Roma Parte Uno

DAY ONE:
Our first day awake in Roma, and thus the count of our trip really begins. After sleeping like the dead on what had to be the hardest mattress I have ever slept on (or attempted to sleep on) we woke around 6am, maybe due to a little jet lag, but I felt rested enough and so we showered and got ready to begin our day. We had breakfast at the hotel (same place we had eaten dinner the night before) It was very nice and relaxing eating out on the patio. We then gathered our things and set out walking. Our goal was simply to find a taxi stop that was described to us as "down two blocks and take a left one block" ... Well that didn't happen. We walked ALL over the city, saw a bit of everything, but our first real sighting of anything spectacular was the Temple of the Forum Boarium, the Santa Maria Church and the Fontana dei Tritoni... all very nice! We continued our walk, we walked for about 90 minutes throughout the city and finally we arrived upon the Vatican.

The Vatican:
We arrived and shortly got in line to get into the Vatican, when we did we got in another line to go to the top of the Cupola. For 7 euros we could use a lift and skip over 200 stairs, but for 4 euros (each of course) we could just walk up all 510+ stairs... so for whatever reason... we went cheap! The first 250 stairs were managable, and that led us to a walkway around the dome so that we could see the ceiling up close as well as the floor of St. Peter's very nicely. (See pictures in the pics section)... We then continued up MORE stairs that just when I thought the space couldn't get smaller... oooh man they did - I had a mild panic attack because of the small space... which considering the size of space we were in and my claustrophobia, I thought that was pretty good. We reached the top and I managed to get some excellent photos of Roma! Very pretty all over. We headed down from the dome and stopped at the half way point at the gift shop, where we sent postcards from the Vatican post office (they have their own mail system) to our parents... and then into St. Peter's where the art work is just breath taking, the pictures just don't do the details justice. We saw the famous sculpture Pieta which was finished in 1499 by Michelangelo (he was only 25 when he did it!) Loving Husband stole some holy water in a little container he purchased in the gift shop... and then were were off to a resturant for lunch. While walking around the wall of the Vatican there were many vendors selling knock off goods... we read that it is a $10,000 euro fine to PURCHASE such goods, so the cost of selling them... can't be good... there were about 10 vendors lined up with sunglasses, handbags, etc... and the Policia drove down the street and literally they all grabbed their stuff and did a Vendor Dash into the side streets... quite amusing. After that we headed back into the Vatican to go into the Grottos and saw where all the popes are buried. Interesting history for sure.

Castel Sant' Angelo:
We headed over to the Castle after we finished up at the Vatican and walked around there for an hour or two. It was very nice, more amazing art work and an interesting history. It came into existance in 139AD and has been used for many things since including the residence for the pope during political unrest and a prison (interesting combo!)

After we finished at the Castle around 6:30, we went back to the hotel and took a nap until about 9pm, since it was Saturday the resturant at our hotel was closed, so we walked a few blocks into more city life and had some dinner a small place. Loving Husband had the best soup he's ever had (I didn't taste any of it) and I had some tastey pasta and Vino! Always room for Vino! We finished off the evening watching Law and Order: SVU in Italian. And went into another deep sleep!


DAY TWO:
Our second day we woke around 7am and packed all our things, enjoyed another tasty breakfast at the hotel and then checked out. We hopped in a cab and headed across town to the Crown Plaza where we would remain for the remainder of the trip. We got all checked in and then hopped in another taxi to the Vatican Museums. We stood in line for an hour and forty-five minutes. The line literally wrapped 1/3rd around the country... It's funnier when you put it that way. Since it was the last Sunday of the month it was FREE!! to get in. Yay! Excellent timing for this trip, I'd say.

Vatican Museums:
We went in and went straight into the courtyard holding the Cortile della Pigna which is a huge bronze pine cone which is a part of an ancient Roman founntain, which used to be in the old square of St. Peter's. We then continued into the Room of Busts, which is a very loooong room, filled with, well... busts!

We enjoyed some Egyptian art that was extremely OLD, it was so amazing at how well it had all be preserved. There was a floor mosaic we walked over from the Baths of Otricoli in Umbria that was sooo amazing in the Chiaramonti Museum which date from the 3rd Century AD. The Sistine Chapel was breath-taking... as was the walk to it... every ceiling on the way in was covered in an amazing mural. There are sculputures everywhere in this museum, even down by the bathrooms, which I did find amusing... enjoyed some pizza in the cafeteria and continued to look at the beautiful art work, and finished out the museum of course by the Spiral Ramp which was designed by Giueppe Momo in 1932... yah sadly I didn't know who that was either. We then hopped in a taxi (paid 2 euro to make a U-Turn, hehe) and headed back to the hotel, because my knee was starting to kill me... hard to walk even a little bit. So we put some ice on it for an hour or two, Loving Husband got to get on the internet and do some work stuff... and then we headed back out.


Spanish Steps:
We took another taxi (yes, we've taken them everywhere!) especially since my knee was at this point falling apart, to the Spanish Steps... GORGEOUS! Loving Husband went all the way to the top and took some pictures for me, and we wandered around the streets there for a while. My knee couldn't take much more so we ended up cutting that portion of the trip short and headed back to the hotel. We met up with some Company people and had dinner and then came back and I crashed!

DAY THREE:
We awoke after sleeping on a very comfy bed and got ourselves ready to go, but my knee was still really bothering me and we were going to the Colusseum and the Forum, it wasn't looking good for walking around... we headed to the front desk to ask about a pharmacia! They said one was just a 5 minute walk from the hotel, so we took a jaunt down the road... found a knee brace and some bandaids for my toes and then headed back - stopped in and bought a pair of italian sandles and headed back to the hotel.

The Forum:
We arrived at the forum and just took it all it - it is so vast and amazing at what they did soooo many years ago. The awe of it was detracted mildly by the two workers weed-wacking around the ancient ruins, but I guess it has to be done, eh?

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier:
We then continued to walk to see this big white building that can been seen just about anywher in Roma... but we didn't have a clue what it was! It is for The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier... let's just say THIS out does the U.S. tenfold. Wow.... it's beyond vast. More stairs later we were up... I took a seat, Loving Husband took some more stairs and got more pictures of the area around it. It was just amazing.

The Colosseum:
We walked down the road from the Forum and went to the Colosseum. The Colosseum is looking pretty good, considering it opened in 80 AD and suffered an earthquake in 1400s (leaving it in the state that it resides in now with the section missing). It has 80 arched entrances and could seat 55,000 people back in the day. We signed up for a tour and learned all sorts of neat stuff. Including (as my picture states) the reason there are all the holes all over the place... which is because people pilfered the iron out of the stone to trade it in for cash. Very interesting history and AGAIN amazing at how detailed everything is, the guide said there were over 100 elevators from the two level underground area to the stage floor. After our tour ended we headed to lunch with a view of the Colosseum, lovely!


Palentine Hill:
We went to Palentine after lunch for the second portion of our tour where we were told the legend of Romulus and Remus, dating from the 9th Century BC and how that is where they were found on Palentine Hill. Back in the day it was apparently the Beverly Hills of real estate. We walked all around the area and it was gorgeous... and then Loving Husband sat me down (knee still in pain) and he wandered around looking at the underground stuff as well as some of the more far reaching things. The most interesting thing I found was the Christian church build above the ruins... that had the door which at one time was ground level VERY high up off the ground now that everything has been excavated.

Pantheon:
Our final stop for the day was the Pantheon, which in the middle ages was the Roman temple of "all the gods" became a church in 609. The hole in the center of the church provides the only light into the building. This building has been around since 125AD. The walls of this building are 19ft THICK! The doors are massive as well. It was awesome - we grabbed some gilato and McDonald's french fries (had to say I had some in Italia! Not as good btw) and just looked around the area for an hour.

We then headed back to the hotel to put a close on the third day of touring Roma! We rested up and took showers... after yesterday I was extremly sunburned, my knee is still bugging me - but I'm in Roma! I'll survive. We ordered room service around 10pm and then I read some and fell asleep!

DAY FOUR:
Loving Husband has to work today, in fact he's downstairs right now shmoozing away... I am getting ready to catch a taxi and head to the Spanish Steps for some shopping and vino! (It's only 10:30, so maybe some cappuccino first) More to come!