When we got off the metro in Rome I told Matt that it felt like we had arrived. We were really truly in Europe. He told me I had said that already. I probably had; I mean we have been in Europe for a couple months now, but Rome is Rome.
I remember walking a couple kilometers the first day to reach our apartment and just being amazed by it. The warm colors of the buildings are beautiful, the ancient buildings are fascinating and the domed churches rising across the skyline are spectacular.
Let's be honest, we HAD arrived.
As we walked towards the Trastevere neighborhood where we were staying, we were both pulled into the city and decided that we needed to see everything. Our original plan had been to stay in Rome for about three days then head south to Naples and Pompeii for the rest of the week. Within about a half hour of arriving (and loving our temporary neighborhood) we decided to spend the whole week in Rome. Thank goodness we did.
We crossed that city at least ten times. Our reference points on the map were usually gelaterias and pizzerias. It was heaven.
Matt used his advanced analytical skills and developed itineraries and corresponding maps for each day. We had the Old City, Colosseum and Roman Forum, the Vatican, parks, and various churches and museums grouped by location. It was really very organized.
The first evening we went out for a short wander. It was amazing. You walk down a typical European narrow road and all of a sudden a grand church facade is before you. You walk down another and turn a corner and a beautiful plaza (with fountains, obviously) sprawls before you. Then you find a tiny nondescript alley and as you emerge, you're at the Pantheon! (Which I can't cen for into one picture.) Seriously, I was speechless at most street corners.
We did go to into the Pantheon that first evening. And it was incredible. Then the rest of the week, we'd walk by like there was nothing to it, just another building. Because, in Rome, it is just another awesome building.
Our first evening, we also found our gelato place. We did eat at a couple other gelaterias, but we also went to that one everyday (even if it wasn't in the mapped itinerary). If we were lost in Rome, we could get back there. That was it because for just €2.50 you could get a cup with two flavors. We had nocciola (peanut- it's basically frozen peanut butter, so, yes, amazing) and pistachio. We started sharing the cup. Then we just started getting our own.
When in Rome...
We also had our first pasta dinner that night. In other countries, when I needed to escape the local food, pasta or pizza were usually the option. This pasta definitely put all those other emergency pastas to shame. It was delicious. We had pepe y cacio- pecorino cheese and pepper melted over pasta. My mouth waters thinking about it.
Speaking of pasta, we also went to a grocery store that evening (and bought more pasta) and guess what we found. The grocery store had a little side room, like it may have been a closet or something, it was tucked to the side and it was specifically for pasta. The grocery store had a pasta room! Joy.
I will probably talk a lot about food in this post. I apologize and to make it up to you, Matt and I will cook you a delicious pasta dinner when we're home. You'll love it.
On our first morning, our hosts took us on a walk up a hill overlooking the city. We were able to get our bearings and take in the city we were about to explore. It seems so big, but we got around ok. By the end, we could find our way pretty well.
So, for our first full day, we went to the Old City (also conveniently where our gelateria is located in Piazza Navona). Here, we just walked. We visited a lot of churches. I tried to be good and take a picture of the name of the church so I could figure out where our pictures were taken. I did ok, but there were too many, so here are some of the pictures, sans church names.
It was amazing walking in. Often the facade is fairly unassuming, then you walk into something absolutely spectacular. It's shocking everytime. Also, on the surface they seem similar, but, as you see more of them, you realize how unique each church is. I don't know if I can describe it, but they were all incredibly different.
A few stood out to us. Matt's favorite was the church of St. James and St. Phillip. They said their remains had been moved into that cathedral. He liked it because you could go downstairs under the altar.
Another church we happened to walk by another day had a plain and very old looking facade. But when we peeked inside it was just as decorated as all the others. You can't judge a book by its cover.
My favorite was a church we happened to visit twice. It was just convenient to return one afternoon when we needed a break and were waiting for something else. The second time someone was playing the organ. It wasn't a concert, maybe he was practicing for mass. Whatever it was for, it was so beautiful and so calming. I had to just sit there for awhile.
That evening, we made our own pasta and ate it in our little courtyard. So Italian and so perfect.
The next day was Ancient Rome day. We headed past Piazza Venezia and down to the Colosseum. I loved just looking down the street and seeing it there. It's so amazing how Rome has just built itself around these buildings, rather than blocked them off and made them separate.
We then walked around Palladini Hill and the Roman Forum. As you look across, it's like this collection of Roman antiquities all clustered together. It doesn't even seem real, but it is and it's awesome.
That afternoon we visited a great museum. It's built over an excavation site of an ancient Roman house. Over the centuries, the house has been built and rebuilt in various eras, but they've worked on discovering it's initial purpose. The museum had a glass floor over the site and uses a multimedia presentation to highlight and recreate what it would have been. It was so enriching. I think I looked at every site of excavation differently from that. I love what they can discover. We also watched a movie of one of the columns with the story of how the area of Romania was conquered. It was fascinating to see how detailed the story was carved in this column.
Then we had gelato, ate pasta and went to bed (in that order).
Our third day we had gotten tickets for the Vatican and planned on going to St. Peter's basilica as well. However, as it was Wednesday, the Pope was making his public appearance. That was pretty exciting, we're fans of the pope (how can you not be, really?) and we were so close to him. Unfortunately, our tickets were about a half hour after his arrival, and we decided it would be best to get to the Vatican rather than stay there. So, we didn't get to see him, but we were there when he was, which is good enough for me. Also, I think it made visiting the Vatican easier as the crowds were out watching him, rather than at the Vatican museums with us.
On a side note, having officially arrived in Europe, we have officially arrived in full-on tourist season. We have been so spoiled avoiding crowds, that it's been a bit of an adjustment. Important to intentionally practice patience.
Anyways, the Vatican was impressive. Quite a collection of goods collected by and given to the Pope and Church over the centuries. There were collections from the Egyptians and Etruscans, as well as modern day religious art. It could be considered excessive, but I suppose it's important to preserve these pieces for future generations.
Then there is the Sistine Chapel. I think I expected the famous painting to span the ceiling, but it's quite small and there are a lot of other paintings going on. The sheer volume of images is incredible. Needless to say, Michaelangelo was prolific.
We were emerging as the crowds were really getting full and Matt realized he had missed seeing the rooms with Rafaello. He went back to look, but once you're on the Vatican loop, you can't get off. So, he saw the Sistine Chapel twice.
When we left, we went back to St. Peter's, but the line was just more than I could handle at that point, so we decided to come another day and see the basilica when it opened.
So, we went to get pasta and gelato instead. Obviously.
Oh, speaking of food, that morning our host took us to breakfast. We had croissants and a cappuccino. It was life changing. And I was jealous to hear that he has that for breakfast at that cafe every single day. I think that's a very Roman thing to do. At other cafés, I noticed interactions that made it seem they are part of people's daily routines. I've decided that wherever we end up living needs to be within walking distance of a cafe.
There is a fortified wall that connects the Vatican to Castel d'Angelo. The pope would use the passage to escape when his life was in danger. The Castel looks fairly unimpressive from the outside, not nearly as grand as the Vatican. But we walked around, and it seemed the pope would have been comfortable enough. Also, the view was spectacular.
On that bridge below the Castello there are angels lining the way. Two were originally by Bellini. The pope thought they were too beautiful to leave out in the elements, so they were replaced by replicas made by his students and now the originals are in a church. We hunted down that church; Matt likes Bellini and they were certainly worth the walk.
The next few days, we walked and filled in the gaps of what we still wanted to see. We walked to the Spanish Steps (we think that's what they were, others were taking pictures of them), Villa Borghese, churches on the outer edges of the city center. One church had a series of crypts artistically decorated with bones. It was macabre. We visited the Museum of Rome. Matt was so excited to see the coin exhibit... I wasn't as interested, but it was actually quite interesting. The history of coins have a fairly comprehensive history of the Roman Empire. They also had a lot of mosaics, so we took pictures of the ones we thought we could replicate on one of our future floors. We saw a light show at a church. It was essentially, recorded music and then someone flips on the lights. Although, one exciting part was a religious painting rolling down and revealing a statue of a pope. That was interesting.
We drank water from all the lovely fountains in the city.
My sister had asked me if we had thrown a coin in the Trevi Fountain yet. For some reason, we kept missing it. We finally, made it one day and this is what we saw:
All those days, trying to get there only to find it covered and dry! Oh well, next time we're in Rome we'll see it again.
One evening, we walked to a church we wanted to see. To get there, we had to walk by the Colosseum again. The church was closed when we arrived, but we were rewarded with spectacular lighting on the Colosseum. That was worth it.
On one of our last mornings, we got up early and returned to St. Peter's. I was glad we had visited many other churches already, I had wanted this one to be towards the end. We walked in and it is just so massive. It's like smaller churches all collected together under one roof. There were even services happening in various chapels. It really was incredible. We didn't go up in the dome as we decided the view from Castel d'Angelo which included the Basilica was better than a view from the Basilica.
On our last morning, we had a lot of time before our flight. So, we took our time returning to our favorite pizzeria, then we walked to Piazza Navona for our gelato (which was not on our way, mind you, but we still went), then slowly walked to the train station.
We did so much on our Roman Holiday, I think we were both a bit exhausted. But it was so worth it. Rome is incredible and I can't wait to come back someday. In the meantime, I'm going to cook pasta and find gelato.
