. One euro for a two euro beer. As did
the a certain restaurant with a bill that didn't quite add up. Some might call this getting ripped off but after getting ripped of in Malaysia I prefer to call it self tipping. 'Cause if I think of it as getting scammed my blood pressure goes up and I want to hit things.
In our Lonely Planet guide for the Mediterranean under the listing of Rome, Italy it states that there are "more ruins than dog pooh." And now that I have been there I can attest to this. I saw far more ruins there than dog pooh. Maybe not a tasteful thing to say but it couldn't be more true.
After our first day in Rome we realized we had to tackle the city with some kind of plan. Seeing as we never really plan anything it went against the grain but with trial and error we figure it out. Our next few days went a lot more smooth.
In Rome everything is on a grand scale. Every street consisted of grand buildings lining the street. Everyone of them from a different time period. Massive facades, huge wood and iron doors, marble everywhere. Fountains everywhere. Any
corner you turned you would see something that would stop and make you stare. If you didn't watch your step it was easy to trip and fall because most of the time your neck was craned up at something.
Rome is such an old city and has been around so long that archeologist are still discovering major excavation sites. Every time a building is torn down to make way for something new artifacts are found. Every single time. Some times they are minor and sometimes they are major. Because most people want to avoid excavations crews more than a few homes has the family secret of a Roman ruin of some sort in there basement. A corner wall of an ancient column.
Rome is an easy place to get sore feet in. We walked every where and sometimes in circles. It didn't matter though. Because wherever we found ourselves there usually something worth seeing.
One of my favorite places we ended up at was the Trevi Fountain. It is a huge opulent scene depicting Neptune driving a chariot of two half horse half fish like creatures. The fountain was constructed of the side of another one of
those grand buildings I keep talking about. This is the only fountain I have seen that you can't walk around all sides. You stand in front of it and pick your angle. Local myth has it that if you turn your back on the fountain and toss a coin over your shoulder while making a wish it will come true. There were a lot of people making wishes. When along came an old man, maybe a bum, with a telescoping pointer. Much to everyone's chagrin the pointer had a magnet on the end and he was sweeping it through the water picking up their "wishes" and putting the coins in his pocket. He was well enough aware everyone was looking as him in shock so he hammed it up giving everyone a big gap toothed nasty old man grin. He got away unharmed.
There was of course the Colosseum. In some ways I supposed I am surprised any of the Colosseum still exists considering that after the hay day of Rome it was converted into a fortress and then into a marble and travertine quarry and looted systematically. Materials from the Colosseum built much of the famous Palazzo Venezia
as well as contributing to some lesser known buildings. Its construction was finished in AD 80. A very old building. And based on that simple fact I am surprised any of it still exists. Much of the past generations buildings were recycled by the preceding generations.
On entering the Colosseum it didn't seem as large as I had thought it would be. But it is guesstimated that it could hold up to 70,000 spectators. Although it is hard to picture what it was like back in the day. All we can see today is the skeleton of what it used to be. The seats everyone cheered from are gone. All that is left is the frame work that held the marble bleachers up. The arena floor that was the focus of so much intensity is no longer there either. When you look down on the arena it is a deep maze of walls and arches where gladiators and animals made their way up from the bowls of the Colosseum most likely to meet their death to the delight of on lookers. The bloodier the better.
Right next to the famed Colosseum is a small hill called Palentine Hill.
Inside the Colosseum
Clover ponders going gladiator on my ass for takin to many photos. It was, or maybe still is, believed to be the place the fabled she-wolf suckled the infant brothers Romulus and Remus. Who would later be the founders of the city of Rome. Because of this belief the hill was made the living place of all future rulers of Rome.
Interestingly enough Palentine Hill was an after thought to the building of the Colosseum. The Colosseum was built with war proceeds and slave labor. After it was build there was so much gold left over that the current ruler decided it was time to revamp his own dwellings. He started building and kept on building.
The Colosseum was a public facility and entering was free. Anyone could go to the games provided they had some social standing. Always a catch. One of the things incorporated into the building of the new palace on Palentine Hill was a huge private arena. Most arenas had sand floors but this one had a highly prized yellow marble floor. It was believed that the arena could even be flooded with water for marine fights.
Palentine Hill is another prime example of one generation using the riches of the last. Once upon a
Present day Colosseum
To bad the marble flooring has been takin, bad bad Vatican! time there was a massive palace on Palantine Hill. So grand and imposing that it is believed that our modern word "palace" was derived from the creation of it. Palantine/ palace. This palace just like the Colosseum was looted for its rich marbles and statuary but even more extensively. All that remains standing is sprawling interior brick walls and outlines of foundations. The looting of Palentine Hill can be blamed on the Vatican. Dun, dun, dun.... The palace was stripped of anything useful. All the materials were then transformed into what we now know as the Vatican. (This we learned from Scott following tour groups and eavesdropping, sneaky)
Now Palentine Hill is a peaceful park filled with birds, wildflowers and grassy noles. Park benches are here and there and from any point you can look over modern Rome. All over are drinking fountains for people to fill up their water bottles. Pretty nice considering a small bottle of water from one of the many vendors costs 2 euros. I laughed at the first guy that quoted me the price. I don't think he liked it.
Then there is the Pantheon. The best surviving representative of the grandeur of
ancient Rome. The only reason it still exists is because when Christianity became more of a force to be reckoned with it was turned into a church. When we went inside it made me wonder what the Colosseum would look like these days if it had been preserved. It was in amazing shape. The roof soars up over head. And then at the very top is a perfectly round opening. Supposedly a restoration crew was able to return the original skylight door to functioning order. It takes two men to slide close the hole. It is hard to believe this structure was made so long ago. 27 BC says my trusty guild book.
I come from a country where the oldest buildings are only a few hundred years old. I have a hard time fathoming something that is supposed to be a a couple thousand years old. It doesn't even make sense to me. My mind is saying that just a couple thousand of years ago we had to have been just figuring out square wheels don't work as well and round ones, or something like that. I see the building, I see the age written and then my
mind says no way...but that is what the kiosk says so I will go with it.
Yes, we did go back to the Vatican after our ill fated first day. We didn't go into the Sistine Chapel though. Instead we visited Saint Peter's Basilica. We even climbed up inside the main dome of the church. It took climbing 320 steps but we got there. It was actually pretty neat. The further up to the top you get and the path gets narrower and the walls slant over you further. Half way up the dome you come out inside the dome and can look down at all the ant like tourists down below. Then you go back into the dome walls and climb up increasingly smaller spiral staircases and even switch backs of all things. When you reach the top you are breathing hard and over looking Rome. You pop out right on top of the main dome. Then when you have had enough fresh air and people in your way you climb back down the steps until you get to an elevator that takes you into the church. Down, down, down.
The church floor is sprawling. If you
stand on one end and look over to the other side you begin to see the the curvature of the earth in play. Nah, it isn't far but it is purty dang far away. Gonna use that "ant" word again. That was what everyone looked like from the other end. While walking around I almost got an ethereal feel but it was shattered by the gruesome nature of the scenes depicted on the massive bronze front doors. I can only think they were left overs from the inquisition. Inside the church everything is delicate and well defined. Artful. These doors were lumpy and the figures weren't even anatomically correct. It was strange and disturbing. The scenes were of people being tortured with metal barb tipped flails and hung from their legs and arms wrapped in barbed wire in odd positions and angles. People being kicked and beaten. Hmmm...weird. Moving on.
Rome was amazing. The food looked amazing as well. I say looked because our budget only allowed for window shopping yummy food. For the ten days we were in Italy we lived on the two euro pizza that was sold at our campground. Which at first was a nice
change from the gyros we lived on in Greece. But at least gyros often have something in them that is a vegetable. Although there was a really nice New Zealand couple that passed down their little barbecue when they had to ship out back home. For just a couple glorious days we made made beef kabobs with tomatoes and baby onions. It was the toughest beef chunks ever but being able to cook for a change was great. When our time came to leave Italy we passed the barbecue onto a nice Polish couple camped next to us.
(So drinking a beer one night the polish guy comes over to chat while clover was away at the bathroom. After a little bit, he asks how long we've been together as a couple. After telling him it's been over 5 years I see his bushy eyebrows raise a sold inch.
"But the two of you talk so much! Every night we hear you talking and talking."
Wondering where this is going I continue on with the conversation.
"And yourselves, how long you been, together"
The polish guy smiles and announces it's been 3 years, but he frowns after a bit.
Happy Campers
Granted the local vino and sangria helps. "We don't talk so much though, come night, we drink beer, eat, and go to sleep, not like you folks. We would of swore the two of you had just gotten together.")
Amsterdam here we come...
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Lucky Charms
Dave B
Trevi Fountain
Did you throw a quarter over your shoulder into the Fountain to insure a safe return to Rome? or do you not want to go back? I loved Rome. Did you go south of Rome to Amalfi, Pompeii, Sorento? Nice pics. The gladiator toe fighter is a crazy dude as well as the guy that those toes belong to! Nice job!