Our Italian Holiday: Roma and the Vatican

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Our 9 day Italian holiday started off in Roma, the eternal city. Our party of 6 landed at the Leonardo da Vinci airport Tuesday June 2, around 1:30pm local time. We made our way to the Leonardo Express to catch a ride into the city. We ended up at Termini station, but it wasn't what I had expected...much smaller. Turned out we were at the Air Termini station which is on the opposite end of the main station.

So, after finally figuring that out, we dragged our bags up the dirty and cracked sidewalks to the bus depot of the station. We found our bus and hopped on... within 10 mins, we were packed in tighter than sardines. Luckily I found a seat, but felt so back staying in my seat and not offering it to an old woman who got on. I just couldn't imagine standing up the whole ride (since I had no idea how far away our stop was) in my condition. Also, there was literally zero room to actually make the switch. Whatever.

We reached our station, and we somehow shoved our way out the bus, bags and all...what a mess. We quickly found our apartment building and found the owner waiting for us inside the lobby. He showed us up to the apartment, and we were pleased at how large and nice the apartment was. Also, very well decorated, with lots of stained glass and the living room had a huge custom painting of the Roman Forum. We settled in and washed up a bit, then headed out for lunch since we were all starving by that point.

We found a pizzeria around the corner called Mama Mia and were in good spirits sitting out there on a nice table on the sidewalk. We had arrived on a national holiday (Independence Day I think) so many places were closed. Luckily we found this place. Anyway, the pizzas were underwhelming and soggy. We were hoping this was just a fluke...

After lunch we made our way to the Colosseum on foot. It was just a 10-15 minute walk from our apartment. We walked around only outside since we got there too late to go in. We peeked into the Roman Forum, but also didn't go in there...figured we'd be back another day. Due to the national holiday much of the street was closed off for a celebration that morning. We sort of just walked around a bit, then headed to the metro to catch a ride back to the apartment. Outside the station, we found a couple of the much heard about drinking fountains in Rome. So we filled our bottles and had a taste... pretty darn good, I'd say.

We stopped off at Termini station and split up. El, dad and mom went to pick up our tickets for the Papal audience the next day, while Shel, my mom and I stayed at Termini to buy our train tickets to Assisi and also to Cinque Terre. We then went to pick up some groceries at a small market at the Air Termini station.

We met back up at the apartment and had a brief siesta. Oh my aching feet 😊 That night we went to Piazza del Popolo, which was nice but deserted. No doubt because of the holiday, but also probably because we didn't get there until 9pm. We walked up the famed Via del Corso street with it's endless designer boutiques, most of them closed. We kept our eyes out for eating options, but had few choices that night. We ended up at the Spanish Steps, and they were not as I had expected. There were many people there, which I had expected, but the stairs in general were very dirty. But we sat around, like the others and enjoyed the view of the street and fountain before us. We then climbed up and took in the night time view of the city.

On our way back to Piazza del Popolo, I bought some roasted chestnuts from a street vendor to keep my stomach from being too upset with me. Yummy... I love roasted chestnuts. We finally found a place that was about to close, but they took us in anyway. Dinner again was just ok. My risotto was undercooked and I ended up not eating much at all. Everyone else's food was better than mine luckily.

We walked back to the metro only to find it was closed! Oh crap, it was late, we were tried, and how the heck were we going to get across town back to our cozy apartment? Well, there were others who found themselves in our boat, and then we all found a bus station across the street. The buses run much later than the metros, we discovered. So we caught a bus to Termini, which we were getting quite used to by then, and then caught another bus to our apartment. Ahh...finally time to hit the sack!

On day 2 in Rome, we had a date with the Pope at 10:30 am. We made our way to St. Peter's Square in plenty of time to get good seats, despite the large crowd that had gathered for the audience. The square is huge, and the Basilica, massive. Really impressive. We sat in our seats, baking in the sun for over an hour before the Pope made his debut in his Pope-mobile. The crowd went wild, with everyone standing up on their seats to get a view. We caught several glimpses of the man zooming by waving at his adoring audience, and managed to get one good shot of him as well. The event seemed long and tiring since it was so hot. Shel got creative and decided to make some paper hats out of the newspapers we had 😊 He even made one for El and dad. They were a hit, and we all got a good laugh out of them. One and a half hot hours later it was over.

We walked around and took some pictures and just admired the place for a bit. Then we set off to find some grub. We ended up at a pizzeria, this time a fast food type of place. We had a quick bite, and everyone agreed the pizza was much better than the day before. Then we got our first taste of gelato and it lived up to it's glory.

After lunch we went back to St. Peter's square only to find a ridiculously long line of people waiting to get into the basilica. So, we decided to skip it and try going to the Vatican museum first. So, we walked around the outside walls of the Vatican City and found the museum entrance. First stop we made there was the Sistine Chapel. The halls on the way were so impressive...all decorated with tapestries and the ceilings were adorned with frescoes. I had that dejavu feeling... where have I seen this before.... Ah! Venetian casino in Vegas ;-)

We walked into the Sistine Chapel, which was fully packed with anxious tourists. Though there were attendants there who repeatedly reminded people that no pictures and no talking was allowed, the place was a buzz with chatter and folks clicking away. So, we snuck a few pictures as well ;-) The frescoed ceiling was beautiful, and Micelangelo's well known "God Creating Adam" scene was brilliant. Our necks hurt from looking up at all of the fantastic scenes, so we sat down for a bit and just tried to take it all in.

We skipped the museum since our tickets were valid for 4 days, and instead took the shortcut to the Basilica. You really get a sense of awe when walking in. The place is so huge and everything is very grand and ornate. All the art in the church look like paintings, but are actually mosaics. When you look closely, you can tell. We visited the crypt and saw the tombs of the past Popes. Pope Jean Paul's tomb was the most visited, and it was quite simple.

We were pooped by that point, so we took the metro back to Vittorio station and walked back to the apartment to siesta. That evening, we ate dinner in... we had left overs and sandwiches. Later, Shel, El, my mom and I went out to do Rick Steves' recommended "night walk" from Campo dei Fiori to the Spanish Steps. Shel's parents decided to stay in as they were feeling tired. We ended up starting out at Trevi Fountain around Piazza Bernini and made our way to Piazza Navona. The Trevi Fountain was fantastic... it really kind of just hits you in the face as you walk down one of the narrow streets leading up to it and round the corner...bam, there it is in all it's glory! I don't know what it feels like to see it during the day, but at night, it's just beautiful. It's lit so well and you can really appreciate the sculptures and design of the fountain. We sat around there and took several pictures. Luckily we found a good mode to take some night shots there. We also did the cheesy touristy tradition of tossing a coin into the fountain.

We continued our walk after picking up some of the best gelato I had on the entire trip... a place right by the Trevi fountain. We strolled to the Pantheon. Saying it's massive is an understatement. It's aged and has been damaged during wars and weather, but it's still so impressive. The gigantic columns in the front are all apparently in a single piece, each brought from Egypt! Hard to imagine how that was done by in those days.

Next we continued on to Piazza Navona and the Fountain of the Four Rivers by Bernini. The fountain is really nice, and behind it is a church designed by his nemesis, Borromini. We called it a night after this and made our way back to the apartment. All in all, we had a great outing, and a very eventful day in general!

The next day was our last full day in Rome since we were taking a day trip to Assisi the day after. We covered the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. With the Roma Pass we were able to skip the lines at Colosseum and get thru easily. We took the guided tour since without it, we'd feel like we were just looking at an old crumbling arena, with no sense of the history of the place. It's amazing that the place is still standing from all the invasions and pillaging that occurred. They mined the stones to use to build other buildings around Rome. Must have been something to see it in it's prime...with beautiful columns and polished granite.

It was lunch time after we finished up at the Colosseum. We got a quick bite from one of the food vendors in the area between Colosseum and Palatine Hill and then entered the complex. We made the mistake of going in without a map, which was not smart. We wandered around the huge place, looking at ruins and reading the tidbits on the plaques. This was the area where all the emperors' palaces once stood. The grounds are pretty, but it's still hard to imagine the palatial elegance it once possessed. It was a hot and dry day, so walking around was no easy feat. We tried to stay hydrated, but the sun was just too intense that day. Eventually we found our way to the Roman Forum and quickly explored the ruins before heading out.

We called it an early day since we had to get up early the next day for our trip to Assisi.

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Photos

The Pope!
Riding by in his Pope-mobile :)

The Fountain of the Four Rivers
At Piazza Novana