Back to the Vatican

On day 4, my last day in Rome, I was headed back to the Vatican. This time it was to go to the museums, and of course to see the Sistine Chapel. Even though I'd gotten there well before they opened at 10am, there was still quite a queue. I prepared myself for a long and arduous wait, but was surprise to actually be through the doors a few minutes after 10. There was a little judicious moving around big tour groups, but I managed it nonetheless.

One thing I have to say about the tour is that once you get started, the guide is easy to follow, but it's finding that starting point that's difficult. I ended up having to double back from where I'd started from, as the natural progression was to go out to the courtyard and then into the busts gallery. There is no possible way I could have remembered all of the works that I saw, even if I'd had the time to take notes on all of them as I went through. I spent a little time in the busts gallery, seeing statues of Artemis and Ocean, amongst many others. I then realised that I wasn't in the right spot and was going to cut off vast areas of the tour, so went back through the courtyard to start again
.





This time I headed up the stairs, and found myself in an Egyptian gallery. Honestly, I feel like I've seen so much of Egyptian history and culture without ever stepping foot in Egypt itself! The thought did occur to me whilst I was standing in front of a mummy laid out with the funerary objects that it would require in the afterlife, that there was a certain kind of hypocrisy about one religion who is so adamant and rigid about its own beliefs allowing relics of a different religion to be displayed in what is supposedly the most holy of places.


From the Egyptian rooms I went into some kind of garden - I have a vague memory of the name of it being something to do with an octagon, but I may well be making that up. There were statues and what looked like bathtubs in every corner, and ponds in the middle. I sat down at a bench to take a moment to absorb it all, and literally got shoved off the seat by some fat American woman as she sat down to rest her th-cankles. I took it as a sign and moved on.


What followed for the next few hours were endless rooms filled with statues, scultures, paintings and beautiful ceilings. If my neck wasn't already sore from the previous few days of staring up at various works of art, it would have been stuck permanently at an odd angle after this. I'm not sure if the ceilings are designed the way they are for effect, or if they simply ran out of room on the walls and wanted to fill up more space. Either way, the mix of art and architecture is sublime.


This is actually a tapestry. There was a room filled with massive scenes, depicting various battles and religious wars. Amazing.



This one looks curved because it wasn't on a wall, it was on the roof.

I can't even remember most of the history that goes along with the museums there. I was doing the audio tour, so I got lots of information, but it reached the point of overload well before I was even halfway through. I'm sure I could look it all up again and do the research, but to be honest, I'm not interested enough in it. I liked a lot of what I saw, but it meant nothing to me for it to have been created by Raphael or one of his students. I do remember the tapestry room and the Gallery of Maps, but a lot of what else I saw is a blur. Goes to show once more that art really isn't my thing!

This statue freaked me out. It was the only one I saw all day that had proper eyes, and it was just strange!

Eventually I got through the hundreds of rooms, apartments, and everything else, and was close to the Sistine Chapel. Before that though, much to my amusement, was a modern art gallery. I took a couple of photos which help to demonstrate my point - the statue indicates how I feel about modern art, and the "painting" beneath it shows... I'm not sure what, exactly, it shows. But it's art, apparently.



The only reason I could come up with for including the modern art where they did was that it juxtaposes nicely with the awe-inspiring creations in the Sistine Chapel. Thank God (no pun intended) that I can play stupid in several languages - they don't allow any photography in the chapel, but I did manage to get away with a few happy snaps. I didn't know the history of the art in the chapel (I knew of its fame, but that was about the extent of it), so I finagled myself a seat and sat back, listening to the audio guide give me the brief version of the history of it all.



Eventually the seething mass of humanity that was filling the small space got to me, and I headed out. Once again I went through long corridors of statues, paintings and wondrous celings, before finding myself at the exit. There was one job to do before that - send a couple of postcards so that my nan could have a new stamp from the Vatican for her collection. I'd have been in some serious trouble if I'd have come home without getting that! I also admired the design of the staircase - it's massive! Turns out my dodgy camera struck again, and the photos turned out blurry, so I stole someone else's to post on here.




When I finally got outside, it was time for a very late lunch. I found a little restaurant in a quiet street and had yet another pasta dish - lucky I was walking so much, as I was eating my body weight in carbs!

Day 3

I was up early again the next morning for round 3 of 'Sarah walks across Rome'. My first planned stop on this day was the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, to see La Bocca della Verita - the Mouth of Truth. I caught the metro Termini to Circo Massimo, and then walked along the side of Circo Massimo itself. This used to be a grand stadium, where races were held - up to 12 races per day in Augustus' time. Caligula liked to gamble a bit more, and held up to 24 races each day. These days the area is just a place for locals to walk their dogs, but you can still see where the track would have been.

Anywho, it was just a short (wet) walk up and down the hill to the church. I'd gone out of my way to go there because I knew that it was a central scene in the film "Roman Holiday", which I figured I'd be watching when I got home. I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I hadn't seen it before I went, and I haven't seen it yet - but I have the DVD here and it's a current plan for this weekend! I could see the Mouth of Truth as I arrived at the church, but wanted to take a look inside first. Turned out to be a great idea - inside I discovered a relic of San Valentino - yep, you guessed, good ol' St Valentine himself. It's kind of morbid to be standing there looking at a skull, but that's just what I did.



There wasn't much else to see inside this particular church, so I wandered out and joined the queue to have my photo taken with my hand inside the mouth. For those who don't know, the legend has it that if you put your hand into the mouth of the sculpture, and you tell a lie, it will bite your hand off. I can testify now that the legend isn't true, but the lie I told wasn't a big one, so maybe there's just degrees of lying!



I went inside to buy a souvenir, and discovered a piece of an 8th century mosaic on the wall there. Apparently it comes from the Old St Peter's Basilica. I loved the fact that there was no glass over it, and no apparent security system - something that's at least 1300 years old, and it's on the wall of an old, small church in a city known for its thieves. Britain would guard that with several armed forces units, heat sensors, motion detectors, and a donkey.

I left the church and jumped onto a bus, taking the scenic route through the city before eventually finding my way to Barberini. From there, I walked up the hill to the top of the Spanish Steps, which I had avoided going to a couple of days before. I'm not sure in the end if it would have been better to approach them from the bottom or the top, but nevertheless I did get lots of photos. I'm still not sure what's so special about these steps. I mean, I know the history of them, I know that they're in a few movies, but really? They're just steps. Slippery steps, covered in tourists and freaky guys trying to give women flowers. I did kind of like the fountain at the bottom of the steps, the Fontana della Barcaccia (Fountain of the Old Boat).







Right next to the Spanish Steps is the Keats Shelley Memorial House. I got all excited when I realised that, because of all the English poets, Keats is a favourite. Naturally, it was closed. I said a few naughty words quietly, turned around, and realised that I was at the end of Via Condotti, one of the premiere shopping streets in Rome. Somehow though, I restrained myself, however temporarily, and headed in a different direction - towards Piazza del Popolo. I didn't know what was supposed to be there, but it was highlighted on the tourist map I was following, so I figured it must have been worth a shot. It was a bit 'more of the same'-ish, so I didn't hang around there long. Can I just say though, it's no wonder I don't understand modern art. There were a couple of sculptures on the street on my way to the piazza, and lets just say I don't think anyone around me really got the point of them.
Got a little excited again when leaving Piazza del Popolo!

I wasn't really sure where else to go from here. I covered a lot of places much more quickly than I had anticipated, I think because I hadn't realised how close they all were to each other. I'm too used to big distances. I decided to go to Rome's cathedral, Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano. I'd already seen a lot of churches, but what's a trip to an ancient city without a whole lot more? The cathedral was huge. I'd figured that with so many churches in such a small area, that the cathedral wouldn't actually be that big. Wrong. It wasn't huge as in the size of the Vatican huge, but it was certainly big enough.


From there I headed down the street, looking for the Scala Santa. This is supposed to the the staircase that Jesus walked up in Pontius Pilate's palace in Jerusalem. I don't really know why I couldn't find it, but I never did get there. I went into Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Holy Cross in Jerusalem. There was a lot of interesting things to see there, not the least of which was a shrine to a young girl who is up for sainthood, but there is was is reported to the holy relics from Jesus' crucifiction. I wasn't sure if they were real when I was there, but I did a bit of research afterwards and it seems that they are. The relics, known as the passion relics, include: a large fragment of the Good Thief's Cross; the bone of an index finger, said to be that of St Thomas, which he placed in the wound of the Risen Christ; pieces of the Scourging Pillar, Christ's tomb and Jesus' crib; two thorns from the crown of thorns; three fragments from the True Cross; a nail used in the crucifiction; and the Title of the Cross. There is also a copy of the Shroud of Turin there. I wish I'd taken it a bit more seriously now - I snapped a couple of pics while I was there just to record it, but didn't really believe it, and left relatively quickly.



That was pretty much the end of my day, as it was time for dinner and to head back to the hotel. Yet another successful day!

Buon Natale!

I'd rung the family the night before, as it was Christmas Day their time and I knew it'd be the best time to speak to everyone. That meant that I didn't have anything to do on Chrsitmas morning, other than organise myself and get to the Vatican. I'm not a Catholic (I had a stand-up fight with Sr Therese at school when she called me an aetheist, because I'm agnostic), but I figured, hey, when in Rome...!

I don't really know how I managed to fluke this, but I timed my arrival to St Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro) quite perfectly. I'd stopped on the way from the train station to give Aunty Ann a call (being Welsh she was in almost the same time zone as me, and I'd get in trouble if I didn't call), and arrived at the piazza just as the various groups of guards were doing their little march past. I snapped a couple of photos, found the way through the gates, and headed for the front of the piazza. Basically, there's a space under the balcony for the Swiss Guards, followed by a seated area, a fenced off gap for the march past, and then the crowds. The gazillions of people, just like me, who all wanted to see the pope wave his hands and ramble on. Somehow, despite all of those people, I ended up as the third person back behind the fencing. I was also right in front of a big screen, so I had the perfect view of things (that is, when the blonde, Amazonian woman in front of me swayed left and I went right, or vice versa).





We stood around for quite a while waiting for the big guy to appear, and quite a roar went up when he did. Needless to say, I didn't understand more than a few random words, but it was a good experience all the same. He gave a blessing (I assume) in what I think was just about every language, including Esperanto. It was like he was some kind of rock star, the way people carried on. I don't really get the fascination with him myself, although I suppose it doesn't help that I was more a fan of JP2 than of Benny, but anyway.

After he'd finished his somewhat short appearance, the crowds began to disperse. I hung around the front for a bit to snap a few pics, then wandered back to the nativity scene, before exiting the piazza on a search for something to eat. Christmas Day, and what do I have for lunch? Pizza, of course! I didn't pay by the slice either - I paid by weight. You tell them how much pizza you want, they cut it, weigh it, you pay for it. And the pizza was gooooooood. I then turned back into the piazza, sat down for a spot of people watching while lunch settled down, and then went into the Basilica di San Pietro. It was yet another opportunity to get a crick in my neck and to marvel at the sheer opulence of the place.

I spent quite a while wandering around the basilica. The big red circle on the floor is where Charlemange and later Holy Roman Emperors were crowned by the pope. I took stacks of photos, far more than I'm putting up here. I saw the high altar, where the only person who can say mass is the pope, and St Peter is reportedly buried underneath it. I also saw the 13th century bronze statue of St Peter, with the worn down foot that has been touched by thousands of pilgrims (thanks for the info on that one, Lonely Planet!).

This photo was taken directly below the balcony. You can see the fence at the back of the seats - that's where I was.


After I left the basilica, I headed down the street towards Castel Sant' Angelo. It wasn't open, so I wandered through the markets, somehow found myself in Piazza Navona, and figured I'd have dinner before heading back to Termini for my shuttle. Another lovely day filled with wandering and discovering - and once again I was shattered.

From the Roman Forum...

...along the Via del Fori Imperiali, past several other forums, and the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II. This is a momument to the first king of the unified Italy (he became king in 1861 - practically yesterday in terms of Italian history). It has various nicknames, including the wedding cake and the typewriter, and is pretty much derided by Italians young and old.


From there it was a hop, skip and a dash across the busy street to Piazza Venezia, which didn't have anything to hold my interest, so I strolled down the street, wandering in and out of shops, wishing I didn't have a credit card limit. I picked up a couple of souvenirs and eventually found my way to Piazza Navona.

This place was exactly what I'd imagined a piazza to be. I don't know if the stalls that were there are year-round or were just there for Christmas, but they sold everything from cheap crap to leather handbags. By this point in the day it was early afternoon, and I was a little peckish. I grabbed a panini and parked my butt on a railing around the Fontana del Nettuno. It was glorious - I sat there for quite a while, soaking up the sunshine, listening to the people (a good mix of tourists and locals), and trying hard to work out more of the language. It was that perfect temperature where I could have fallen asleep though, so I made myself get up and move on.

This time I headed for the Pantheon, which was only a few blocks away. I somehow managed to approach it from behind, which meant that I didn't really get the full effect of the columns until after I'd been inside. They're *massive*, and like the Colosseum, made me marvel at how they had been built so perfectly so many years ago. I went inside, and it was amazing. There are beautiful paintings everywhere, more huge columns, and, something I didn't realise beforehand, the tomb of Raphael, the painter and architect. It made me stop for a second, one of those 'wow' moments (there were a lot of them during the trip, but this was one of the first). I was suddenly standing before the tomb of someone whose name is bandied about so frequently when talking about history, and there it was, right in front of me.






The real 'wow' moment of the Pantheon though, for me, was the roof. This is a church, filled with priceless relics, and there's a gaping hole in the top of it. It's designed so that rain will drain away from small holes in the marble floor, which is great, but it's still kind of odd to go into somewhere like that and find that you're staring up at the sky whilst standing between the tombs of kings and queens.

I sat for a while here, too, to take it all in, before heading out into the piazza to take some photos of the front. In the end I didn't manage to get a photo of the whole front of it properly, but I did get most of it. It's just too big! I was about ready by this point for some dessert, so naturally I headed for the nearest gelati vendor. I bought a couple of scoops, saw lots of people sitting on the steps of this monument in the square, and figured I'd join them. I don't really know how I do it, but as soon as I sat down, a policewoman was telling me to bugger off. Turns out you can't sit anywhere even AROUND the monuments. Luckily, one of the easiest phrases of Italian sprung to mind, and "Mi scusi, mi scusi!" got me out of trouble!

Having nowhere to sit, I wandered up the street, with no real direction in mind. Eventually I saw a sign for the Fontana di Trevi, and seeing as that was on my list of places to go, headed for it. There's not much to say about it, apart from that it was truly spectacular. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, it was still warm, and there were so many parts of it all. I managed to wiggle my way into a seat in front of the fountain, and stayed there for a while, drinking it all in. I must have had my trustworthy face on, because I took photos for a stack of people while I was sitting there. In the end I was there for about two hours, just people watching and enjoying it all. I did throw a coin into the fountain, over my shoulder - now I get to go back!






It's a bit hard to make out in the photo above, but there's a guy leaning over in a khaki jacket and black beanie - he's got a magnet on the end of something like a television aerial, and he's fishing coins out of the fountain. Bastard.

I figured it wasn't yet time for dinner, but the sun was starting to go down. I had originally thought of going to the Spanish Steps as well, but then figured I'd leave it for another day, as I'd have very little to do otherwise. I decided to go back to the places I'd seen already, and take some night photos. That meant back first of all to the Pantheon, and then to Piazza Navona. I figured I'd eat somewhere in the Piazza, because there were lots of places to choose from and not so many on the way back to the Colosseum. I settled on this little out of the way place, which had very few people at it. One of the waiters was standing out the front, trying to convince people to come and eat there. He was funny, spoke enough English to understand my sarcastic retorts, and I was sold. Turns out, he wasn't even the charmer in the restaurant - the other waiter proposed to me! I couldn't really see myself married to a (hot) waiter in Rome, tempting though it was, and declined. Still, I can notch that up as a proposal all the same!

Finally I headed back through the piazza, past the Fountain of the Four Rivers, and back along past the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, along the side of the Palatine and back to the Colesseum. I was exhausted by this point, so luckily for me it was time to head back to Termini and get the shuttle back to the hotel.

I saw this back at Termini - how exciting to see the Grandview on a poster in Rome!!