...do as the Romans do

(apologies for formatting. cut and paste from Notepad into internet browser.... but at 3 euros for 30 minutes ($5) I am trying to do this quickly!)

Leaving Munich at 9:00 PM, we rode all night in a full 6 person cabin (3 bunks high), with the train continually shaking us awake. Finally, it was morning- the sun blasting into our train window, and with bleary eyes I looked out and saw Italy, with unbelievable views of rolling hills covered in grape vines. The colors were different than anything we had seen so far in the trip- everything was in "Italian Color" with a vague sun-bleaching effect. It was beautiful, warm, and sunny- giving Italy an immediate place in my heart before we even stepped off the train.

Arriving around 9:30 AM, we dropped our bags at the hostel and set out to see Rome. We headed directly to the Vatican, where we joined a tour group to see the Vatican Museums. Taken through the public rooms was a beautiful art tour, with detailed explanations of the most important pieces and rooms. Learning about the personalities of Michaelangelo and Raphael, the two most important artists of the Vatican, and their competitiveness in outdoing each other gave life to the art that would not have been there otherwise. Seeing the roof of the Sistine Chapel frescos evolve from the first learning of the Fresco technique by Michaelangelo to his mastery of it by the end allowed us to better understand the differences between the panels.
 Also within the Sistine Chapel is the Last Judgement, a fresco taking up one entire wall, a depiction of some going to heaven and others to hell with angels guiding the way. One particularly bothersome bishop (who insisted that Michaelangelo cover up the nudity in the painting) is shown in the bottom, darkest corner of hell, with a snake wrapped around his body biting the private parts he insisted on Michaelangelo's covering. (The Pope apparently tired of the bickering ignored the Bishops complaints and let it stand).
The Raphael rooms beautiful as well, with extraordinary detail in his depictions of ancient life in interesting scenes, though much of this work was done by his staff instead of by himself (in contrast to Michaelangelo's largely independent work).

We then headed up the 320 steps to the top of St. Peter's Basilica (apparently when faced with a tower to climb we must climb it). The view of Rome was beautiful, though the way up was quite exhausting and included walking along ever increasingly slanted walls which seemed to be closing in on us).
Exhausted, we headed back to the hostel for a nap- though I will say I have rarely more wished for an elevator than when we needed to carry our luggage from the basement up to the 4th floor after walking for 6 hours on no sleep...

We were happy to grab a nice dinner at a resturant near the hostel recommended by Rick Steve's book (more about that in a moment- look for the misc. section at the end of the post). The Italian pasta (stuffed with pears and truffles) lived up to every expectation I could have had, as did the homemade gelato for dessert.

The next day we walked the Roman Forum following Rick Steve's guide. It was incredible to see how large ancient Rome was, and the incredible construction they did 2000 years ago. Walking the same path as Caesar Agustus did along the ruins gave us a real sense of the history of this great city. We visited the "original" Capitol Hill. Seeing the burial spot of Julius Caesar (where a small temple was built) was amazing, especially as it is just across the ancient square from the first Senate- an enormous building that is still standing mostly intact from its construction in AD 283. But compared to the columns remaning from the Temple of Saturn (497 BC), it seems new.

But the most poingnat moment of the self guided tour is the end, when looking at the Column of Phocas (AD 608), given to Rome to commemmorate the Pantheon's becomming a Christian Church. As the guide describes, it was the "symbolic last nail in ancient Rome's coffin." An amazing moment to consider the history of a once great city, still impressive even in Ruins.

We then toured the National Museum of Rome, which contained a great amount of original art still in excellent condition from 2000 years ago, as well as what must have been the art world's first copies- statues that ancient Romans had made based on much older and already famous Greek art.
After a much needed nap, we followed the nighttime Rome walk (Rick Steves again), in which we saw the beautiful Trevi fountain (and a couple getting engaged). The Trevi fountai was completed in 1762 (keep in mind the American Declaration of Independence was not until 1776), and is enormous- 24 water spouts from which Rome's aqueducts pour out a flood of water, lit up at night and surrounded by a couple hundred tourists. We even threw a coin over our shoulders- 1 each, to assure our return to Rome. We also walked by several other plazas, all teeming with people enjoying the beautiful night weather. We shared a "world famous" tartufo at Tre Scalini (death by chocolate ice cream truffle of sorts). We marveled at the sixth century BC Egyptian Obelisk, taken to Rome as a trophy by Augustus after defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. It makes one wonder how such a large column could have not only gotten to Rome by survived all these years. We had a fantastic dinner at another Rick Steves recommendation, and then headed back to recharge for the final day of Rome...

On the third day, we had two booked tours to enjoy- the Colleseum and the Scavi Necropolis under the Vatican.

First, to the Colleseum... a brand new tour with limited size (about 20 people) of areas that have never before been open to the public- and are now still only open to people who book tours far enough in advance to grab the limited spots. We were first taken to the area under the Colleseum, where we saw the staging area used to prepare the animals and stage sets for lifting via wenches through trap doors to the stage. You can imagine the chaos of hundreds of slaves working, pulling levers and tugging ropes, with yelled instructions being echoed through the underground area, among the caged lions and other exotic animals (who had not eaten in days to insure their hunger), as well as the dead bodies being dragged out, with blood and sand falling through cracks of the stage above...one imagines it was chaotic and exciting...and smelly!
We then entered the level of the stage, where the Gladiators fought. Walking out there, imaging the 70,000 people in audience waiting to see you fight for your life... it was an electric feeling. (And actually a good amount of the time the Gladiators were not actually killed- it was quite expensive to replace them and many made it the 5 years of their contract to be freed and very well paid for their service- reviered like American football players today.)

We then headed up to the top of the Colleseum, where we had a great view of Rome, as well as seeing it from the persepctive of a spectator. Clearly, there was no bad seat in the house. A random fact that I didn't know before the visit is that before the Colleseum was used for the Gladiator battles we know it as, they used it to stage great "naval battles" in which they flooded the area and brought in naval ships, which then reinacted the great naval victories over Roman enemys. Very hard to imagine today, but an impressive engineering feat at the least.

We then headed to the Vatican  (and specifically St. Peter's Basillica) for our Necropolis tour. This was a tour I requested tickets for about two months ago, and was thrilled to be able to get as the tours only allow around 12 people each and are not an easy ticket to score...because it is incredible. Excavations underneath the Vatican to find St. Peter's original burial location were begun around 1930, and were done at night, in secret, by only 4 workers, over a 10 year period (if you are wondering why- think of the Euroean political climate at the time and who wanted all the art....) To describe what they found (and therefore what we saw), it makes the most sense to start at the beginning of the history of how church came to be located where it did. Originally, the area was used as a "Roman circus," which is where chariot races were held. Around year 26 AD, Peter (one of the apostles) was martyerd in the middle of the racetrack. His followers,very poor early Christians, removed his body to the area behind the racetrack where they buried it, covering it by 6 simple stones.  Eventually other people (the rich pagans) began burying bodies there around year 150, and bulding large mauseleums to honor their dead. around year 200 a small additional grave marker was added to the site of Peter's grave, to ensure it was not lost among the large mauseleums. However, when Constantine became the first Christian emporer, he decided to build a church in the area, and surrounded Peter's burial site with large granite slabs so it would not be lost. He then bashed in the tops of the mauseleums and filled them with dirt, flattening the entire area, and then began to build. After this church eventually burned down, it was replaced, and then replaced again eventually around 1500 by St. Peter's Basilica. Therefore, when the excavations began under St. Peter's, they found these perfectly preserved mauseleums- the dirt having protected the frescoes on the walls and the beautiful sarcofagi from the 2000 years of history. Therefore, now when you go on this tour, you are walking along the original street level of Rome with the Mauselums on either side of you- imagining that instead of looking up and seeing the roof (which is really the bottom of St. Peter's basilica), you would see sky. Before the area was opened to tourists in the 1980s, the last people to walk the road were almost 2000 years ago. Absolutely incredible.

And, in case you are wondering- they think they did find Peter's original burial location, almost exactly where they were expecting it, as the alters continued to be built over the years of different churches at exactly the same spot. 6 simple stones marked an area in which many other bodies had been buried- but none appeared to be the right age or gender to be Peter. Then a few feet away they found a "cave" of sorts, with bones inside with a few strands of cloth of purple and gold- the sort that would only be used by someone of great importance. On the outside of the cave were markings translated to mean "Peter is here," along with many other prayers to Peter. The bones there did match the correct information they have about Peter (age, gender, and the fact that his feet were missing- consistent with being martyered by hanging upside down- they would have cut him down at the ankles). We saw this area and the markings on the wall, as well as a bit of bone visible through the darkness. Whether they are really the bones of Peter or not will never be known (even as stated by our tour guide), but it was an incredible end to the tour, a walk back in 2000 years of history.

Today, we are headed on the train to Cinque Terre, a much needed break from touring (our feet and knees are greatful).   

Some random bits of things from the last few days outside the overall narrative:

-AS I AM WRITING THIS ON THE TRAIN TO CINQUE TERRE, I JUST SAW MY FIRST WATER SPOUT/TORNADO!!! Its off in the distance but it was clearly touching the ground as we could see the dirt/moisture coming up and blowing around in a clear funnel cloud to the ground. Didn't think I had to come from Kansas to Italy to see a tornado, but so be it.)

-The obelisk in the center of St. Peter's square is 4000 years old and Egyptian. Which means it was made 2000 years before Christianity existed. Which means that the center of the Catholic church seems like a strange place for it...though they have added a cross on the top.

-When St. Peter's was built, marble was in short supply. So they took it from the Colleseum. Apparently no one thought in the 1500s that anyone cared.

-Italian pasta...really, really good. Or maybe we just never go to nice enough American Italian resturants??

-Seriously, how did these 4000 year old obelisks get across the ocean over 2000 years ago in one piece????

-Drinking beer (or wine or whatever) by water is just more enjoyable than not by water, as we noted while enjoying a beer next to Trevi fountain. Here is our theory on why (someone should probably write their thesis on this): we know that taste and flavor is actually impacted by all 5 senses, as was demonstrated during the Bols tour in Amsterdaam. Therefore, when you drink by water, the refreshment is increased by seeing water, smelling water, and hearing water (at least if by a large fountain or the ocean). So instead of only 2 senses being engaged in the refreshment (smell and taste), all 5 are totally zoned in to the liquid refreshment.

-Hearing that what you are looking at is from a year in the "tens" (like this is from around year 26 AD) is really insane and hard to wrap your mind around.

-There are two guidebooks that have been absolutely invaluable on this trip. First, Rick Steve's- the information is at a level of detail you don't get elsewhere. Something like Let's Go or Lonely Planet just doesn't seem to have the same amount of information and are overly focused on places to stay and bars to go to. Maybe these are better in Latin America, but for European sights, the Rick Steves books are just unbeatable. The resturant recommendations have also not failed us yet- the dinner we had on a beautiful quiet square in Rome overlooking a fountain was excellent, which he stated was his favorite place for outdoor dining in Rome. So thanks to my brother for those. The other book that has been extremely helpful is the Europe by Train, given to us by our good friends Z&M in DC. This book has told us how to get places when it is not otherwise obvious, and seems to pick up where Rick Steves sometimes leaves off. With the combination of these books (and the internet for last minute details that can't be included in these books), all the information you could need is easy to find.

-The weather in Rome was perfect- 70 degrees and sunny. Happily trade crappy weather in Berlin for the amazing weather in Rome.

-Off-season is a great time to travel to Rome. We only waited in 1 line (though this is in part because I booked a tour of the Colleseum- where we skipped past around 500 people trying to buy tickets), and that 1 line was just 25 minutes to buy the ticket up to the cuppola at the top of St. Peters. This is in contrast to the rumored 2-3 hour lines in the summer. Plus it's much nicer to walk all day if it's not 90 degrees :)

-A tip that you can apply in the US- or wherever you might be on vacation- if you want to find real homemade ice cream, made from scratch, look at the bananna flavor. If it is yellow, it's from a mix. If it's a gray-ish light yellow, it's probably homemade. We used this trick and yes, it made a difference in the taste (with the homemade being much better).