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Published: June 19th 2010
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We went up to Rome for the last 3 days that Naomi and Craig were here. Although it is only 2 hours away, Jamy and I had not visited since arriving in Naples as we have been using our time off to head further afield. 3 days was an ideal time to spend in the city. Although there are an incomprehensible number of museums, paintings, sculptures and ruins - there is only so much one can take in at a time. As Nomes said on Day 3 - 'I really don't think I need to see another marble head.'
We arrived on the Wednesday and immediately headed out to get a feel for Rome at the Spanish steps and Trevi Fountain. After throwing a coin in to the Trevi Fountain as a small child..I had returned and had to throw another in to ensure I make it back again. Apparently they clear over 3000 Euro a day in the peak of tourist season but it does go to charity. Our next stop was the Crypt at the Church of the Capuchin Monks. This was one of my highlights for the Rome trip as I had never seen anything quite so
unusual. The crypt consists of 6 small rooms which are all decorated with bones. Although it sounds slightly macabre, the crypt is actually fascinating and doesn't seem gruesome as the decoration was all done by monks and the bones used were the bones of fellow monks. The bones from all parts of the body are used to build everything in the room from the mirrors on the wall to the chandeliers.
For sunset we went up the Vittoriano which is a white monument that stands out from the rest of the buildings in Rome and has an observation deck on top. I thought that it was a beautiful building but learned later that Romans have regarded it as an eyesore ever since it as built at the start of the 1900s and have christened it the 'typewriter.' I guess a 100 year old building is a total 'newcomer' in Rome!
The next day we were up early and headed to Vatican City. St Peter's was particularly impressive although we began wondering what the rest of Rome might have looked like when found out that most of the marble in the Vatican City was plundered from the Roman Forum.
The church was fairly busy as we had arrived in peak tourist season but we managed to climb the Basilica early and get some great views out over Rome. After watching the Angels and Demons movie we half expected to see Tom Hanks run across the square! We then went to the Vatican museum where we felt the full force of the August tourist season. From the initial entry hall, it took about an hour and a half to file through various rooms before reaching the Sistine Chapel. I am sure that the art and exhibits within these rooms were amazing but unfortunately when surrounded by a throng of hot, sweaty, grumpy tourists focussed solely on getting to the Sistine Chapel, you are carried along by the wave and not really able to stop and explore much on the way. Although the Vatican City must be the richest country in the world by population, this money is not being spent on air conditioning systems and the windows were few and far between. Well before we had made it to the Sistine Chapel my only goal had become the pursuit of fresh air and I couldn't get out of there soon
enough!
We wandered back to the hotel via Castel SantAngelo - another Roman building which has become infinitely more recognisable following 'Angels and Demons.' It does have a small museum on the inside with medieval art and weaponry but I think they might be better served by setting up a museum to the movie - there were notably more tourists on the outside getting pictures than heading in!
On our last day in Rome we finally got back to see the Colosseum in daylight. The ruins are definitely stunning in the evening though. After seeing the length of the queues to buy tickets we decided that a 'tour' might be the way to go and that we would probably learn more as well. After being 'scouted' by a friendly Australian chap who was selling tickets we ended up on a tour with a fairly knowledgeable Italian guide. Unfortunately the tour consisted of standing outside the Colosseum for a 10 minute talk, then heading inside for a 10 minute talk...and then we were left to our own devices to explore the place. We felt a little ripped off as we might as well have read the Lonely Planet! It
was interesting to learn that the Colosseum was built on what was a massive man made lake previously. One of the Emperors spent a lot of money developing vast gardens and a lake but after he died the Colloseum was built to return the area to the public as the new Emperor was a bit embarrassed by the previous Emperor's excesses.
A wonderful couple of days in a city we will definitely have to revisit.
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