Italy, Days 2-3: Rome, The Vatican City, & Other Sights

Days 2 & 3:  Rome, The Vatican City & Other Roman Sights

Managed to find a Korean restaurant
within the first 24 hours of being there...

There are so many things to see and do that you could be in Roma itself for two weeks, and it wouldn’t be long enough.  The architecture, history, food, and culture are remarkable.  If only the locals could appreciate as much as the visitors do.  But I guess it’s the same anywhere.  I don’t see the fascination with Los Angeles, and as much as I love Disneyland I often forget why the tourists are so awed.  Since we live around these things, we really take them for granted.  Okay, rant over.  Each building has a story to tell.  Many of the homes owned by the wealthy have been converted into apartments or government buildings.  You can tell which time periods the buildings were constructed by the architectural style. 

Ticket to the museum.

A fountain.

A view of the grounds.

Overlooking Rome

A view of the ramp leading to
another part of the museum.

We headed to the Vatican City, which is a country
of its own, in case you didn’t know.  The Vatican City is well guarded, and you have to have a ticket to enter.  We went through the bag check and the metal detector, and then headed up the stairs.  After going through the doors, we were outside in a courtyard of the Vatican City.  Our guide, Silvana (hopefully I spelled that correctly), was wonderful.  She was a fountain of information about the Vatican City, its buildings, and everything contained within its walls.  There is no photography or talking once inside the Sistine Chapel, so she told us all about it while we were in the courtyard.  The inside is magnificent.  Partly painted by a group of artists and most notably painted by Michelangelo, there are no words to describe how it looks.  Before it was restored the walls and ceiling was covered in soot form years of candles being lit as well as neglect.  There are patches left untouched in order to compare the work prior to it being restored. 

We continued around the grounds.  I was able to take some photos inside of different works of art as well as the landscaping.  It’s amazing, to me, that areas, paintings, statues, etc. have lasted as long as they have.  I imagine what the people were doing, what the language and mannerisms were, the clothing, and the atmosphere.  Imagining a world with less pollution, no traffic noise (at least not as we know it today), and relatively no light noise.  All modern conveniences aside, it must have been incredible.  As we walked the halls, each room had different art pieces from different time periods.  Renaissance, Baroque, you name it.  Where else can you go and experience centuries in such a fluid manner?   

One of many ornate ceilings.

Ladles and cups thousands of years old.

Afterwards we went to the Colosseum.  It is really magnificent.  It would have been a wonderful sight to see it being built, even though it was used for less that humane “entertainment”.  The stairs are steep, tall, and uneven.  It was a real workout getting to the upper floor.  They had put in an elevator, but we didn’t bother with it.  The second floor had a small gift shop, but I didn’t find anything eye-catching.  Part of the floor of the Colosseum was removed to show the various cells and halls that housed the people and animals.  Prior to those being placed, it was filled with water.  We had about an hour on our own, and then it was time to meet up with the tour for a group photo. 

The Colosseum.

Interior view of the Colosseum
from another angle.

Interior view of the Colosseum.

The Pantheon was the last well-known sight we saw.  The pictures do not even do it justice.  Silvana showed us some of the surrounding area before we entered the Pantheon.  It may not look like much from the outside, but it is a sight to behold.  I will probably sound like a broken record, but I really wonder what it was like when the building was being constructed, and when it was completed.  To think that things last for thousands of years is mind-boggling.  The inside looks so new!  While there have been new additions, such as statues, the structure itself is well preserved.  The arches in the dome are what support the dome itself.  If only there was a virtual reality tour.

Inside the Pantheon.

The Pantheon.

  

    

We left the Pantheon and headed to the piazza where we met up with our tour director.  He recommended a place to eat, and that’s where we went.  I got the pizza, which came with an arugula and tomato salad, and fruit cup.  After dinner we went for a tartufo, which was a ball of rich, thick, dark chocolate ganache-like ice cream with cherry, then covered in dark chocolate and chocolate shavings.  It was decorated with whipped cream and two different wafer cookies.  Three of us split one that was about the size of a baseball, and couldn’t finish it.  But it was pretty tasty.   

Yes, they charge for bread without
saying anything, and just place it on the table.

Bruschetta

Tomato & arugula salad.

Pizza.

Tartufo!