After the Vatican

After our morning at the Vatican, we decided to do some sightseeing in Rome. The Fontana di Trevi or Trevi Fountain is at the ending part of the Aqua Virgo, an aquaduct constructed in 19 BC.

At a little over 20 km, this aquaduct supplies water to all the fountains in the historic center of Rome. This fountain was commissioned in 1732 and completed in 1762. It was designed by Bernini.

The fountain has many statues, two notable ones are Neptune and Agrippa (he was the emperor who comissioned the aquaduct in the first place)! Hey Michele--ooops...we totally messed up--legend says that anyone who throws a coin in (over their shoulder, with their back to the fountain) will return to Rome. Guess we better go back so we can do it right! ;) To be honest, I was a bit intimidated by all the police people and didn't see anyone throwing coins in. I wonder if that legend is a bit like Rick Steves' claim that a water taxi costs the same as an ice cream cone?

Scalinata della Trinita dei Monti aka The Spanish Steps. Europes widest and longest staircase. Connects the Piazza di Spagna (I remember that name) with the Piazza di Trinita dei Monti (home to a really big church--not to be confused with all of Romes other really big churches). While Roman law forbids picnicing on the steps, crowds of people hang out here and I am sure I saw a lot of them eating. ;) The lower Piazza (di Spagna) is in the Baroque style and has a fountain in it that was built in 1627-29-its design is credited to Pietro Bernini (the father of the famous artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. BTW Michele, I found the lowdown on the whole Keats and Shelley museum at the lower right of the steps. That spot where the museum is now is the place where Keats lived and died in 1821 (funny too--I had just watched a movie about his life called "Bright Star").

This picture is when we got the idea to play Where's Waldo all over Europe. Europeans goes on holiday for the month of August. When we realized how huge the crowds were going to be everywhere we went, we decided to have some fun with it and place one of us in the huge crowd for a fun "Where's Waldo" Kim and Michele style. I am in the above 2 pictures. See if you can find me!

Vatican City

Saturday Aug. 7, 2010-Today we had breakfast on the roof of our hotel (we can see the Colosseum from our table).

After breakfast we took a taxi to the Vatican. Our tour guide was named Rachel and she was from Ireland. I loved her accent.

Literally "Stato della Citta del Vaticano" which translates to "State of the city of the Vatican". It is a land locked city state that sits independly inside the boundaries of the Italian capital city of Rome. It is approximately 110 acres and has a population of just over 800. They have a zero birthrate (surprise, surprise) and they issue their own passports.

The pinecone is gilt bronze. Originally from a Roman fountain dated to 1st or 2nd century AD. The pinecone is a symbol of enlightenment. The peacocks on either side are said to be symbolic of the phoenix and the entire balcony was designed by Michelangelo. Finally, this pinecone is the largest pinecone statue in the world.

Sfera Con Sfera (Sphere within a Sphere). Created for the Vatican Museum in 1990 by artist Arnaldo Pomodora. The fractured surface of the outer sphere reveals a very complex inner sphere that represents the harsh difficulties that the modern world finds itself in at the end of second millennium. The very intersting thing about this huge bronze casting is that each of the spheres rotate opposite of each other and freely. So one rotates one way and the other moves opposite of it on the inside. It is very cool to see. Rachel told us there are several smaller versions of this piece located all over the world.

The Vatican City is .6 miles wide and .8 miles long. Also known as the "Holy See", the Vatican is the smallest country in the world.

There are cracks in the barel vaults and the cornices. They have attached alarmed sensors to many of them. If there is seismic activity or the crack moves more than 1 millimeter-the Vatican knows about it!

Scholars have always disagreed about what is protruding from her body. Some say infants, some say breasts, some say testicles...what they can agree on is that she is a fertility godess. Duh!

All I know is that is about 1500 years old and I loved it! It reminded me of the theater.

This is the ceiling that leads into the Raphael room.

So, Rachel told us the story and it goes something like this. Michele might have to help fill in the gaps. The picture above is Raphael's School of Athens or Scuola di Atena. Completed either in 1510 or 1511, this is considered Raphael's greatest masterpiece and a prime example of high Renaissance style. Plato and Aristotle are at the center of the scene and it filled with all the great minds of history.

So, Rachel's story goes like this...It seems that Michaelangelo was sort of a butt and he didn't like people looking at his work until it completed and unveiled. Raphael thought Michaelangelo was a hack and snuck into the Sistine Chapel after work one night. Michaelangelo was working on the ceiling at the same time that Raphael was working on this piece. Raphael helped himself to a peek at Michaelangelo's work while the master was out. It is said that he promptly went back and painted the above image as the completion of his work. This image of Michaelangelo is particulary a compliment since Raphael (who made it clear that he still didn't like the guy but he had to acknowledge his genius as a master) portrayed M. as a writer! M. really loved to write and sculpt-so R. paid him a huge compliment by adding him to the great minds of history and adding him as he sat writing right down in front!

This is inside St. Peter's Basillica and I don't know what it is all about. I just was awe struck by the artistry out of one piece of marble!

The altar piece of St. Peter's. The basilica is considered late Renaissance style. It is the largest in the world and holds 60,000 people! Catholic tradition holds that this basilica is built over the burial site of it's namesake, St. Peter. Rachael told us a very compelling story that makes me inclined to believe this tradition. This tall, baroque piece stands over the altar and is called the baldacchino. It was designed by Bernini and was considered, at the time, to be the biggest bronze sculpture in the world.

Michele standing in front of the famous Obelisk of St. Peter's square! Brought to Rome from Egypt by the Emperor Caligula in 37 AD. It was relocated to this spot in 1586. It works as a sundial by casting its shadow on the long white tiles you can see on the ground. Tradition states that the bronze cross on top contains a fragment of the true Cross.

Me standing in Piazza san Pietro-St. Peter's Square. The building behind me is the exit from St. Peter's Basillica. All before noon! Just another day in Rome. ;)

Completed in 80 AD, the Flavian Ampitheater was used until 523 AD. Contrary to many popular stories, the Colosseum mostly was put out of service because of the military and economic problems that Rome was having in the Western part of the empire during the 500's. Along with the invasions from the North, no one could bear the colossal expense of putting on the day long shows.

Archeologist have found shards of pottery with the door number, row, and seat that a person would sit in. Just like modern day ticket stubs. The numbers on the doors are still visible from the outside.

During the middle ages houses and churches were built in the Colosseum! It was also used as a fortress.

During the Renaissance building materials were harvested from the structure. That is why a lot of the marble is gone from the facade and why you can see holes all over the front of the structure--they took out the iron that was inside and melted it down for other things.

We couldn't get over how there is still marble on the steps and on the floors even though hundred's of thousands of tourists walk on it every day!
Note: We are still wearing the same clothes we were wearing when we were on the plane!

The Colosseum BABY!! Can you believe it?! No really? Cause I can't. I get choked up each and every time I see the pictures. The word "arena" comes from the Latin "harena" which means sand or sandy place. The arena of the Colosseum had about 9" of sand on it as all times for the various hunts and combats that were held there--thus it was called an "arena" and that is where we get that word from today.

As soon as we checked into our hotel we got a cab to "Vastours" and off we went to our first tour. This is a pic. of our tour guide. I do not remember her name but she was really hard to hear. She was, however, a complete saint to the whiner's who were worried about all the walking--they must not have read the same brochure we had because ours warned us about 18 times to wear sturdy shoes and be prepared to climb a lot of steps.

Began in 72 AD and completed in 80 AD, the Flavian Ampitheater (Colosseum) was built by the Flavian Dynasty emperors of Vespasian, Titus, and Domition. It was built on top of the site where the much hated emperor Nero had built his home. Vespasian was the dad and Titus and Domition were his sons.

After our tour they made us sit through a really bad interactive movie, 3D type of thing. When we came out our group was getting back on to the tour bus. The driver was standing at the bus door asking each person where they were going after the tour. As we got up to the bus we told the driver "Capo d'Africa". "No bus" he told us. "What"?! After a 2-3 minute Italian-English verbal scuffle, we realized were were beat, lost, and without a ride back to the tour office. A brief moment of panic set in as the driver kept repeating that we should walk to the corner. We deciphered that he wanted us to take a regular city bus to our location and the city bus stop was on the corner. Neither one of us were very excited about this idea and we whispered to each other that we would walk around the corner (out of site of the driver, fellow tour passengers, and our humiliation) and then figure out what to do. Why wouldn't he let us one the bus? We had no idea--I asked Michele if she only bought us a one way pass or what? ;)

So we walked to the corner and decided to ask a waiter at a sidewalk cafe that was right there. He spoke about as much English as we did Italian! This was not looking good. Neither of us had working cell phones at this point so calling a taxi was not an option. Finally Michele said "Capo d'Africa" and the man pointed at the side of a building--a sign was there--a street sign--"Capo d'Africa"!!!! Apparently the bus driver didn't think we needed a ride to be delivered to our motel that was literally about 100 yards from the end of our tour. We very sheepishly walked up this little alley/street that we would come to recognize and affectionately call "Capo d'Africa"! :)))