Day 2 in Rome

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Our first full day in Rome has come to an end. We kept the day “light”, to allow time to adjust to the time change, and catch up on sleep we missed during our travels. There is an 8-hour time difference to back home. So when it is noon in Rome, it’s 4 am back home. When the kids are finishing school, it is 11:30 pm here.

With our hotel right in front of the Pantheon, we are very close to most of Ancient Rome. We are able to walk to most places, which is great, and the main reason we chose this place. Each morning, we get a complimentary breakfast at a restaurant across the piazza. We set an alarm for 9 am to ensure we didn’t sleep the day away. I felt fine all day, while Maria has struggled adjusting. (As I write this first part, we are taking a break in our hotel room…Maria is having a nap at 6 pm).

When we leave the hotel, we leave our key at the front desk. Then when we return, we ask for it back, and up to our room we go. The staff get to know you as you come and go, but it was a little strange when one guy who we hadn’t met gave us our key, without knowing who we were. Could anyone just walk in and ask for a certain room and get the key? I hope not!

Anyway, after we got ready for the day, we went across the piazza to have our breakfast. We sat outside and straight ahead, we could see the window of our hotel room. To the right, the front columns of the Pantheon. The piazza at this time isn’t too busy, but as we sat and ate, more and more people were arriving. There are tour groups everywhere. The leader of each group walks around with some long pole with a flag or such on top so the group can follow. They talk into a microphone and each person can listen via a radio they wear around their neck. Personally, I don’t see the appeal to seeing the sights in such a big group.

Breakfast was simple – somewhat of a buffet. They had bacon, eggs, cereals, breads, meats and cheeses, fruits, and coffee, juice, and water. It will be nice to have that to start our day.

“We” did very little planning for this trip, unfortunately. Life was too hectic leading up to the trip, so beyond booking flights, a hotel, and a tour of the Vatican a couple of hours before flying out, everything else was left to figure out along the way. Based on friends’ recommendations, I did buy Rick Steves’ Rome 2012 travel book. A lot of what we do is going to be based on this book. I mention this because our first day consists of Rick’s “Heart of Rome” Walk.

The Heart of Rome Walk starts at Campo de’ Fiori, goes to Piazza Navona, then on to the Pantheon (where our hotel is), and the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps beyond. We figured the earlier in the day we saw the Pantheon the better, as the crowds were building as the morning passed. So after breakfast, we walked a few feet towards the fountain in the middle of the piazza and stared at the giant front of the Pantheon.

For those who haven’t been to Italy, you may learn a thing or two. For those that have been, sorry…skip some parts.

The Pantheon is considered Rome’s best preserved monument. Engineers still admire how the Romans built such a mathematically precise structure without computers, fossil fuel-run machinery, or electricity. It was a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods. The original temple was built in 27 B.C., but after a couple of fires, the structure we see today was completely rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian around A.D. 120.

It looks like a typical temple from the outside, but “they” say this is perhaps the most influential building in art history. Its dome was the model for the Florence cathedral dome, which launched the Renaissance, and for Michelangelo’s dome of St. Peter’s, which capped it all off. Even the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. was inspired by this dome. The columns out front are 40 feet high single pieces of granite from Egypt. It’s hard to imagine these giant pieces of granite came all the way from Egypt by ship.

Inside the building is very different from what you see from the front. The dome is a mathematical perfection. It is as high as it is wide – 142 feet from floor to rooftop and from side to side. To picture it, imagine a basketball set inside a wastebasket so that it just touches bottom. The dome is made of concrete (a Roman invention) that gets lighter and thinner as it reaches the top. The base of the dome is 23 feet thick, while near the top, it’s less than five feet thick. The building is all naturally lit via the oculus (or hole) in the ceiling, which is about 30 feet wide. What happens when it rains? It’s supposed to be quite the site…as the rain falls into the building. The 1,800 year old floor, with 80% of its original stones surviving, has holes in it and slants toward the edges to let the rainwater drain.

We aren’t very big art fans, but the famous artist Rafael lies in a tomb which you can see encased in glass.

You can see on the outside of the building how it is sunken below current street level, showing how the rest of the city has risen on 20 centuries of rubble.

From here, we zig-zagged our way over to Campo de’ Fiori, the actual start of Rick Steves’ Heart of Rome Walk. The piazza changes a bit throughout the day. It starts with a vegetable and fruit market in the morning, cafes in the evening and pub-crawlers at night. We grabbed some fruit from the market and sat at the base of a statue of Giordano Bruno, an intellectual heretic who was burned on this spot in 1600. Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Theatre of Pompey, where the senate was renting space. Apartments are built right into the old outer wall of the theatre.

From here, we walked 5 or so minutes to Piazza Navona. I believe this is Rome’s biggest piazza. The oblong shape of the square retains the shape of the original racetrack that was built around A.D. 80. At one end you can look 25 feet below street level and see the ruins of the original entrance

Along the outskirts of the piazza, we find numerous restaurants, with people eating on the patios. We avoid these places, as we’ve been warned these tend to be tourist traps – low quality food at very high prices. In the middle, there are lots of displays of artwork by various artists. Of course, you have to have your typical musician playing the accordion.

All along our walk, we’ve seen amazing buildings, fountains, obelisks, and lots of people!

From here, we walked east (I think) a few minutes, and we are right back at the Pantheon and our hotel. It was lunch time by this point and decided to try a very popular local restaurant called Miscellanea. It was packed with locals having their lunch, which is a good thing. There was hardly any room to walk. The owner, Mikki, sat at the register near the front and asked why a beautiful woman (pointing to Maria) would be caught with me (gesturing to me). I was holding money to pay, so I held it up and said this is why, pointing to the money. He then proceeded to tell Maria to slap me. We had a good laugh. I’d like to try this place again, but maybe time it so we aren’t there with the lunch crowd.

From here, we walked past our hotel in another direction. Not far away, as you come around a corner, we find the Trevi Fountain. Rick Steves describes it well – The magic of the square is enhanced by the fact that no streets directly approach it. You can hear the excitement as you draw near, and then – bam! – you’re there. It was quite a scene. TONS of people. I was on full guard for pick pockets as it was very crowded. We managed to get to the fountain’s edge and do the obligatory coin toss over the shoulder in wishing a return to Rome. We plan on coming back here another day at a time when we can hopefully avoid the mid-day crowds.

Another 10 minute walk further and we found the Spanish Steps. I guess it’s famous for the people that have hung out here writing famous poems etc. Neither of us were very impressed with it. We walked up the steps, looked around a bit, and checked it off the list.

We hopped in a taxi (our first use of one in Rome) at a Taxi stand. They are spaced out every few blocks, and at major tourist sites. We had the taxi take us to the Catacombs of Priscilla. There are a few catacombs that are more famous, and much more visited, but these are just as good. The cost for the taxi was 11.30 Euro. It was suggested that you round up to the nearest Euro, so I gave him 12 Euro. He said, “no, no…I give you one back”. He rounded down and didn’t want a tip. Very different from back home! We must have lucked out with our driver.

The Catacombs of Priscilla likely originated as underground tombs for Christians, who’d meet to worship in the wealthy Christian’s home that was on this spot. As poor people couldn’t generally afford a nice plot in a cemetery, they would dig graves at a generous person’s home…and dig and dig. We entered through a convent and then descended below. The catacombs are the result of over 250 years of tunneling that occurred from the 2^nd century to the 5^th century.

There are niches carved into the volcanic tuff where people were buried. They niches would then be closed off with either marble (for the wealthy) or terracotta (for the poor). There are various sized niches as well…some that are larger (for adults), smaller ones for children, and very small ones for babies.

The oldest drawing of Mary nursing baby jesus is found in these catacombs. It’s hard to believe that in the entire world, we have seen the oldest drawing of such an important religious figure such as Mary, There are about 40,000 niches carved here, along with some cool looking frescoes.

We were amazed to see a building in Scotland that was from the year 1200 approx. The buildings here make the ones we saw in Scotland seem so new.

We came back to the hotel to unwind for a bit. Maria had yet another nap while I began to record what we did today, and look ahead to the all important question…where do we eat tonight?

Near our hotel, some of the best restaurants in Rome can be found. One that was suggested was Ristorante de Fortunato. It’s a higher end restaurant that typically requires reservations. It is only a 1 minute walk from our hotel so we decided to see if we could get in. Italians typically eat between 8 and 10 pm, and the restaurant doesn’t open until 7:30 pm. We went fairly soon after it opened for the night and were in luck. They had a table that wasn’t reserved that early. The walls are lined with pictures of famous people who have eaten there, including Ronald Regan, Bill Clinton, Condolizza Rice, Mick Jagar, and the Stanley Cup courtesy of the Chicago Blackhawks. We had a great meal.

There are a couple of issues that are starting to become a problem. First, if we order a bottle of wine, I end up having to drink ¾ of it. Second, there is definitely a language barrier. Half of the time when I order something, I get something slightly different or not at all what I was expecting. Tonight, for dessert, I thought I was getting some white chocolate mousse desert. Instead, he brought me a tart.

I’m finishing this at just about 11 pm. It’s time to hit the sack, as we have to be up early tomorrow. We are going with a small group tour of about 10 people through the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. We have to be over there at 7:50 am.

We hope all is well back home. We miss the kids!

Ciao

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Photos

Forno pizza
A favorite among the locals.

Comments

[Bev Deitz]

Looks like a wonderful trip. Happy Birthday Maria. Hope you do something really special today.

[Ron Deitz]

Happy Birthday Maria...
Hope you have a fantastic day. Ron & Bev