Robbed in the Rain in the Ruins In Rome


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Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome
March 6th 2011
Published: March 6th 2011
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When I say robbed I do not mean held at knife point or even getting pickpocketed oh no I mean that Rome is quite possibly the most expensive place we have ever been to in our lives, for example when a cup of tea costs 9Euros and a can of cola costs 7Euros we kind of expected Father Christmas and the PGtips monkey to deliver these drinks personally on gold plates and when they didn’t we felt robbed. These prices were the average in Rome, as was the 5Euro obligatory bread with every meal, which on one occasion we turned it down only to receive a stroppy waiter and very small dinners… we realised we had hurt his feelings.
But lets move on and I will tell you more about our trip to Rome.

Day 1
We arrived about lunchtime on Monday 28th February, I went to the ticket stand and excited I used my Italian language skills for the first time, I asked for 2 tickets to Stazione Termini, the ticket seller was amused by my use of Italian and said 30 Euros please, I thought blimey that was a lot I am sure the books said it was cheaper, Joe complimented my use of Italian and then we got on the train. I looked at the ticket, they were 28 Euros, we had been in the country 10 minutes and we had been robbed of 2 euros, ok its not much but it was annoying.
It was suggested to me that if you want to do lots of sightseeing stay in Termini, it is the best place for all the transport links, we now know that there are better places to stay in Rome and that Termini could actually be twinned with Chalvey, Slough When we arrived in Termini we started to look for our B&B hotel called Lazzari, we thought about getting a taxi, it was only 1km but we were not sure where to go 18Euros is what he tried to charge us we quickly said no thanks as we walked quickly away. We finally found our hotel thanks to Joe bringing his Sat Nav.
The hotel receptionist said that our room was not available until tomorrow so we would be in a temporary room for tonight; this was fine we just wanted to dump our stuff and get out and see Rome.
We walked back to the Termini, the sun had been out and it had been fairly warm so we didn’t take coats we looked forward to our first trip on the hop on hop off Rome open tour bus. We ran upstairs and sat right at the front looking forward to seeing the sights but also decided to look out for somewhere to eat along the way at one of the stop off points. Setting eyes on the colloseum was amazing it truly was, it appeared smaller than I had pictured it to be but it was fantastic to see but we were now cold and very hungry and hadn’t seen one café or restaurant. We finally made an approach towards St Peters Basicalla and the Vatican and two restaurants. One of which we had Lasagne and hot drinks hoping the weather would get better but it started to spit with rain, this rain did not stop all week. We got back on the bus and saw a few more sights before heading back to termini and we walked back to the hotel for hot showers and to change into dry clothes. Unfortunately the showers in the hotel were lukewarm.
http://www.romeopentour.it/index-en.asp

Day 2
We left our bags with reception so they could put them in our new room and we headed to breakfast with our breakfast voucher. Breakfast everyday was a Croissant with a coffee or tea, no options it was just that but the café was warm and the staff were really lovely so this was good. Today I had prebooked tickets to the Vatican Museum which allowed us to skip the line, we decided to get the hop on hop off bus to the Vatican but due to the heavy rain we stayed inside the bus.
The Vatican Museums are among the greatest museums in the world, they display works from the collection built up by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries, including some of the most famous classical sculptures and most important masterpieces of Renaissance art in the world.
Pope Julius II founded the museums in the early 16th century. The Sistine Chapel and the Stanze della Segnatura decorated by Raphael are just some of the things we saw during our trip.
The paintings were breath-taking and as you walk through the museums you can’t help but admire the magnificently decorated ceilings. We both really enjoyed the Sistine chapel and I managed to get a sneak photo (you are not allowed to take photos in there – but I don’t use flash) whilst in there the guards shout SILENCE, SILENCIO, due to the chapel being a holy place which the pope still uses they want silence in the chapel.
We had lunch in the Vatican Museum Café and then we decided to go and take a look at St Peters Basilica, there was still heavy rain which had brought out the umbrella sales men on every corner of every street in Rome! St Peters basilica is they say the burial site of Saint Peter, some historical evidence claims that Saint Peter's tomb is directly below the altar of the basilica. Due to the weather and the fact that we were again cold and wet we decided to go back to our room to warm up and change to get ready to go out for dinner so we did not go inside the Basilica today, we decided to go another day, however as you will see the weather did cut our days short so that we could get warm and dry so we did not make it inside there, but it was impressive to see from the outside.
http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

Day 3
It is Joes Birthday, YAY, Joe wishes to see the Forum and the Colloseum for his birthday and today it looks sunny outside. FINALLY NO RAIN. We jumped on the hop on hop off bus which took us to the Colloseum, we would do this this afternoon as rumour has it it is quieter. We walked on down towards the Forum with umbrella sales men shoving umbrella’s under our noses constantly and being very persistant. We used our Roma Passes to enter the Forum which meant we didn’t have to pay as soon as we walked in it started raining, heavy rain again but we did walk around and enjoyed the enormity of the Forum, Joe shared with me his knowledge of Roman history as this is a subject that he enjoys . We looked around the Forum for about 2 hours at which point we were very wet and cold so we decided to go and get some lunch and some hot drinks before heading back to hotel to dry out agreeing to do the Colloseum tomorrow.
As we walked away from the Forum and past the Colloseum a huge well-built Roman Soldier approached us and asked me “I kill your Husband?” “go for it” I replied laughing as he grabbed Joe and smacked him on the bum with his sword, There are no photos of this due to the 20 Euro charge to have your photo taken with a Soldier, that’s almost 3 cans of cola 
After we had dried out and rested we decided to go to a nice restaurant we had seen in the guidebook given to us by Joes dad as it was Joes birthday. The rain was as persistent as the umbrella sales men so we decided half way there to give up and try somewhere closer which turned out to be the best decision we made. We entered a restaurant filled with locals (always a good sign) and a menu only in Italian, the atmosphere was friendly and the décor was modern – think Pizza Express come wine bar.
I asked for Un table per due  and the waiter showed us to our table, we did however have to ask the waiter to translate the menu which he was happy to oblige, Joe had Steak with Balsamic Sauce and I had Steak with Pepper sauce – this steak really was the best steak we have ever had, it melted like chocolate buttons in your mouth it really was amazing, we let our hair down and had 2 drinks each with this meal, the wine was incredible. We decided we would definitely come back here but we knew I had had too much when I thanked the waiter in Spanish  oooops

Day 4
After our Croissant and coffee this morning we decided to visit the one place I had been looking forward to all week, it wasn’t raining but we were not taking any chances we still took our coats with us which was a good job too…
We visited the Capuchin Crypt, and wow it was fascinating, the crypt is a small area beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini on the Via Veneto near Piazza Barberini, the crypt contains 4000 bodies believed to be Capuchin Friars. The deceased friar would be buried and then 30 years later they would be exhumed to decorate the walls of the crypt.
The following information I have taken from Wikipedia to explain to you about each room, we were not able to take photographs due to the fact that it was a holy place. I decided that I would stick to this and not even try and sneak one in incase the ghost of one of these Friars came to get me in my sleep 
There are six total rooms in the crypt, five featuring a unique display of human bones believed to have been taken from the bodies of friars who had died between 1528 and 1870.
1. Crypt of the Resurrection, featuring a picture of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, framed by various parts of the human skeleton. The key to interpreting the crypt's displays of funereal art lies in the Christian belief in the Resurrection of the body and everlasting life .
2. The Mass Chapel, as an area used to celebrate Mass, does not contain bones. In the altar-piece, Jesus and Mary exhort St. Felix of Cantalice, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Anthony of Padua to free souls from Purgatory. The chapel contains a plaque with the acronym DOM, which stands for Deo Optimo Maximo ("To God, the Best and Greatest"), a term initially used to refer to the pagan god Jupiter but claimed by later Christians. The plaque contains the actual heart of Maria Felice Peretti, the grand-niece of Pope Sixtus V and a supporter of the Capuchin order. The chapel also contains the tomb of the Papal Zouaves who died defending the Papal States at the battle of Porta Pia.
3. Crypt of the Skulls
4. Crypt of the Pelvises
5. Crypt of the Leg Bones and Thigh Bones
6. Crypt of the Three Skeletons The center skeleton is enclosed in an oval, the symbol of life coming to birth. In its right hand it holds a scythe, symbol of death which cuts down everyone, like grass in a field, while its left hand holds the scales, symbolizing the good and evil deeds weighed by God when he judges the human soul. A placard in five languages declares
You Tube Tour of the crypt -
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On leaving we bought postcards so we do have pictures that we can show you – this really was a fascinating place – we went for lunch and mulled over what we had seen. We decided to go to the colloseum this afternoon, then it rained. What is it with the Colloseum and rain?
Before heading to the colloseum we visited the Spanish steps which has a great basilica at the top, and the Fountain of Trevi, the steps were filled with men selling roses, that was until it started raining again and then they hid the roses and pulled out the umbrellas…. Non Non Non I do not want one of your umbrellas…
The Trevi fountain was huge, this was filled with many tourists chucking their coins in as their promise to return to Rome, we did chuck our coins in but then we spied our friendly umbrella men going round the fountain with magnets on a stick stealing the money from the fountain – we decided to head to colloseum.
With our Roma Passes we were able to get free public transport so on the metro we went, the metro in Rome is pretty easy to use and understand so we made our way to the colloseum quickly. When we arrived we saw a longish queue but nothing drastic but we of course had our Roma Passes this meant we could just the queue so in we went.
We have seen the Colloseum in the movies, on the TV and in pictures when we were kids at school but to be here was just so overwhelming, and Joe can now say he has peed in the colloseum (in a toilet I must add) it is crazy to think that all those years ago 50,000 to 100,000 Romans would come to watch sports, Gladiatorial events and even when the colloseum was filled with water – yes filled with water they would watch re-enactments of sea battles .
To be a gladiator was generally not a job a man took by choice, he may be a criminal who was to be put to death, trees would be placed in the colloseum ring to depict a scene before animals such as lions, cheetahs or tigers were thrust into the stage with the gladiator and then it would become a case of whoever survives is the winner, Gladiators that survived became as popular as rock stars are today, a few men did choose this lifestyle but many did not survive. Although cold wet and tired we really enjoyed today and headed back to the hotel to dry our clothes out again.

Day 5
The Cattacomb of St Sebastian is somewhere Joe wanted to visit before leaving Rome so we made the effort to get the train and the bus out to Appia Way which once upon a time was the main route into Rome for the Romans, along Appia Way there are many Ruins which we saw from the road but did not go in, we walked along the 2km to the Cattacomb admiring the view, it was great to get out into the countyside for the day, it was beautiful even if it was raining this to me was the Italy that I had pictured in my mind, fields, farms and ruins and small cafes with locals drinking expressos and eating pizza – it was lovely.
We arrived at the catacomb and paid our entrance fee, we were told that the English tour started in 20 minutes; I said to Joe do we want to be on a tour or do we just want to walk around? Before Joe could answer the woman smiled and said “you cannot walk around by yourselves, you will see” we nodded and waited in the church which was huge, the carvings on the ceiling described the death of St Sebastian, St Sebastian converted to Christianity, conversion of your faith was a crime in his day he was tied up and arrows were shot through his body and he was left to die but he survived. He was caught and they beat him to death. His remains were buried in the catacomb the catacombs were temporarily used as place of sepulture of two other saints martyred in Rome, Peter and Paul, whose remains were later transferred to the two basilicas carrying their names. As well as Peter, Paul and Sebastian there was also the tombs of thousands of Christians who had died from babies to men, there were family tombs and single tombs – 7 miles of it infact. We only walked part of it, our guide explained that many people have panic attacks while down there due to the space constraints.
As well as the Christian graves there were also three Roman Catholic tombs with urns of ashes, this our guide explained proved that having the graves underground was not to hide from the Romans but was just their way of carrying out burials.
On leaving the catacombs we entered a small room with a huge cross on the wall with a life size Jesus attached, our guide explained that this was made from one piece of wood which really was impressive.
It was now almost lunchtime and across the road there was a restaurant, we went in there for lunch and the gentleman said something in Italian (it could have been cling on) we had no idea what he said but from the gestures and pointing to his watch and throwing his arms in the air – he wasn’t open so we left. The bus had dropped us off at the edge of Appia Way where a nice looking café sat so we headed there and actually managed to have an outdoor meal (it was spitting still) infact it was the best lasagne I have ever had in my life, if you ever get the #660 to Appia Way it’s the first café you see. It’s a fab place.
Now for somewhere we have both been looking forward to, a bit of a secret in Rome from what we understand, not many people seem to know about it but we couldn’t wait to get there it was the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary Torre Argentina is home to over 180 cats, sheltered amongst the oldest temples in Rome (400-300 BC). Seven days a week volunteers from different countries, feed, clean and look after them. Many of these cats have been seriously abused or harmed some have been dumped. We spent a couple of hours with the cats stroking them, getting to know them and even long distance adopting an elderly cat with FIV who loved having her tummy rubbed her name is Lucky. The Volunteers are guests in the cats home, the cats really do own the property, sleeping in drawers, cupboards, on top of the microwave and then there is the disabled unit, the cats that are blind, deaf, missing a leg or even have severe dioreah or the little black cat who is put in there because his is a danger to himself and will run out into the road and get killed.
The Healthy cats are free to come and go as they please but they all sleep and play outside in the ruins, all of these cats are very happy cats – if you go to Rome make a special trip to this sanctuary and give lucky a stroke for us.

http://www.romancats.com/index_eng.php

Day 6
We will be heading home today, we have enjoyed it but the rain prevented us from seeing everything we wanted to see, today we visited the Basilica of Saint Mary of Angels and Martyrs, to be honest from the outside we didn’t think much of it from the outside but we ran in for refuge from the rain, this turned out to be a worthy visit. Inside was a meridian line
The meridian line – From Wikipedia
At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Pope Clement XI commissioned the astronomer, mathematician, archaeologist, historian and philosopher Francesco Bianchini to build a meridian line, a sort of sundial, within the basilica. Completed in 1702, the object had a threefold purpose: the pope wanted to check the accuracy of the Gregorian reformation of the calendar, to produce a tool to predict Easter exactly, and, not least, to give Rome a meridian line as important as the one Giovanni Domenico Cassini had recently built in Bologna's cathedral, San Petronio. This church was chosen for several reasons: (1) Like other baths in Rome, the building was already naturally southerly oriented, so as to receive unobstructed exposure to the sun; (2) the height of the walls allowed for a long line to measure the sun's progress through the year more precisely; (3) the ancient walls had long since stopped settling into the ground, ensuring that carefully calibrated observational instruments set in them would not move out of place; and (4) because it was set in the former baths of Diocletian, it would symbolically represent a victory of the Christian calendar over the earlier pagan calendar.
Bianchini's sundial was built along the meridian that crosses Rome, at longitude 12° 30' E. At solar noon, which varies according to the equation of time from around 10:54 a.m. UTC in late October to 11.24 a.m. UTC in February (11:54 to 12:24 CET), the sun shines through a small hole in the wall to cast its light on this line each day. At the summer solstice, the sun appears highest, and its ray hits the meridian line at the point closest to the wall. At the winter solstice, the ray crosses the line at the point furthest from the wall. At either equinox, the sun touches the line between the these two extremes. The longer the meridian line, the more accurately the observer can calculate the length of the year. The meridian line built here is 45 meters long and is composed of bronze, enclosed in yellow-white marble.
In addition to using the line to measure the sun's meridian crossing, Bianchini also added holes in the ceiling to mark the passage of stars. Inside the interior, darkened by covering the windows, Polaris, Arcturus and Sirius were observed through these holes with the aid of a telescope to determine their right ascensions and declinations. The meridian line was restored in 2002 for the tricentenary of its construction, and it is still operational today.
There was also a gallery about Galileo and his life and beliefs which was really interesting, this discussed his theory of the tides where he believed that the tides movement was due to fact that the earth was moving but of course this was argued in his day.
After lunch we headed to the airport where I felt warm enough to have my first Gelato (yummy) and I will say that I have no complaints at all with Easy jet – they were very good but the speedy boarding is definitely worth getting.
When we arrived in Gatwick it seemed we had brought the rain with us, although today (Sunday) it has been nice. We came out of the terminal and saw the bus to the long stay car park, we jumped on it and off we went. “I have a funny feeling this is not the right bus” I said to Joe, He agreed so we drove round 12 car parks before the bus emptied and I spoke to the driver, he asked why did you get on the wrong bus? I explained “because we wanted a tour of Gatwick car parks” with a smile He laughed and told us how to get back, we got on another bus to get back and explained the situation to the next driver who found this hilarious, he then started to take the mick “and on your left you will see a red car and on your right a blue car” we deserved it 
Finally we got on the right bus got our car and headed home 
So when you are next in Rome if you see a man with an umbrella up his bum, a torch in his nose and a rose in his ear – you know he crossed my path.
When in Rome…. Do as the Brits do… Carry an umbrella or take a waterproof.



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