Roma, Bella Roma–Day 1 (until about 4PM)

 


Outside of our feet, the metro is our mode of transportation.

 

We arise early, load up our backpacks and prepare for a packed day. We’ve made some modifications to our itinerary based on Melissa’s suggestions. It turns out her insights lead us to some of our best moments. Living in Europe has made us pretty comfortable with public transport, so we board at Termini metro station, make the transfer and we’re off at the Cavour stop looking for pick pockets every step of the way as Brick has informed us we should do.  Right as we surface at the Cavour station we meet the notorious Con Artist Number 3. He meekly asks for directions in Italian all the while plotting to distract us and use his wicked switchblade to cut my camera bag from my back and run off with it. Not to be fooled, we do our best to orient him and as he walks off it seems he’s just a nice guy asking for directions. I raise an imaginary mug of Root Beer in salute to Brick.



The non-descript facade of San Pietro En Vincoli.

  We set off with our map in search of San Pietro En Vincoli as recommended by Melissa. The cathedral supposedly has the chains that were used to hold Peter while he was in imprisoned in Jerusalem. I use my Italian again (of course, entirely impressed with myself no matter how horrible it probably REALLY sounds) to get us pointed in the right direction. The cathedral is very non-descript on the outside…you would never know it was anything worth seeing. But inside while not the largest, grandest cathedral I’ve seen, it has a very quiet, intimate beauty worth contemplation. There are hardly any people inside as it’s yet early for tourists and we pause to inspect beautiful murals and gothic depictions of days gone by. You can’t help but feel transported to a different time and place as you contemplate these things. Some people (read, "some Mormons" ) are not fond of cathedrals. I’ve heard people comment on how they are dark, spirit-less places that people cannot wait to get out of. I’ll confess I can’t pass a cathedral without wanting to go in. I find them to be places of majesty, awe, contemplation, beauty, and yes, spirituality. San Pietro is such a place and the crown jewel is Michelangelo’s statue of Moses (complete with horns believe it or not) adorning the corner. He spent over 30 years on the statue, and ever since I studied Michelangelo and high school I’ve had a reverence for his work. To see it in person is something  of a dream come true.
Within a stone’s throw of San Pietro is that colossal edifice the Coliseum. Now we’re talking. This is no collection of ancient statues and busts and rich people’s patios. The Coliseum is nothing short of a first class ticket to step into ancient history...even Brick agrees, giving it three triangles.

The Coliseum is simply stunning

Inside the Coliseum you feel the majesty of Rome at its peak. This edifice could hold 100,000 people with the nobles and senators seated closest (think season ticket holders) and the plebeian types seated in the nosebleeds. The Coliseum's ground level has since deteriorated revealing a complexity of catacombs underneath that were rigged with pulleys and platforms, making the “back stage” for the theatrics that would come above…lowering and raising animals, set pieces, etc. The spectacle must have been amazing. Coulson and I both agree, the Coliseum rocks.


From the Coliseum we connect directly with what is called The Forum.  If the Coliseum is the modern day Super Bowl, The Forum is something like The Mall in Washington D.C. It’s a collection government and commerce situated all within a large swath of land that has sunk well below much of the surrounding area…giving you the feeling your at the bottom of a large municipal amphitheater of sorts. We run into a hitch. I cleared off the entire memory card before I left (it’s a 4 gig card) but for some reason it says I only have 3 pictures left. What?!?! I quietly curse Becky D. from thousands of miles away for not only making me give her a list of drinks for the reunion (I will take that to my grave), but for not using her ESP to send me a subliminal message helping me to fix this. How can I be in Italy and only take 3 pictures? We begin going through the museum pictures and delete any and everything that seems totally boring freeing up a couple more shots.  Fortunately there were plenty of boring pictures, so we’re able to buy our selves a few more shots.
The Forum is mostly 80-90% destroyed, but I find it utterly fascinating.  Hardly any buildings are fully intact but perhaps it’s like the early Atari game Adventure…it’s your imagination that provides the magic, filling the gaps for what isn’t there.


The mighty ruins of the long past Roman Forum fires the imagination of Rome's days gone by

 This is quite simply the genesis of Western Civilization as we know i. Rows after rows of columns appear: one crumbled, the next 2/3rds intact, the next, all in a row allowing you to complete the line for what appears to be the Roman Pennsylvania Avenue.  We also catch a wonderful break.  The sun appears and burns off some of the early morning cloud layer giving us our bluest skies that we’ll seen the entire trip.

In my mind’s eye I fill in the details for each tumbled building and ponder a day in the life of a citizen thousands of years prior. I reflect on The Forum during the rest of our trip and decide it’s my favorite site of all.

We climb out of The Forum and wend our way toward the Pantheon which requires all of our map skills in order to navigate the maze of quaint Roman streets interspersed with high speed avenues. It bears a narrative detour to describe the Italian relationship of driver and pedestrian. Pedestrians just launch out into the street making the speeding Vespas and Fiats come to a grinding halt. It seems like suicide to step out in front of any motorized vehicle and Coulson and I both hug the curb while the Italians stride with bravado. Toward tend of our trip we follow closely behind confident Italians as they talk nonchalantly on their cell phones while parting a sea of traffic allowing us to  ride in their wake.

We also pop into a camera shop looking for a new memory card…we keep returning to old pictures and deleting the worst ones…but it’s getting down to the nubbies now. Only good pictures are left. And unfortunately, the new card I buy doesn’t fit. We’re getting desperate but have a few clicks left for the Pantheon.
Back to the Pantheon (another three triangle site). It was initially dedicated to several pagan gods but as Rome became Christianized it was given to the Catholic church and became a shrine to Mary, Peter, Jesus, and others.  Coulson indicates he was taught in his history class that as Rome was in decline and marauding armies were invading and destroying much of her beauty because the Pantheon was religious in nature it remained mostly untouched.  As a result, in contrast to The Forum the Pantheon is in pristine condition.  The dome is impressive as well with only St. Peter’s Basilica being larger.
At this point the hunger pangs are setting in…as we’ve probably walked a good 5 miles by now. We set off in search of Melissa’s recommended gelato shop but don’t have any luck. We look for Brick’s recommended spot and its been closed. We find Brick’s second spot…but they don’t serve cones…bruuuuump (buzzer sound). We finally find Giacoletti’s which is Brick’s final recommendation. It doesn’t disappoint. We get the large gelatos and I order white chocolate, hazelnut,and pistachio. The gelato is a meal in and of itself and makes American ice cream seem like…well let’s just say it will never taste the same again.    Giacoletti’s gets three triangles from us as well.
 

Topped off with gelato we head toward the most touristy of probably all the spots we’ll see in Italy, the Trevi Fountain.  Brick gave this just one triangle, and so I wasn’t anticipating anything to spectacular and the trip there is feels like wandering through a catacomb to make it.  With our map (and this is pretty much our entire time in Rome) we have to stop every 30 feet and check again. I even dust of the Italian again, “Dov’e La Fontana Di Trevi?”and after wandering down what seem to be random streets we stumble upon the spectacle.


The touristy Trevi Fountain - only one triangle according to "Brick" Steves -- yet we'll visit twice we like it so much

 The fountain is cool and Coulson and I both decide Brick is again too intellectual for us.  We like the unabashed fun of tossing our coins into the fountain and promising we’ll return again some day (I certainly hope so and tell Coulson we need to come here with his oldest).
Right next to Trevi we find another camera shop and this time we strike gold, buying the right memory card for our camera.  Excellent, we now have 300+ pictures we can take and we feel free to again snap away.
While the 7,000 calories of gelato we consumed has not yet burned off we’re at a break point where we have seen everything we planned on that day and its only 3PM or so.  Coulson’s attention span (while pretty impressive for a 12-year-old when I think about my level of interest at the Lincoln Memorial at that same age) pushes him forward when I would have liked to have lingered in a few more spots a bit longer…hence our rapid finish for the day.  Still we are well paced companions overall and had I been with Heather (I adore you sweetheart!) we’d probably still be looking at the fountain just outside our hotel .    We decide to go ahead and eat lunch and head back to the hotel.  Lunch is downright cool because we are looking for an obscure little pizzeria that Melissa recommended to us having stumbled upon it herself in a rainstorm some 15 years earlier.  After a bit of henpecking we are rewarded with Pascali’s Pizzeria and some of the finest pizza I’ve had.  “Due etti di quattro formaggio per favore” I say per Melissa’s instructions hoping I haven't requested a pizza topped with Mr. Pascali's first born child.   In no time I’m savoring the crunchy crust, tangy tomato sauce, and cool ambience with one stout Mr. Pascali serving it all up with the verve of an Italian sole-proprietor. 

My wisteful face only signals that we must depart this heavenly bastion of pizza glory

Trajan's magnificent column

By this point Coulson and I are mentally exhausted and ready for a break in hour hotel room.  We identify a path to get us to the Flaminio metro station that takes us by Trajan’s column (pictured to the left now topped with St. Peter instead of Emperor Trajan – another change due to Christianized Rome) and finally to Piazza Popolo where we are treated to couples macking at every bench.  We often joke about “metro mackers” haunting the Prague Metro but these guys are definitely more amorous, playing a level of tonsil hockey not witnessed during our time in Europe (although I have seen some French in Paris make the most of waiting for the crosswalk to signal the way is safe for pedestrians).  Why anyone feels a need for this kind of public display of affection is beyond me. 

Have you seen my gum?  Oh here it is in the back of your throat.

I forgot my pants today, is it ok if we wear the same pair?  It's a bit chilly this afternoon.



Blech is right.  I don't care how old you are, this is just gross

  We poke fun at them secretly while taking in the wide open space of the piazza while resting our weary legs.  We’re probably at 7 miles we’ve walked by this point and we are totally ready to crash.  I snap a few random pictures in the piazza…

…and then we head out for the hotel.

Roma, Bella Roma–Day Zero

Despite traveling from time to time for work I’ve never had the opportunity to go to Italy. Try as I might, I’ve not been able to concoct a valid business reason to visit this cradle of civilization, this bastion of gelato and pizza. (True story: I almost had the chance to go for a European summit there where the morale activity was to drive Ferrari’s on a race track. Then there was the economic slowdown…and the morale activity was probably changed something like lawn darts. I’m sure shareholders rejoiced, but alas like my golf game, Italy continued to evade me.)
Moving here to Prague for work some 6 months ago, it came time to rectify this Italy situation. Heather and I lit upon the idea of giving the kids one-on-one travel experiences with Mom or Dad for Christmas in lieu of gifts…well because if you read the story of us getting out here (see post from August) you know we cannot afford to bring one thing more home than we came out with. Moreover, we may never have the chance again to be so close to so much…kind of like not going to see Wall Drug while going through South Dakota…you get the picture.
So Coulson and I would be going to Rome together for 2.5 days. From Christmas day until D-day, Coulson was over-the-moon excited about the trip. I can’t say I was so enamored with seeing historical sites at his age, so it’s exciting to see him pour over the Rick Steve’s guide to Europe, re-reading the Rome section at least 3 times and planning out our entire itinerary down to the minute. He even has all the expenses calculated…I don’t have to do a thing but show up. If I had worn a tux, it would have been exactly like my wedding.

We depart Prague airport and enjoy a brief 2 hour flight to Rome…and to think if we were in Seattle that would get us just beyond Salt Lake City. It’s staggering how close such diversity can be in this continent. We land at the Leonardo DaVinci Fiumicino airport and immediately the adventure is on. We are on the lookout for pick pockets at every corner. While a decent business traveler, I have not done much tourist travel. Rick Steve’s has me convinced that everyone in Italy is a con artist waiting to pick my pocket. No problem, I’ve got a money belt now buried under 6 layers of clothing and I’ve memorized how to say “get the heck outta’ here in Italian”. I figure that I’m all set.
As we go to buy our tickets for the train to get from the airport to Rome’s transportation hub (called Termini) we meet Con Artist Number 1. As we’re trying to buy our tickets using the automated kiosk, we’re having trouble navigating the screens (probably designed by Google or something) and a CAN1 comes up behind us and begins helping us with the selections. I’m sure he’s going to somehow try and con us into buying tickets from him or get us into some clandestine cab. It turns out he’s just a nice guy trying to help. Thanks Mr. Steves.
Coulson is fixated on the schedule and freaked that we’re going to miss our train, so we rush on board with 5 minutes to spare and enjoy seeing the outskirts of Rome while chatting with two fellow passengers who are facing us in the seat configuration. The senior of the two, who lives in Italy, comments on how in Rome you can’t walk 10 feet without seeing something that is off-the-charts spectacular. This adds to the hype Coulson and I have already built up leading into the trip. There will probably be nude statues lining the walkways of Termini right as soon as we get out. If we get lucky, maybe we’ll find an ancient Roman coin on the ground somewhere as we walk…the equivalent of finding an arrowhead on my 5^th grade field trip in Wyoming.
  We arrive at Termini…and well, let’s just say it’s not what we expected. Coulson has us headed in the wrong direction at first and we’re wandering into what is clearly an industrial zone. We see what looks like a crumbling building ahead and we’re thinking…”this is Rome?” I use some of my Italian (I’d like to think my accent is pretty good but who knows) to get us back on track: “Mi potete aiutare per favore? Of course I am so amazing they can’t even tell I’m a gringo from the Czech Republic but assume I’m a local (jk). (I even have a few Italians ask me for directions later on…no really…either they were con artists or I just look so informed.)

On the way to the hotel we spot a kiosk that is selling the Roma passes. A Roma pass gets you metro and bus fair and a reduced price for seeing several of the key sites all in one. I eye the lady in the kiosk suspiciously thinking that she is Con Artist Number 2. Could this be 60 Euros I’ll never see again and she is selling me fake Roma passes? I see her cackling wickedly as she heads off to Monte Carlo to play craps with our money. It turns out that she is just a nice lady who is selling real Roma passes. Thanks again Rick.
We finally find Hotel Adler (wandering around with a map in Italy is half the fun to be honest) and Bruno (gotta love the name) checks us in. The hotel is 35% cheaper because we’re in Rome in January and it’s going to rain all week. Helps to thin out the tourists and makes for a much cheaper stay. Works for me. The room is clean and the elevator is old-school and made to fit two people at most (or 1 American :-)  ). It’s so snug, if you get in with your girlfriend, President Delaine’s “standard works” rule (the one for keeping couples from slow dancing at Gillette Stake Dances) can barely be enforced.
  The night is still young so we’re off to our first visit which is a 3 out of 3 triangle (Rick’s indicator of how critical a sight is to see) National Museum that is a 5 minute walk from the hotel. Wow, three triangles…this is going to be amazing. We’re ready to see Rome in all her glory!  We enter the Museum and are treated to a series of marble and stone sculptures from before the time of Christ, mainly representing the rich and noble, an emperor here and there and a figure or two from Roman myth. We ponder the first few deeply but quickly realize there are hundreds more to be seen (just wait until Vatican Museum on Day 2). The next section has intricate, ancient flooring that are pieced together by small stones, the next section has primitive paintings. After a while they all seem to blend in and we’re wondering if we’ve got the right museum. Nothing is under bullet proof glass, and the museum is sparsely populated. And, frankly, aside from an ancient copy of the famous Discus Thrower (it’s still a copy we disappointedly think) we’re pretty bored. We pass up the opportunity to see the ancient Roman coin collection in the basement and we head to our restaurant, La Galina Bianca (The White Chicken). We’ve been looking forward to our first Italian meal all day and the restaurant doesn’t disappoint. We enjoy wood-fired pizza and catch some store-bought gelato on the way home. We pick up the Rick Steves guide-book to confirm that we had the right museum. Sure enough, it’s rated three triangles and (according to Rick) contains one of the premiere collections of ancient statues and busts in all of Europe. We decide we must not be as intellectual as Rick (whom we start to refer to as “Brick”) and secretly start distrusting him from that time onward. We crash in our pad and prepare for a big, big day on the town tomorrow.