Rome

Welcome to Rome!

Well, where do I start? We really enjoyed Rome. It was one of our favorite stops. We paid a cabbie 200 francs (about $8.50) to take us to the Paris airport early on January 9th. What a deal! It's about a 45 minute ride out to the airport and he got us there in record time. We even managed to get to the airport early and catch a flight that left at 9;30 instead of 11:00 ( I told you we were lucky with the transportation!)!

We arrived at the airport in Rome and spent awhile trying to figure out the trains. All the guide books said you had to take a train to another stop in Rome and then take the subway downtown to get to the hotel. As it turned out, there is now a direct train that goes straight into Rome. The train ride lasted about 45 minutes and when we finally arrived at the main train station (The Termini) in Rome, we stood in line to catch a cab to the hotel and were immediately met by the infamous gypsies! They were younger girls in their 20's and would walk up to you holding a piece of cardboard over their hands. They would try to distract you by getting right up next to you and would push and pull at you. They were really quick! We managed to get them off of us. We were prepared anyway and had locked everything up and gotten everything out of our pockets (including Katie's wedding ring!). Two girls standing in line behind us were next. The gypsies moved over to them and the girls panicked. Finally, an Italian gentleman chased them off. When the girls checked their backpacks, the gypsies had managed to open a few of the outside pockets in just the few seconds they were there. I don't think they lost anything, so we were all lucky. An interesting start to our trip to Rome. I guess it was good to get that out of the way early, since I knew we would see them again. You see all the news (60 Minutes, etc.) about these gypsies and you don't realize just how real it is.

Hotel Raphael

We finally caught a taxi to the hotel. What a great place. It is located right in the heart of old Rome, so everything was just a short walk away. Right around the corner was the Piazza Navona which was famous for chariot races 2000 years ago! We had to wait a few minutes for our room, so they invited us to have a drink in the hotel restaurant. The hotels claim to fame is their collection of Picasso plates. Too bad they didn't sell a few of the plates and update some of the rooms! While we waited, we met a couple who were from the states. I called this guy Thurston Howell, III! They were a hoot. He was around 40 and hadn't worked a day in his life. He was living off a trust or inheritance or something. He had no clue! He was getting ready to send his 8 year-old daughter to French school in Rome. Go figure! The wife was just as bad.

They finally showed us to our room. It was great! It had a small sitting room off to the side. We went up there and immediately saw a terrace outside. When we walked out, we saw some great views. There was an old church that was undergoing renovation, small courtyards with restaurants and shops and little alleys everywhere and a view of the dome of St Peter's. The other great thing was the hundreds of TV antennas everywhere. They also had a terrace bar on the top (where an Italian President once lived in exile) with great views as well. Here are some of the pictures we took.

Katie, can you move back just a little more!

Done with the timer, so I was in a hurry to get in the picture!

Can you see St. Peter's in the background?

Well, off to explore Rome! Use the map below to follow our walking tours.

Piazza Navona

We started our tour of Rome by walking around the corner to Piazza Navona. This area would end up being the starting point for most of our adventures. It was here during ancient Roman times, that they would have chariot races around the square. It's hard to imagine now; however, could you see yourself sitting around the square watching this! Now, it is surrounded by hotels, restaurants and stores with 2 beautiful fountains in the center along with another one of those Egyptian obelisks! The side streets were just as compelling. They were mostly small alleyways with street vendors, small cafes and various businesses. Each little side street was really unique. Some had beautiful little villas or homes and some were lined with motor scooters (the easiest and most dangerous way to get around in Rome!) and others had little food markets (fruits and vegetables or breads, etc.) and restaurants. Many of the small buildings had memorials to the Virgin Mary or Jesus either tiled into the walls or even as part of the building. Many look like they had been there hundreds of years. This was a great start to our walk!

A small side street with shops, restaurants, etc.

This might be a good time to mention the fountains (like the one you see above). The Romans, during the ancient times, built an aqueduct from the mountains that is still in use today. You can find these fountains all over town. Some are like the one above and others are large decorative ones. You can still drink from many of these even today and are used regularly by the Romans! We ran into them all over town, so keep an eye on the pictures to see the different fountains we saw!

The Pantheon

This was our next stop. Just a few blocks from Piazza Navona, this was a beautiful piece of architecture. It is the last of the great buildings of ancient Rome that is still intact. Built in 27 B.C., the most interesting feature is the large opening in the center of the dome at the top. There are beautiful marble statues, paintings and murals as well as the marble and terrazzo floor throughout that are open to the elements! This is also the only source of light for the now converted church. Michelangelo used this dome as a basis for the dome of St. Peter's Basilica (the Pantheon's dome is actually larger!). The walls are 25 feet thick and the 2 huge bronze doors weigh 20 tons each! This was very impressive. We came back on Saturday, when it was open to get the rest of the pictures you see here.

The Pantheon is located on the Piazza Rotunda which, of course, includes another Egyptian obelisk, as well as a McDonald's. Can you believe it? They let them build a fast food restaurant across from one of the oldest structures still in use today! There were also some of the ruins of the old Roman wall surrounding the city that ran behind the Pantheon.

Amazing that there is a hole in the roof with all this!

The Trevi Fountain

Continuing on our first night out, we walked over to the Trevi Fountain. This is a beautiful fountain located about a half mile from The Pantheon. The tradition is that you take your lira, turn your back to the fountain, make a wish and toss the coin into the fountain. It is supposed to ensure you return to Rome. We hope that tradition holds true! We stayed a while as the sun set just to watch all the people and the excitement around the fountain. We would come back here on our last night to make one more wish to return and we would end up finding a souvenir we wanted that we couldn't get at the Colosseum (another story for later!).

The Spanish Steps

Just a few blocks from the Trevi Fountain are the Spanish Steps. We arrived just in time to see the sunset. The steps rise from the city onto the hills above, so you get a great view of Rome. It was just as crowded as Trevi. The streets below and above as well as the steps themselves were packed with tourists as well as locals. It just seems to be the meeting place in town. There are nice boutiques and shops below and the grand views from the top. We walked to the top of the steps to admire the sunset and took these pictures:

We continued along the top of the steps and walked along the hills overlooking the city. We were amazed (and at times, kind of nervous) at all the kids hanging out along the way to the park at the top of the hill. They were scooters all over the place. This was the hangout for the kids! We got to the top of the hill walking along the ancient Roman wall until we got to the park. Again, it was packed, but with a little more seedy crowd. There was an overlook there and we saw a beautiful piazza at the bottom, so we decided to walk down there. There were these neat winding stairs that took down to the Piazza del Popolo. This was a huge square. Guess what? That's right, another Egyptian obelisk! There are two huge churches on each side of the courtyard. We then proceeded back toward the hotel to start thinking about eating. Romans don't even start thinking about dinner until at least 8:00 and usually not until 9:00 or later!

Trattoria del Pallaro

"You will eat what we want to feed you." This was the sign posted above the door when you come into Trattoria del Pallaro. This place was great! It is run by a little lady named Paola, who met you at the door with a big white towel wrapped around her head. Her husband, Giovanni, was the waiter, host, etc. We went about 8:30, so we were the first ones there. There was one other person eating there. He was a guy from South Africa and we talked all night about everything from politics to American customs. During this time, Giovanni took a liking to Katie and would always check on us and show us how to eat the Roman way! The meal was brought over several courses including homemade potato chips, pasta and an entree. The menu is fixed, so you literally ate what they wanted to feed you! One treat is the "pasta bowl". One person each sitting gets to eat out of the pasta bowl that was used to make the pasta for the meal. Kind of a tradition there. The South African fellow got it. During our dinner conversation, the guy next to us mentioned a Roman theatre that was underneath the restaurant. I got Katie to ask Giovanni nicely if he would show us and he did. He opened a door right there in the room and we went down these stairs to his cellar. There it was! You could see the arches and the bricks in the walls. It was still there and he was using it as his storage cellar. Amazing! There was also a chandelier hanging there that had to be several hundred years old.

What a great first day in Rome! We would end up coming back here on our last night here as well. Giovanni and Paola were glad to see us! Giovanni was at our table constantly flirting with Katie and helping her eat her food again. I told Katie before we left to eat that she would get the pasta bowl this time regardless of who was there. I was right! I think they left the bowl half full for her as well! We also went back down in the cellar to see the ruins. One problem we had the last time was that neither Giovanni nor Paola spoke much English, so it was hard to have a conversation. This time, they had a friend that was eating there that spoke English and we struck up a conversation with her. She had also brought a camera and kept taking pictures of the two of us. I decided to run back and get my camera as well and these are the pictures we took. It was another great meal and a great way to top off our trip to Rome before heading home! The last picture is just the best!!

The Vatican and The Sistine Chapel

Of all the museums we had seen on our trip (and otherwise, I guess), the Vatican museum had to be the most impressive. Just the sheer number of antiquities was amazing. We started our morning by catching a cab to Vatican City. You entered through a "side door" to begin the tour of the "country". It all starts with a tour of the Vatican museum followed by the Papal Apartments which then lead you to the Sistine Chapel and out onto St. Peter's Square and the Basilica. The museum included unbelievable statues, paintings, tapestries, wall murals, frescoes (including one of Christ from the 9th century, the earliest known), mummies, antiquities including a chariot as well as ancient maps, books and writings from around the world and, of course, the papal scepters and crowns. We were in a hurry to get through because the papal apartments and the Sistine Chapel were only open for a few more hours, so most of what we took here was on video.

One of the grand hallways throughout the Vatican

Can you believe the hundreds of figurines?

We continued through the papal apartments which were more of just room after room of wall murals and frescoes. It was very crowded in these rooms as they meandered through like a maze or puzzle. We took mostly videos in here since they were poorly lit and hard to get a good still pictures. All of a sudden, you went through a hallway and you were at the Sistine Chapel. They had just finished years of renovation and restoration and had removed all of the scaffolding, etc. that was there for all that time, so we got to see it finally finished. Unfortunately, they don't allow cameras; however, I was a bad boy and got some of it on videotape. Here are a few pictures from a book we bought here.

The huge wall fescoe along the back of the chapel

St. Peter's Square and The Basilica

Wow! We already seen some great stuff today. What was left? Well, we left the Sistine Chapel and that led us right into St. Peter's Square (actually an ellipse!). It was huge! Can you imagine hundreds of thousands of people jammed in here to hear the Pope speak? There were two beautiful fountains on each side (one an original from the 17th century, one a copy) with, you guessed it, another Egyptian obelisk in the center! The square was surrounded by two long palades on each side that were used to intimidate visitors to the Vatican in earlier days as they would have to parade through these huge columns to meet the Papal hierarchy.

One of the pallades along the ellipse of St. Peter's

The nativity scene and that darn obelisk!

A close-up of the nativity scene. Can you find the cat?

A picture of the square as we were leaving

We walked up the long steps into St. Peter's Basilica. It is purported that Saint Peter is actually buried here and they have occasional tours into the crypts to see his supposed last resting place. Unfortunately, we missed that; however, the church was awe inspiring in itself. This is actually the second church on this as Constantine commissioned the original that took many, many years to complete. The current structure was built during the time of Michelangelo and Raphael. Included inside is the famous statue by Michelangelo called the Pieta'. The whole church is adorned with gilt, marble and mosaic tiles throughout.

The Tiber River and Castel St. Angelo

As we made our way home, we decided to walk along the old Servian wall which led to the Tiber River. As we walked toward the river, we saw the large castle that just seems to sit right in the middle of everything. It is now used for cultural events and the like. It's architecture is very different from the one's we saw in Scotland and London. This turned out to be a great little walk (we were now only a few blocks away from the hotel). The sun was just setting and we took some great pictures along the river before we headed back.

A bridge by the castle crossing the Tiber

An Italian couple took this for us in trade for taking their pictures!

Check out the reflection of the sunset on the water!

The Colosseum

We had been here two days and had not seen any of the ancient Roman ruins, including the Colosseum, so we had a quick bite to eat and decided to walk down there for an evening stroll (did you think we were finished for the day...no way!). Anyway, we had a great walk as we approached the Colosseum. Of course it was closed; however, it was beautifully lit as were all of the other ruins in the area. We walked around and tried to take a few night pictures which actually came out really great. We spent the rest of the evening just enjoying the views while it was nice and quiet. We also managed to wander around onto Palantine Hill, although, we didn't know at the time that is where we were.

We started out the next day to see the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. It was about 3:00 when we decided to head back to the Colosseum to see the inside. As we walked around to the entrance there were several vendors that had set up shop. We had seen a copy of some Roman columns before and decided to get one at one of the stands. We saw the one we wanted, negotiated a little and bought it for about 30,000 lira ($15-16!). We got to the admission gate at the Colosseum and found they did not take Visa! Panic!! We had just spent the last of our cash on this souvenir! In addition, because it was winter, they close everything at 4:00. We ran (actually, sprinted!) back to the vendor to see if we could get our money back to get in. There were two guys there. One was a nicer, older man that obviously wasn't in charge, who wanted to give us our money back, and a younger, hustler type that didn't. We begged them and explained that it was our last day, yada, yada, yada. After about 5 minutes they refunded all of our money which was just barely enough to get us in. Whew!!

Wow! What a scare, but we made it! Truly, one of the ancient wonders of the world. It's hard to see it now (go see "Gladiator" to get a better idea), but they would have amazing battles and fights on this stage. They could even fill it with water and reenact naval battles! The worst thing about it all is it's just like the pyramids. If future conquerors had left it alone, it would probably be in almost original condition. Unfortunately, the next groups used the Colosseum and the Forum as a quarry for new buildings, so most of it has been destroyed. In addition, you will notice holes throughout the structure. This was where they removed the metal that was used to hold the structure together to melt it down for statues, etc. You can see the different levels and terraces to distinguish classes, as well as the intricate catacombs below the floor showing how they moved around to prepare for "the show".

Didn't you bring another jacket with you?!

What do you think so far? Pretty impressive, huh? Well it was time for them to close up and the sun was beginning to set, so I looked back at Palantine Hill to get some great pictures. In addition, for some reason, the Goodyear Blimp was in town and I got some interesting shots of the blimp in the background (kind of an "old and new" theme). You know, I probably shouldn't even put the blimp pictures on the web. I sent them an email telling about the pictures and never got a response. You would think they would appreciate it! Also, we ended up getting the souvenir later that evening at the Trevi Fountain. It was a few lira more, but worth it just because we got to see the Colosseum (I also think it was a little nicer).

Piazza Venezia

This was kind of the gateway to the Colosseum, Palantine Hill and the Forum. We had been by here several times and didn't realize the Ruins were literally right in front of us. The building you see below is dedicated to Rome's unknown soldiers. The ruins are down in the valley behind it. As we wandered around the square toward the building, we saw another great fountain fed by the aqueduct as well as part of the ancient Roman Servian wall.

Another shot that includes the flowers in the center island

Roman Forum

We continued past the memorial at Piazza Venezia and found a long, narrow flight of stairs that led into a courtyard called Capitoline Hill (the Senate buildings). We looked at the map and just couldn't quite figure out where we were. It looked like the Ruins should be right in front of us. We went around to the back of the building and this was the first thing we saw:

It was incredible! We didn't imagine that it all be laid out there in front of us! We thought it would be much more spread out. It was all there, all neat and tidy ready for us to explore. We went to the overlook and took more pictures of the whole area and then had to go all the way back around to the main entrance to get in. We got lots of great video. Katie narrated describing all of the ruins. If we had known we would enjoy Rome so much, we wouldn't have planned such a short stay. It is awfully hard to get all this in in less than 3 days. So, of course, we only got to spend a few hours here before we moved on. I won't bore you with a bunch of narrative describing each and every building, temple, house, etc. I think the pictures speak for themselves. If you roll your mouse over the pictures (like all the others!), I will try to name everything there.

The Arch is in the middle with Capitoline Hill in the upper left and Piazza Venezia in the upper right.

Palantine Hill

	We were hungry and we still had a lot to do. As we wandered through the Forum and the Ruins, we came to another admission gate that was about half-way between the Forum and the Colosseum. It was for Palantine Hill. We knew all about the other ruins, but didn't know much about Palantine Hill. We fought our hunger and thought we would see these ruins, deciding we would just take a quick run through and then get some lunch. As it turned out, it is a true oasis in the middle of Rome and the Ruins! We started up the hill and realized this was where we were the other night. The first thing we came upon was another fountain. This one was very lush and we could hear water below. We went down the stairs that went underneath and you could see an underground pond that was formed from the water soaking through from the fountain!
We continued climbing steps until we reached the top. It was so calm and peaceful. There were orange trees growing everywhere and it smelled so fresh and clean. Palatine Hill, apparently, was the neighborhood for the upper-class in Rome and the first real city limits of Rome proper back around 750BC. It is full of ruins of ancient palaces and the "neighborhood" temples. There were baths fed by the aqueduct and there was even a stadium here to entertain the emperors called the Hippodrome (it is actually a sunken garden). The scenery was beautiful and the company was just as wonderful, so we decided to take a little time and meander through the ruins.

Ignore the jacket! Check out the orange trees behind me.

Taking a break by the fountain and the hippodrome

These were recently discovered and were being excavated

Check out the sun filtering through the trees!

Note to self...keep camera away from Katie (and buy new jacket)!

You can see St. Peters in the background

Well, we finished up on Palantine Hill and went back toward the Colosseum to find something to eat. We bought a few slices of pizza at a street stand and headed for the Colosseum. You remember that adventure! Anyway, that about did it for Rome. We ate at our favorite restaurant again that night and got packed up to head home. We got up early the next morning, caught a taxi to the train station and started our journey home. We hated to leave, but I really had to get home to change clothes, since it is apparent I wore that darn jacket since Edinburgh. Of course, now it will have a lot of stories to tell (losing the passports, hauling luggage everywhere, trains, planes, taxis, restaurants, hotels, site seeing in Scotland, Paris, London and Rome; and, of course, New Years). Not many jackets can match that!

I want to thank everyone for spending time to go through this very long website. It has taken me many hours to put this all together. I hope you enjoyed seeing what was a trip of a lifetime for us. We hope to be able to return to some of these places to spend more time seeing all the wonderful things history has left us.

Please leave me your comments as well as suggestions and let me know who you are. Also, make sure to email Katie. She loves to get email!

Thanks again! Karl