Rome
WHAT BENNIE'S BEEN DOING: Week 7 (Florence & Rome)
Why Rome?
Because the world as we know it began right here at Constantine's Arch, built to commemorate his civil war victory over Maxentius in 312 CE.
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| Constantine's Arch & Roman Colosseum |
Our trips to Scotland, Ireland and France proved that this is only true insofar as you are a Christian of the same variety as those in power. So, I found myself mesmerized by the juxtaposition of empire and church in this ancient place, wondering who influenced who the most... and, still listening for the heartbeat of God in the midst of it all. More about that when I return!
So, we arrived in Rome by rail late afternoon Thursday, October 11.
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| Termini Station, Rome |
After waiting in line about an hour for a taxi, we finally made it to our hotel, not far from Vatican City. Given our weariness at this point in the itinerary, we opted for a delicious dinner at a nearby local restaurant and turned in early.
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| Bridge over the Tiber River near Vatican City and our hotel Look for Saint Peter's Basilica behind David's head |
On Friday, we had "skip the line" tickets for a night tour to view the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel "after hours," so we took the "hop-on/hop-off" tour bus through the old city during the day in order to get our bearings.
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| Riding in the top of the Hop On/Hop Off Bus Altare della Patria in background (More about Altare della Patria down below...) |
On the way, in addition to seeing famous sites like "The Spanish Steps," we also experienced Roman traffic (AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!) and saw "Roman Gas Stations"...
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| Roman Gas Pumps - no room for stations in this part of the city! |
We also saw Pope John Paul II!
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| Papa Giovanni Paolo II |
The next famous site was none other than...
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| Our first view of the Colosseum from the Hop On/Hop Off Bus |
Even though our scheduled tour of the Colosseum was not until Saturday afternoon, we decided to go ahead an hop-off when we got there because.... why not?!
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| Seriously... How often do you get to take a selfie with the Colosseum?! |
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| Roman Colosseum |
And, because I had read about it in a book, I wanted to find a church located between the Roman Forum and the Arch of Constantine. So, we went exploring...
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| Arch of Constantine |
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| Ruins of the Roman Forum |
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| Temple of Venus and Roma Ruins |
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| Ruins of Temple of Venus & Roma with Bell Tower of Basilica Santa Francesca Romana in background |
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| Front of Basilica di Santa Francesca Romana |
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| Basilica di Santa Francesca Romana including Bell Tower By Marcok - it.wikipedia.org - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3731272 |
The apocryphal story from the The Acts of Peter tells about Simon levitating above the Roman Forum to prove himself a god. But, Peter and Paul fall to their knees praying and Simon falls from the sky, breaking his legs. Then the crowd stones him. So, embedded in the south transept of the church is a dented slab of marble believed to be the knee imprints of Peter and Paul made during their prayer against Simon Magus!
Amazingly, you don't have to buy a ticket to visit Basilica di Santa Francesca Romana like you do everything else in this part of Rome, so David and I just walked in... but, we were still very unsure whether we should be in there or not! There were only a few other folks inside. And, it was incredibly quiet... So, we followed suit, not uttering a word even to each other. Unfortunately at the time, I didn't know where exactly to look for the dented slab of marble, so I can't tell you what it looked like. And, given how sacred the place seemed, I definitely didn't take any pictures inside.
But, I did hear the heartbeat of God... make of that what you will!
Of course, as you might expect and would certainly hope, I also heard the heartbeat of God in the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. Photos were not allowed inside the Sistine Chapel, and even though they were allowed in the Vatican museum, I didn't take that many. Honestly, I wanted to take it in without feeling like a tourist. So, I didn't photo any of the art inside, but I did take a few pics outside...
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| Entrance to the Vatican Museums |
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| Saint Peter's Basilica |
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| Ancient pine cone sculpture in Vatican courtyard, originally from a fountain near the Pantheon in Rome Pine cones are an ancient symbol of fertility :) (More about that when I return as well!) |
So, as for the rest of our time in Rome, we found it was much faster to walk than ride the bus. So, we walked to the Spanish Steps...
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| Spanish Steps Selfie |
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| Finally wearing shorts on the Piazza di Spagna! |
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| Bougainvillea near Villa Borghese |
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| Leonardo da Vinci Statue in Villa Borghese |
Then, we walked to the Trevi Fountain...
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| Trevi Fountain Selfie |
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| Fontana di Trevi |
After eating an incredibly delicious authentic Neapolitan pizza at L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele Trevi, we finally made our way to the Colosseum for our tour...
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| Note how only the inner ring has survived... |
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| Gate XLVI of 76! |
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| Inside the Colosseum |
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| Note the intricate tunnels under the arena floor! |
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| Yes, they did think to put in bathrooms - Ancient Roman Toilets! |
An engineering marvel no doubt - I must confess I was just obsessed with it's construction and magnitude.... And, as our tour guide poignantly reminded us, it was built to be a place of death. A place of death built on the backs of the poor, the slaves, the outcasts - any human beings Rome viewed as dispensable. (More about my thoughts on this when I return!)
So, with that, we left the Colosseum for free gelato included in our tour - whoo-hoo! Then, in conclusion, we enjoyed a tour of the Roman forum followed by an elevator trip to the top of Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland), a grand marble, classical temple honoring Italy's first king, WWI soldiers. I failed to get a picture of the front of the building, but this is a view of the Colosseum from the top... and, I included a pic of the Forum up in the earlier part of the post.
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| Colosseum from atop Altare della Patria |
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| Sunset from atop Altare della Patria |
Exhausted from the walking and touring, we picked up street sandwiches, ate them as we walked to our hotel... then, packed and fell into bed so we could be outside to catch our taxi to the airport at 6:30 am... and go from Rome to Home!
So, "that's all folks" with regard to our sabbatical travels in Europe...
Stay tuned for Santa Fe and Ghost Ranch!