Rome Day 2-3

This post picks up right where "Rome day 1" left off. To see Rome day 1, click on it at the list of posts at the top of the blog, to the right.

 I woke up at a pretty reasonable time in the morning and went down to find that the "Residence" provided complimentary breakfast. This was the view from out of my window. It wasn't long before we went back onto the bus to go see some of the monuments of Rome. I think it would have been neat to see the Metro system of Rome (they have 2 lines) but in the rain it is nice to have the bus.

 The Tiber river runs through Rome. It seems to flow with a fast current and twists and turns kind of like the Sine river in Paris.

 On the way to the big monuments we saw some notable things from the bus. The window and balcony with the flags on it was the window that Benito Mussolini gave his speeches from when Italy was under fascist rule during World War II.

 Next to that window is the giant Monument built shortly after the Italian unification. Some Italians apparently don't like this monument so much and the call it, "the cake". Not all Italians were happy with the unification after all.

Approaching the Coliseum! Check out how rainy it is. The coliseum is undergoing massive renovations  and with the Italian approach, it will be undergoing renovations for a long time. The renovations are necessary because a few years ago, a team of researchers found over 3000 critical cracks running along the entire Coliseum. The cracks are threatening the structure of the monument.

If you look at the coliseum you see what appear to be many holes. This is because the Romans used bronze "staples" to hold blocks of marble together when building the structures. When the pope needed some bronze for his big metal projects, he got it from the monuments around rome. Taking the staples out meant ripping holes in the marble.

Here are some staples that they somehow didn't get or were put in somewhat recently. They sit in the marble.

The Coliseum used to be called the Flavian theater (it was the big theater built and used in the Flavian era). The name Coliseum comes from the colossal statue of Nero placed right in front of the stadium. The statue is long gone and only the base remains. Another thing missing are the statues that used to fill every archway. The pope took most of these and so did other people in Rome. Some historians say that the Popes were worse for Roman historical monuments than the barbarians.

We climbed up some steps and there we were, inside the Roman Coliseum!

Ali was happy to be there!

We both were happy to be there!

The view out of one of the balconies of the Flavian theater. Here you can see some old Roman ruins. Notice the rows of pillars on the left and right. These used to hold up a massive roof that stretched in between the rows of columns. It must have been a huge building!

Contrary to popular belief, the Coliseum was not used to feed Christians to the lions. There is no record of any Christians being killed in the Coliseum. The games in the coliseum followed a very strict schedule with special events being held every now and then. Some people were killed in the coliseum but those people would have already been sentenced to death and would never have any chance of killing the gladiators. The gladiators were like huge stars and they were not killed in the Coliseum during the shows.

Ali enjoyed the Flavian Theater! The theater was neat because it was free and open to every Roman. Even if you were a servant, you could still go to see the shows. You might not be able to see anything at the very top, but you could still go. Where you sat depended on your social class. Women always sat near the top (unless they were very important for some reason) and the emperor always got the best seat in the house, midsection, front row.

The Coliseum used to be covered with wood and sand and had an underground network of tunnels with trapdoors and things. There is a small reconstruction on the far side of the theater.

It started to rain again...... SOOOO MANY UMBRELLAS! I really don't like umbrellas, I refuse to carry one. I opt for a raincoat instead.

Leaving the Coliseum.

Leaving the Coliseum. From here you can see it had several layers.

It was rainy and the original, Roman paved streets were wet and bumpy.

The water in Rome is very very fresh. The aqueducts built by Romans so long ago to move water all around are still in use today. You never need to buy water in Rome because the water from all these fountains is so fresh.

Approaching Roman Ruins. It is rainy and cold.

This church was wrecked like the rest of the ruins but we rebuilt a few hundred years ago.

Roman ruins. It looks like they light them up at night. It was crazy how you could get really close to lots of old roman marble. You could even sit on some stones!

This is what is left of the temple of the Vestal Virgins. The Vestal Virgins were a class of girls who attended a university vowed to live as a virgin and they enjoyed special privileges (like sitting in a good spot at the Coliseum). Their main duty, was to make sure that the fire in this temple, (the fire that symbolized the health of the Roman city) never died. It died once or twice, and obviously it isn't burning today.

Upon leaving the Roman ruins, we were all cold and wet. Lorenzo decided to cut todays trip down a bit since everyone was cold and wet.

This is a Roman "condo" house. This would have been one of the places that the wealthy would lice in the city of Rome. Cold and wet, we all trudged along to the Pantheon.

Approaching the Pantheon. It really seemed to come out of nowhere, especially since it was so big!

In the front of the Parthenon. Here we decided to break for lunch and we would meet back in about an hour. I just wanted to go into the Pantheon, then get food and try to warm up. We were both so tired and cold!

The Pantheon dome is definitely magnificent. You can really see why so many people tried to re create the famous giant dome in the temple of all temples.

The dome has coffered ceilings and a hole in the middle of it.

Rain was coming through that hole. It looked pretty neat and go the middle of the Temple all wet!

The inside of the Parthenon. It is full of tombs. The tomb of Raphael is in the Parthenon.

Here is Raphaels tomb stone.

Here is the tomb of Raphael. His box was opened for a short period of time in the 1800s to see if he was actually there. Sure enough, he was right where they left him.

Me at the parthenon.

The view looking out from the parthenon. As you can see, it was a beautiful day!

There are several of these egyptian obelisks around Rome. They even have hieroglyphics on them. The Pope's crest is below the obelisk. I wonder if he had anything to do with it being here?

Pantheon. At this point, Ali and I were both very cold and wet and hungry so we decided to go try and find someplace good to eat. Like in Florence, the places that are right next to the big monuments are usually very pricey and are very touristy so we tried to go off the beaten path a bit before we found this place........

A restaurant dedicated to parmesan cheese, the food was pretty good. I had gnocchi at a restaurant for the first time and I have to say, I didn't like it as much as the gnocchi I make with my gorgonzola sauce.

When we got out of the restaurant, the sun came out for a bit. From here you can begin to see the dome of the Pantheon. The pantheon is so big that you really cannot see too much of the dome even if you back up really far. It really is huge.

I edited two photos together so you can see the clouds and the inside.

This is a close up view of that obelisk. Lots of neat Egyptian hieroglyphics. We met up with our group at the Pantheon and began a long walk through Rome to get to the bus that would take us back to the hotel.

Along the way we saw lots of fancy expensive fashion stores and some neat buildings and a few obelisks. It started raining again and by the end of the walk back to the bus, my water resistant timberland boots were soaked with water inside the boot. It felt great to get into fresh clothes and warm up for a bit at La Residence.

After warming up a bit, Ali and I decided to go try and find someplace to eat. We got an idea that we had never done before in Italy, use Siri on our iPhones. When I was in New York city with my mom, Siri led us to great restaurants. We searched and clearly saw that there were americans reviewing very touristy pizza places and fast food places near the Vatican and major monuments and reviews in several other languages at some other places. We decided to check out a place that was a little ways away but looked pretty good.

After a bit of searching and going by the street it should be on, we went to a supermarket to ask for directions and they said that the restaurant was closed today (it was a saturday evening not even sunday). In Italy, there is a mentality that family is very very important and nobody else matters. We believe that this is the reason that lots of places are closed so often. The history teacher Lorenzo says that this mentality is also the root of the Mafia. While at the Grocery store, I searched around a bit and found some chocolate cake mix to make lava cakes with. For some reason, you cannot find it at many supermarkets in Florence. Another cool thing about this grocery store was that all the prices were on these little LCD screens. I wonder if the prices change very often? Maybe they can control all of them with a computer and easily change all the prices for a sale. I thought it was unique. Ali and I decided to stop at a restaurant that we passed by while searching for the restaurant that was closed.

The next morning, we enjoyed another complimentary breakfast before packing up our stuff and setting out on the bus for the final part of our Rome trip- the Catacombs!

It was a Sunday morning and as we were going around the Vatican, we noticed the long long line of people waiting for Sunday mass given by the Pope. While eating breakfast yesterday we met some french ladies who were going to meet to pope. I wonder if they are in this line?

The line stretched for so long around the Vatican walls.

SOOOOO many people! Its pretty crazy when there is a line of people waiting to get into the country that wraps around the country! Only with the Vatican, the country with only 50 passport holders.

On the way to the catacombs. They are just outside of Rome.

Here we are! This was a tight squeeze for the bus.

Beautiful Italian landscapes. Check out how green the grass is. It was late november and the grass is still green as can be. It simply does not get as cold as it does in America here.

Sheep next to what looks to be an entrance or air vent to the catacombs.

While waiting for everything to be straightened out with our catacomb tour, my apartment mate Burnie had some fun as the bus driver as Ali holds on for dear life! Burnie got engaged to her boyfriend Bobby the night before in front of the Trevi fountain (a big famous Roman monument). Everyone was all excited for her.
         The Catacombs were used as the first "graveyard" for the early christians. The Christians would be buried underground and professional diggers would dig hammers through the tombstone and they would carve out tunnels with very high ceilings. Along the walls, from floor to ceiling, there were tombs. All of the bodies were removed after lots of tourists come through. The catacombs had a small underground chapel and small areas where the popes (originally called Bishops) were buried. Over the 10 hectares of land that the catacombs run under, there are 20 kilometers of tunnels and half a million early christians were buried there over the few hundred years they were in use. After there were threats of invasion from barbarians from the north, the Catacombs were sealed off and hidden to protect them against the barbaric invaders. The most important bodies were removed before they were sealed and taken somewhere else. It was neat to see the catacombs. After the catacomb tour, we walked around a bit before heading back onto the bus for the 4 hour trip back to Florence.

We stopped at a rest stop.

Beautiful landscapes.

While on the way back, Our Italian teacher Metilda, and her husband used their ipad to watch the Fiorentina soccer game. For them, soccer is a religion and Metilda was nervous and screaming at her iPad the rest of the way home!

All in all, Rome was nice. I will say however that I did not enjoy it as much as any of the other trips I went on and I think that was because of the rain. It is hard to enjoy a place when it is rainy and cold and your super wet and cold. Its good to be back in Florence!