Italy - Rome

ROMA!!  Hello Italy!

    Our flight arrived in the afternoon and our host for the place insisted on picking us up.  When you don't speak his language and he doesn't really speak English it's quite funny trying to tell eachother where we are or how to meet.  Walking definitely would have been faster.  =) Finally we agreed upon meeting at the McDonalds and Candace and I waited another few minutes and Wala!, a Smart car - Haha.  OVER half the cars in Rome are smart cars, but at the time we didn't know that and It was kinda funny to throw our big packs into the trunk and take all of its room, then fit Candace on my lap in the front seat and head to our Roman Residence.





    Our host offered to drive Ferraris with us tomorrow and then bid us farewell upon which we decided to take a walk.  Soon we were upon the Coliseum which looked like it has been bombarded by cannon balls or possibly damaged in WW bombings.  I just figured they made great footholds and grips for rock climbing.  So up I went - not TOO far, but it was a fun little boulder.



    Of course I could have just gotten in for free that way, but I can't leave my lovely lady behind, nor could I justify cheating anyone, let alone the Romans of the day who I'm sure put at least some of the $ made in entry fees into paying for repairs on such wonders of the world as this, the largest Roman Amphitheater still standing.





    By the time we got done gawking and were ready to go into the thing, it had closed (just missed it!).  So we wandered along and strolled by some other ruins,



found a couple cool arches and found ourselves wandering down a cute street.  The street was lined on either side by a huge wall I definitely couldn't get over even if I had had a boost.  Along either side the wall would open up to views and became gated so that one could catch a glimpse of wide open spaces with some ruins here and there, and huge buildings in the distance, all enhanced with a kind of aura about them that somehow spoke of ancient power.  We passed a woodcarver practicing his trade, a man entertaining a Guitar, and a kitten eating off a plate someone was kind enough to leave out with some treats (most likely guitar dude).



    The street dead-ended so we headed back and then cut around to a new area, almost sneaking into a "book reading" concert that was taking up a huge area that we could not get into.

    We instead headed further into city randomly, seeing more ruins here and there



   and a nice fruitstand.  We came upon a huge ridiculous building - Victor Emmanuel Monument, with over a dozen statues, two immobile guards (yes live humans) standing on guard  in the middle and two never ending flames.




    We wandered further to try to get to Pantheon but got caught up at a classy and cool-looking restaurant that had a deal where you get a buffet and a drink for only 7 euros.  We checked out the buffet and went to town.  The waiter there was a cool Italian that was younger and we talked about the States and how he would love to move there, Nantaz, and so on.  He ended up telling us that if we wanted more for dinner later and real Roma food, to eat like the Romans do, that we shouldn't eat here, but at this other place.  He even called ahead and told them we were coming.  Unfortunately later we found out that the metro closed at 11:30pm and by then it was too late to eat there anyways.



    Walking back we took a different route with beautiful cobblestone pathways and even more Ruins.



    Wandering around historic/downtown Rome is pretty safe, and it was fun just to walk around looking at the city and exploring it.



    Rome is a city built on cities.  It is such a historic site that half the city is practically "Ruins".  Built upon a city filled with more glory than the country Italy today can put forth, stories of the empire that this city was a center of still entice our imaginations today thousands of years later.



     An epic part of history, preservation of ruins is part of life in Rome.  Reconstruction of recently excavated sites is a norm as well.

EPIC DAY

    When in Rome… do as the Romans do.  So for Candace breakfast was Gelado. 



The subway sped us over to the Vatican and in about 5 minutes we were walking alongside the Country/City walls of the Vatican.  It's own independent nation, the Country Vatican City actually lies entirely within the city boundries of Rome.  Its population, less than 1,000 people, all live in these bounds including the Pope of course.  Walls -



    Although not granted entry into the City itself, Europe's largest  museum Vatican Museum is what people come here for.  Although perhaps not the most number of exhibits visible, and not the entire building is actually in use for viewing, it's the building itself that is the largest, including the Sistine Chapel.

    Having been desensitized after visiting the Louvre and seeing several beautiful Cathedrals, the amazing Statues, tapestries, architecture did not have as MUCH impact at it perhaps should have.  It was definitely cool.  I liked most seeing the statues of the Emperors, and to know what they looked like.

    The Sistine Chapel was interesting.  Architecturally bland, the entire wall and ceiling is painted and thats exactly what makes it interesting.  The "drapes" on the wall look real



    And the ceiling was famously painted by Michelangelo from 1508 to 1512 and is interesting how off of the center of the ceiling, on either side are paintings of various people standing and sitting almost as though they were along the wall itself or in a room inside somewhere.  In the very center along the ceiling, gravity defies and it appears in many of the "centers" that you can see interesting sites.  For example, viewing into an endless field, or a scene with a sea in the background, or looking out a castle window and so on.  Its almost as though through the center of the ceiling, there really is no ceiling at all, but rather you can journey or view on and on and on.  In the very center is no exception to this either with the super famous painting - The Creation of Adam.  With a mountain backdrop, this painting appears to show Gods perfect creation, Adam, with his hand extended out casually, while God reaches towards him and their fingers are Almost touching.  The could even touch is Adam just fully extended his finger.



    I also liked the paintings of the county of Italy (as in viewed from above).  Noting that these painting were made before airplanes, GPS, Satellite, helicopters, trains, and while the earth was still believed to be Square, it's amazing their accuracy and its really one of the things that makes them cool in the 1st place -





    After the Museum, we decided to walk around the Vatican walls and head towards St Peters Basilica.  We got Fliered for the nights festivities on a pubcrawl.  John from California gave us the lowdown about meeting at the Piazza Del Campo at the bottom of the fountain, then heading to 3 different places, the last being a boat on the water.  Anyhow, we'll check back in with that in a bit.  St Peters Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world.  Although there has been a church on this site since the 4th century, construction on the current basilica over the old Constantinian basilica began in 1506 and was completed in 1626 over 100 years later.  Despite it's size it's not considered a cathedral because it is not the seat of the bishop in Rome, but regardless, it is pretty sweet.  I liked walking into the huge square in front of it from between the massive pillars while hearing the bells chiming from the Basilica and then taking in the massive view of the square and the church itself.



    Candace had a hard time getting in… we forgot that we might be heading to this church and so we didn't grab the "knee" coverage necessary.  You see, women cannot enter unless you have clothes covering your shoulders and knees as it's deemed not appropriate.  So we just had Candace unbutton her shorts and pull them down, while I tried to use her shirt as a way to cover more as well. lol.



    Anyways, I'm not sure how we got in because the dude was stopping everyone who's dresses didn't go down to literally cover their knees, but we pushed through or something.



Cool tile along the upper level(higher than the ceiling in the above picture), where you could look down and see into the Basilica-


Vatican guards, proper height, weight, and age and all - Guarding the entrance to the Vatican -

    After going inside, and checking out the top of it (lots of steps) and recalling how much higher we were when on the Eiffel Tower, we headed out to take a Taxi to the Pantheon.


   
Rather than describing the Pantheon, I'll just play a video I took -



   Also in the Pantheon is the tomb of Raphael, which we happily listened to a tour guide describe to their group.



  We headed back to where we lived and got a bite to eat where our host recommended, to eat like Romans.  We split 3 dishes, two pasta dishes which were simple but definitely different, and a salad.  The wine was excellent, and the setting was outside, relaxed, and very nice.

    We headed home, changed up and headed out to meet John.



    Once at the bottom of the fountain, we met up and got guided over to Highlander Pub.  On way saw $4000 dresses and a bunch of super high-end stores and met some cool people we walked with.  Once in the Pub, it was all you could drink beer for the 1st hour plus 3 jager bombs.  Candace wasn't drinking and ate a Rice Krispie Treat, compliments of Katen from home.  A futbol game was on and I sat back and relaxed on the couch with beer pong games going on in front of me with Soccer/Futbol in the background. 

    The guy girl ratio was hilarious at this place.  The hosts said sometimes there are all guys, sometimes all girls, mostly a decent mix.  Tonight it was all guys.  It was funny as I went to get another beer I'd always come back and some guy was talking to Candace.  She and I had fun watching the couple girls that were in the place, analyzing how girls got the guys they wanted, and the dynamics of the guys coming up to hit on them and the whole process.  We met a bunch of cool people from Australia and America.  Team USA dominated in beer pong, and I met some cool kids.  A lot of our group headed up to take off for the next bar and to help out all the dudes by moving to a place with ladies.  On the walk I talked with a guy who had a MSU jersey on, met a few other guys that were cool and we continued to pass ruins from thousands years ago.



    The new place has Music and ladies for the guys.  They also didn't have the first two things I pointed at and ordered, both bottles being empty, I had him make me something special that we ended up getting another one of.  After hanging out a bit it was time to move on to the next place.  By now in this group we were being called the Power Couple, and we had people writing random comments in Candace's artist sketchbook that she always has on her, which was definitely fun to look at the next day.



    From there walked over to another place, which we ended up doing instead of the boat because of the guy/girl ratio.  It had a bit better atmosphere and we chilled with some of our new friends more & got some fries before we left =).  After exchanging numbers and emails with some ppl we Taxied it home and passed out.

    Today we head over to Cinque Terre, but we had to hit up the Coliseum before we left!  Up we go, and lets make it a Run to the Coliseum so we have time to see it!



    We made it inside and pretended to be Gladiators as we said "We who are about to die salute you!" and entered into the side of the arena where we could see the whole of the inside.



  We walked around the inside, learning a bit about the history as we went along.  After visualizing a few more ancient battles and animals fighting and public executions, we ran back to grab our bags and get a ride to the station from our host who randomly showed up as we were walking out



  Heading out to the Italian Riveria - Cinque Terre!  A Vacation from our Vacation.  A place to chill.  Do nothing. (well I don't know about that ;)

JJ&CJ