On Saturday morning Jamie and I took a flight from Athens to Rome where we met up with my mom. She was flying in from Orange County and our fights were timed to within about 45 minutes of each other. I had so many mixed emotions that morning. I was excited to be going "home" to Italy--it felt so much more familiar than Greece--but I knew that this was really the beginning of the end. My adventure was almost over! And in a way, it was like my mom was coming to pick me up as if it were the end of camp or something! So in a small way I was resenting her arrival. But my mom is very intuitive and she picked up on that. My excitement at seeing her melted away most of my apprehensions about her "coming to pick me up". She arrived relatively well rested (because she was upgraded to 1st class) so we hit the town! First we took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. Our hotel was in a great location--a 15 minute walk or less from everything we wanted to see. We were right next to Campo dei Fiori so we walked over to get some tramezzini (sandwiches). Here is Jamie enjoying her first Italian meal in the middle of the Campo:
It is like a large farmer's market there everyday:
The fruit and vegetables were so colorful and looked delicious. Here is my mom checking out the flowers:
So beautiful!
Here is the wide shot of the square where the market is:
So after finishing our lunch (standing in the square trying to hide in the shade because it was scorching hot) we set out to do some sightseeing. We walked across the bridge:
To see the Castel Sant'Angelo:
Here Jamie and I are on the bridge (I'm wearing pink):
This was a historically once a residence and a storage place for weapons among other things and is now a museum:
On the way we crossed over the river in that snakes through Rome, the Tevere:
Some hot Roman men, rowing:
Here is a typical Rome bridge with sculptures:
And then we kept walking to the Vatican City. This is the right side of the complex I guess you could call it. The Pope's offices are in this building and one of the upper windows is where he appears to preach (I saw the old Pope there 9 years ago):
And here Jamie and I are in front of St. Peter's Basilica:
Here is the basilica and the round piazza in front of it:
It was still early enough in the afternoon that we thought we might be able to get into the Vatican museum but as we walked that way we saw hoards of people walking in the other direction and soon realized that it was closed and these were all people who had been turned away. So instead we decided to go inside the church. Here is my mother in her cute blue hat:
She was pushing into the line and making sure we were getting in! What an aggressive tourist! Now when you go there you have to go through a metal detector and surrender your water bottles. Inside we couldn't use a flash so some of these shots are pretty blurry (and this is all the combined photography--Mom, Jamie and me--so I don't take all the credit or the blame!).
The view up into one of the domes:
This is my favorite work of art:
That's me in pink just staring at it. It was sculpted by Michelangelo and it is really just the most beautiful sculpture. It is now tucked away behind glass because it has been attacked twice by deranged people. Here is a closer view:
It is so delicately carved and the way Jesus' body hangs in Mary's arms is so realistic. I think it is such a beautiful mother and child piece beyond being a religious iconic depiction:
Here is a really good shot (it's my favorite so I have to put lots of pics):
The ceiling is wildly intricate:
This are the remains of St. Peter (as in St. Peter's Basilica) that were found in this spot and why this church was built here (if I have my story straight):
You can't really see much in that picture but there is a little spot of yellow in the middle of the glass box in the center and that is where his remains are housed. All around it is a large altar.
This is the view of the main nave at the far end of the the cathedral (at the opposite end from the entrance):
In the center (above) is a bright yellow and white stain glassed window with the image of a dove in the middle. Here is the view up into the main dome of the basilica:
This church is huge--here is a wide shot down the main corridor:
More gilded ceilings:
Here is the detail of a toe on one of the sculptures:
We had read in one of our books that the toe of the St. Peter sculpture had been rubbed off because at one time a Pope had declared clemency (or whatever it is called--maybe absolution) for all believers who kissed (or rubbed, maybe) the toe of the St. Peter sculpture. Unfortunately they aren't labeled so we thought the one above was it but then we found this one and he really had a rubbed off toe:
He was all roped off so there would be no more toe-kissing. There were even pseudo-guards there to keep the tourists off. On the way into the dungeon or whatever they call the place where the dead popes are entombed they have this marble plaque listing the names and the dates served by the various Popes:
We went down into the tomb area where they have lots of old (and largely unheard of Popes) laid to rest. Pope John Paul is there too and his area is roped off with guards and there was a huge group of people sitting there in front of the coffin like thing crying and praying. It was really wild and intense. I mean, seriously, people were weeping. Here are Jamie and I back in the main part of the church:
Back outside, here is the facade of the basilica:
This was nice to see because it was scaffolded when I was here years ago.
We left the Vatican to cruise around the city some more. This was the big walking tour day--next we headed to Piazza Navona where Jamie took my mom and my picture by one of the fountains:
Could we be ANY dorkier? Wow. Here is a typical side street in Rome:
We were kind of getting pooped but it was nothing that a little gelato couldn't take care of:
This was Jamie's first true Italian gelato experience. Notice that she only had one flavor and I had two--she would soon learn. Then we walked on to the Pantheon:
Pantheon means "Temple of All Gods".
It is a pretty wild looking structure because it just rises right out of this normal looking piazza:
It was a really popular spot to be that afternoon. There were tons of people coming out of the Pantheon and pressing to go in so we opted to come back another time--it was close enough to our hotel anyway.
Reminiscent of our time in Athens:
We were kind of worn out from walking around at this point so we went back to the hotel to rest for awhile and freshen up for dinner. We had hit the ground running because there is just so much to see in Rome and we had less than three days! Plus, the heat and humidity was really draining. We took showers and got cleaned up and then headed out again to see the Trevi Fountain on our way to finding a restaurant for dinner. The Trevi Fountain is the most ornately beautiful fountain in the world:
It is so large and built close to other building that you really can't get the whole thing in one shot unless you have an extreme wide angle lens.
This is a very popular spot in Italy:
When I was living in Florence, some tourist ran into the Trevi fountain naked--it was all over the news and there were (blurry) pictures in the newspapers. Even when we were there some tourists were trying to climb onto the rocks to be in a picture and guards were blowing their whistles at them!
We walked around the neighborhood of the fountain looking for a nice restaurant to sit at and enjoy our cena (dinner). We found a spot where we could sit outside and since it was just at dusk the weather was starting to be bearable. We had a wonderful dinner and shared a couple pitchers of wine. I loved being back in Italy and speaking in Italian with the waitress--it felt great! It was just such a nice dinner.
I remember feeling relaxed and happy in the city and thrilled (and having a little bit of an out of body experience) to be there with my mom and my great friend Jamie. You don't always know that you are experiencing a really special life moment while it is happening but at this time I did. After dinner we walked back by the Trevi fountain to see it lit up at night. And we threw in our change (because this is supposed to insure that you will return to Rome one day). Here are Jamie and my mom preparing to throw their coins (you have to throw it over your shoulder):
Jamie throws her coin:
Mom hopes to come back to Rome:
And Jamie and I are incredibly posed:
I'm not sure we were even holding coins at that point! It was a great first day in the city but we had to get to bed because we were getting up super early to get in line for the Vatican Museum the next morning--fortunately we had worn ourselves out anyway.
It is like a large farmer's market there everyday:
The fruit and vegetables were so colorful and looked delicious. Here is my mom checking out the flowers:
So beautiful!
Here is the wide shot of the square where the market is:
So after finishing our lunch (standing in the square trying to hide in the shade because it was scorching hot) we set out to do some sightseeing. We walked across the bridge:
To see the Castel Sant'Angelo:
Here Jamie and I are on the bridge (I'm wearing pink):
This was a historically once a residence and a storage place for weapons among other things and is now a museum:
On the way we crossed over the river in that snakes through Rome, the Tevere:
Some hot Roman men, rowing:
Here is a typical Rome bridge with sculptures:
And then we kept walking to the Vatican City. This is the right side of the complex I guess you could call it. The Pope's offices are in this building and one of the upper windows is where he appears to preach (I saw the old Pope there 9 years ago):
And here Jamie and I are in front of St. Peter's Basilica:
Here is the basilica and the round piazza in front of it:
It was still early enough in the afternoon that we thought we might be able to get into the Vatican museum but as we walked that way we saw hoards of people walking in the other direction and soon realized that it was closed and these were all people who had been turned away. So instead we decided to go inside the church. Here is my mother in her cute blue hat:
She was pushing into the line and making sure we were getting in! What an aggressive tourist! Now when you go there you have to go through a metal detector and surrender your water bottles. Inside we couldn't use a flash so some of these shots are pretty blurry (and this is all the combined photography--Mom, Jamie and me--so I don't take all the credit or the blame!).
The view up into one of the domes:
This is my favorite work of art:
That's me in pink just staring at it. It was sculpted by Michelangelo and it is really just the most beautiful sculpture. It is now tucked away behind glass because it has been attacked twice by deranged people. Here is a closer view:
It is so delicately carved and the way Jesus' body hangs in Mary's arms is so realistic. I think it is such a beautiful mother and child piece beyond being a religious iconic depiction:
Here is a really good shot (it's my favorite so I have to put lots of pics):
The ceiling is wildly intricate:
This are the remains of St. Peter (as in St. Peter's Basilica) that were found in this spot and why this church was built here (if I have my story straight):
You can't really see much in that picture but there is a little spot of yellow in the middle of the glass box in the center and that is where his remains are housed. All around it is a large altar.
This is the view of the main nave at the far end of the the cathedral (at the opposite end from the entrance):
In the center (above) is a bright yellow and white stain glassed window with the image of a dove in the middle. Here is the view up into the main dome of the basilica:
This church is huge--here is a wide shot down the main corridor:
More gilded ceilings:
Here is the detail of a toe on one of the sculptures:
We had read in one of our books that the toe of the St. Peter sculpture had been rubbed off because at one time a Pope had declared clemency (or whatever it is called--maybe absolution) for all believers who kissed (or rubbed, maybe) the toe of the St. Peter sculpture. Unfortunately they aren't labeled so we thought the one above was it but then we found this one and he really had a rubbed off toe:
He was all roped off so there would be no more toe-kissing. There were even pseudo-guards there to keep the tourists off. On the way into the dungeon or whatever they call the place where the dead popes are entombed they have this marble plaque listing the names and the dates served by the various Popes:
We went down into the tomb area where they have lots of old (and largely unheard of Popes) laid to rest. Pope John Paul is there too and his area is roped off with guards and there was a huge group of people sitting there in front of the coffin like thing crying and praying. It was really wild and intense. I mean, seriously, people were weeping. Here are Jamie and I back in the main part of the church:
Back outside, here is the facade of the basilica:
This was nice to see because it was scaffolded when I was here years ago.
We left the Vatican to cruise around the city some more. This was the big walking tour day--next we headed to Piazza Navona where Jamie took my mom and my picture by one of the fountains:
Could we be ANY dorkier? Wow. Here is a typical side street in Rome:
We were kind of getting pooped but it was nothing that a little gelato couldn't take care of:
This was Jamie's first true Italian gelato experience. Notice that she only had one flavor and I had two--she would soon learn. Then we walked on to the Pantheon:
Pantheon means "Temple of All Gods".
It is a pretty wild looking structure because it just rises right out of this normal looking piazza:
It was a really popular spot to be that afternoon. There were tons of people coming out of the Pantheon and pressing to go in so we opted to come back another time--it was close enough to our hotel anyway.
Reminiscent of our time in Athens:
We were kind of worn out from walking around at this point so we went back to the hotel to rest for awhile and freshen up for dinner. We had hit the ground running because there is just so much to see in Rome and we had less than three days! Plus, the heat and humidity was really draining. We took showers and got cleaned up and then headed out again to see the Trevi Fountain on our way to finding a restaurant for dinner. The Trevi Fountain is the most ornately beautiful fountain in the world:
It is so large and built close to other building that you really can't get the whole thing in one shot unless you have an extreme wide angle lens.
This is a very popular spot in Italy:
When I was living in Florence, some tourist ran into the Trevi fountain naked--it was all over the news and there were (blurry) pictures in the newspapers. Even when we were there some tourists were trying to climb onto the rocks to be in a picture and guards were blowing their whistles at them!
We walked around the neighborhood of the fountain looking for a nice restaurant to sit at and enjoy our cena (dinner). We found a spot where we could sit outside and since it was just at dusk the weather was starting to be bearable. We had a wonderful dinner and shared a couple pitchers of wine. I loved being back in Italy and speaking in Italian with the waitress--it felt great! It was just such a nice dinner.
I remember feeling relaxed and happy in the city and thrilled (and having a little bit of an out of body experience) to be there with my mom and my great friend Jamie. You don't always know that you are experiencing a really special life moment while it is happening but at this time I did. After dinner we walked back by the Trevi fountain to see it lit up at night. And we threw in our change (because this is supposed to insure that you will return to Rome one day). Here are Jamie and my mom preparing to throw their coins (you have to throw it over your shoulder):
Jamie throws her coin:
Mom hopes to come back to Rome:
And Jamie and I are incredibly posed:
I'm not sure we were even holding coins at that point! It was a great first day in the city but we had to get to bed because we were getting up super early to get in line for the Vatican Museum the next morning--fortunately we had worn ourselves out anyway.
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