Rome with a view

Day 2 in Rome: Saturday, January 3, 2009

Today was going to be an amazing day, we were going to the Vatican. We woke up early and had breakfast at our hotel before jumping onto the metro to get to Vatican City. We met up with our group before battling the mobs of people trying to get into the Vatican. We had gotten very lucky. We originally tried to book one of the "intimate" tours but they were completely booked. These tours only take up to 8 people instead of the standard 20 or more, but at least we could book at all, so we took what we could get. But, let me tell you, only half of our group actually showed up, 9 did not, so we got our 8 person group anyways. Yay! This is definitely the way to go. We saw groups of nearly 100 people and their tour seemed so chaotic so we were happy to only have 8. Our guide Michelle was amazing as well. She was very knowledgeable and seemed to really enjoy what she did. It was raining when we tried to enter so we had to fight our way in through all of the umbrellas but we finally made it.

A Statue from around 2 A.D.:


This statue supposedly inspired Michelangelo to make his men very muscular, it also inspired Rodin's The Thinker:

We spent almost 4 hours walking through all of the thousands of statues, museums, Raphael rooms, Sistine Chapel, and so much more. They say if you spend 60 seconds looking at every piece of art in the Vatican then you could spend 12 years inside. It was all so surreal and amazing. The age of the art is also amazing, seeing statues that dated back to 2 A.D. It was very hard to fathom it all. We learned so much about Raphael and Michelangelo's personal history, about each of them painting their rooms, where they received inspiration from other statues inside, and so much more. The Raphael rooms were a great treat but of course the main attraction was the Sistine Chapel. I couldn't believe how high the ceiling was, it was intriguing to think how Michelangelo stood up for years on end painting the ceiling, usually without any breaks for weeks or months at a time. Nobody in this day and age would have that kind of patience to do a masterpiece like that. We stood in the Chapel looking up at the ceiling for quite some time before heading out.

The Teacher painting by Raphael:


Sistine Chapel ceiling:

One panel from the Sistine Chapel ceiling:

Our next stop was inside St. Peter's Basilica. One of the highlights inside is Michelangelo's Pieta, which shows the Virgin Mary holding Jesus' body. The rest of St. Peter's Basilica was just as impressive. All of the enormous statues, high ceilings, and the main attraction of the copper altar piece done by Bernini, known as the Baldacchino. The church supposedly is built on top of where St. Peter is buried. Outside the Basilica is Piazza St. Pietro. There of course was another huge obelisk, which was put in front of a Christmas Tree and very large Nativity scene. I will say we probably saw 30 or more nativities while in Rome. After taking tons of pictures of St. Peters Square and the columns we headed into the Post Office to pick up some souvenirs before heading to find something to eat.

Front of St. Peter's Basilica:

Michelangelo's Pieta inside St. Peter's Basilica:


The copper altar by Bernini, known as the Baldacchino, where St. Peter's body supposedly lies below:


The St. Peters Statue where everyone rubs or kisses his foot for luck:


Me inside St. Peters, with the pews and altar behind me:


Greg inside St. Peters with one of many statues behind him:


A couple Swiss guards outside St. Peters:

We ended up stopping in at L' Insalata Ricca for some pizza, bruschetta, wine and a Peroni. Next we walked to Museo della Anime del Purgatorra (Church of Purgatory) but unfortunately it was closed so we walked to Piazza Navona where we walked around a Christmas market that was still going on. In Rome they celebrate until after January 7th. On the 7th the Christmas Witch brings presents to the kids, there is a parade and party on that day as well. All of the stalls had witches on brooms and we didn't understand until we learned about the Christmas Witch on Sunday. We did find a very nice, hand-painted glass ornament of Rome for us to take back. We then stopped in at a local gelateria for some gelato. Greg had a biscotti flavored and I had a cherry and cream flavored one, yummy.

Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona:


Our gelato:

We then went to Cafe Sant Eustachio near the Pantheon so Greg could get a cappuccino. After a short walk we ended up in Campo di Fiori. We bought some wine and an Italian charm for me before going to the Imperial Fora to have a look around. Here is where we saw one of the Romulus & Remus statues that are very popular in Rome. We then headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We went to a place that was close by, it was so cold that we didn't want to head too far, called Gran Caffe del Passeggero where we indulged in bruschetta, gnocchi, spagetti alla carbonara, frascati wine, tiramisu and cannelloni. After that it was back to the hotel for some shut eye, we had another early day tomorrow.

Romulus & Remus statue:


As well as the regular buses, Rome has several of these cute, short buses that run around the smaller streets: