Day two of Rome on the BBA and Gretchen's8(which turned into 10)stop tour

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Sunday 18th October
Day two of Rome on the BBA and Gretchen’s 8(which turned into 10) stop tour.
We are as warm as toast inside our mobile home with the heat pump churned up to 25C all night. But a glance out the window at first light indicates that today might just be a bit cooler than yesterday and cloudier.
We were ready to hit out for the city about the same time as yesterday. And just as well as Gretchen has a plan to make sure we see all the main sights in the city except the Vatican which we will save for tomorrow.
Again we timed our walk to the bus stop well and only had to wait a few minutes before a bus arrived and we were whisked off to the subway station. The electric trains on the underground run at 6 minute intervals even on a Sunday so we didn’t have to wait long at the station either.
Instead of a violin player today for entertainment we had a rather pitiful looking young gypsy woman with a child in her arms get on a station or two after we got on and ramble something we couldn’t understand for a couple of minutes to all those in our carriage and then proceeded to walk up and down holding out her cup for money.
She did look very pitiful but we resisted giving any money and her demeanour changed when the train pulled into the station she wanted to get off at and a happier expression came onto her face and her child also seemed to be smiling. By now though she had got what she could out of those in the carriage and she was off to catch another train and do it all over again.
Gypsies and Africans are an immigration problem that Italy doesn’t know how to control and we were to see more evidence of this later in the day.
First stop this morning was at San Pietro in Vincoli Basilica which took a little bit of finding. On the way there as we climbed the steps over the Colosseum Subway station we were offered an English speaking guided tour of lesser known places and streets in Rome.We told the guy that we were on our own tour arranged by Gretchen of the lesser known places and streets and it was going to cost us.......nix!!We think he thought we were nuts!!
As we walked along an alleyway towards the steps that would take us to our first destination we noticed a number of dark skinned people who looked like Muslims standing around a doorway listening to something that we couldn’t make out going on inside.We hadn’t seen or read about any mosques in central Rome and so perhaps this was something temporary set up for the increasing number of Muslim immigrants now living in Rome.
San Pietro has a couple of attractions besides having a beautiful interior.There were a good number of tourists there despite it being a Sunday morning.The statue of Moses completed by Michaelangelo is something very special and he has captured the face of one of the main characters of the Old Testament superbly.Interestingly light comes on and off every 30 seconds or so to give you the opportunity to photograph the statue in full or dimmed light.
The other attraction people come to the church to see are the chains reputedly worn by St Peter when he was crucified.They are on display in front of the main alter in a simple glass box.
We couldn’t have timed our arrival much better at our next destination a few minutes walk up the road at another Basilica called Santa Maria Maggiore.Pope Liberius had this church built in AD 352 after the Virgin Mary instructed him to build the church where the next snow fell!!It is cool out today but we didn’t think that it ever snowed in Rome!!
The church was packed with people and initially we didn’t realise that there was a full mass going on until a choir started to sing.Then we noticed all the people taking notice of what was going on up front at the alter.
This place was certainly busy with two confession boxes going non stop all the while that the mass was happening and tourists milling around.It all seemed busier than Piccadilly Station!!
The choir were a delight to listen to especially when their combined voices reverberated around the interior.
The best part though came just as we were thinking about leaving.The mass had come to an end and the centre aisle to the alter opened up.There seemed to be a lot of organisation going on and next thing a procession of all the priests and bishops in their finery trooped past where we stood towards the end of the church.Then the big cheese resplendent in his red hat(denoting we think a cardinal)walked by issuing blessings to everyone standing there including us.I think I got ‘hit’ by one of those blessings as I felt my spirits rise dramatically for the few seconds I was in the presence of the cardinal.Perhaps he was hoping I would convert to RC on the spot!!!
We got out of there just in time and made our way to stop #3 of the day at Baths of Diocletian(which weren’t open for some reason)and onto another Basilica ,this time,the di Santa Maria degli Angeli(what a mouthful!!) which is attached to the baths and was designed by Michaelangelo which becomes very apparent when you step inside by the vastness of the spaces.
Here we were entertained by a woman giving an organ recital including a piece by a famous English composer(whose name now escapes me)who was more known,or at least we thought so, for his brass band type music.It was different to hear this tempo coming from the massive organ and we captured a good part of the number on video.
We were doing so well that we gave ourselves lunchtime and as we were near a McD’s we killed two birds with one stone and had fries and a wrap as well as relieving ourselves!!Although I must say it was the smelliest(sorry about that)McD’s mens toilet I have ever been into or probably of any toilet I have been into.The ladies came up with a pass from Gretchen though.
While we were having lunch 2 additional stops were added to the tour(hence the blog title)and to get to them we caught the subway back towards the Colosseum.The two extra places were highlighted on a tourist map we had of Rome from the camping ground but as it turned out neither the Piazza Vittirio nor the Domus Aurea were actually worth a visit.At least at the Piazza stop we get to see about a dozen or so cats who lived amongst the small amount of ruins left on view.

We then got back to the original plan with the Pantheon the next call.This is reportedly the best preserved building of its time.The original,which you can make out in part,was built in 27 BC although the structure has been added to over the years.
It has been used as a church in the past and there is still an alter in place today. A number of Italian kings and Raphael,synonymous with a considerable amount of the artwork at the Vatican,are buried here and their tombs are on display.
The building is open to the sky at the peak of the dome so rain does get in.Where it falls,the floor has a drain.This opening lets in light in what would otherwise be a rather dark interior as there are no windows.
The columns holding up the front portico are in Greek style and at first look you would think you were in Athens and not Rome.
It wasn’t far to Piazza Navona,another favourite for hordes of tourists,many of whom were having a late lunch or sipping on a coffee or a wine at the dozens of restaurants and cafes around the piazza.Bernini’s masterpiece,Fountain of the Four Rivers takes centreplace.By now we had seen so many fountains that any new ones were starting to look like those we had already seen.We took a stop here to buy a gelato(we or at least I have one most days trying to get through all the flavours available)and sat in the shop people watching while we ate the monstrous size cones.
The afternoon was moving on and so we were we to the next Piazza known locally as ‘Il Campo’which had been the place executions were carried out during the Inquisition although today is a much more peaceful place given over to artists on a Sunday trying to sell their paintings to tourists who have room in the luggage to take one home.There are a couple more fountains here but on a much smaller scale than others we have seen over the past 2 days and not as dramatic.
It was here while we were taking a rest that we watched the funniest sight we have seen for a while.A black African guy selling his handbags was opposite us where we were resting all the time his eyes were darting from left to right keeping an eye out for the law who were obviously about.He was hiding effectively behind a car and when two policemen arrived on the scene he took off at a fast walk which turned quickly into a run.The policemen missed him but made their money for the afternoon by ticketing several cars parked illegally.Mind you they only issued the tickets after straightening up a no parking sign that would have fooled the drivers of the cars parked there.
We were close to the Tiber River which wends its way through the centre of Rome so we took the opportunity to detour a little from the planned route to take the river in.It’s not much to look at and has been concreted in,at least the banks are,resulting in no grassy verges to soften the concrete look.The river bed is well below the road and although there are walking paths on both sides there were only a handful of people walking alongside of it.The colour of the water was a weird shade of green giving it the look that all was not well with it.
This little detour put us off track for the second to last place we had planned to visit on the tour but we managed to find the steps to take us up to Piazza del Campidoglio which was the centre of Jupiter worship in ancient Rome.Here there is another building designed by....you guessed it ,Michaelangelo,although this one we wouldn’t have picked to be by me unless we had already read it.
As we walked down the lowest of the seven hills of Rome to the last tour stop,Santa Maria in Cosmedin,we became aware that we were passing by an increasing number of very dark African men sitting or standing in small groups on the side of the pavement.As we mentioned at the start of this blog,Italy has a problem with the number of Africans arriving illegally in the country via North Africa and across the Mediterean.
By the time we reached the church we found ourselves well outnumbered by literally hundreds of Africans who appeared to have gathered for some sort of protest as some of them had banners.Naturally,there were also large numbers of police although they were sitting back in their wagons off from the main road from where the Africans were gathered.
Just in case there was going to be any trouble we shortened out last stop to a quick look inside the church which has a beautiful inlaid Cosmatesque marble floor.We didn’t join the queue for the Bocca della Verita(Mouth of Truth) as it would have meant hanging around for too long and we just couldn’t be sure that trouble wasn’t brewing or whether the large gathering of Africans was normal here on a Sunday.For interest, it is said that if you put your right hand inside the ceramic mouth and tell a lie,it will snap shut!!
We were leg weary after the tour but it had been an interesting day full of history,beautiful churches and piazza’s and I had been blessed by a Cardinal!!
We made some quick train connections to our bus and we were back home before we knew it and into a cold Peroni before dinner and some surfing time on the internet as we plan the next week ahead.

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Comments

[Rin]

*LOL* at 'the big cheese in his red hat' :-D