Where: Rome
When: February 4 - 7, 2012
With Who: Loren and Rachel
For my first official "holiday" while here in London, Loren and Rachel flew over to Europe for a girls trip to Italy. First stop, Rome.
Day 1
Loren and I met in London Heathrow, and enjoyed the 2 1/2 flight over to Italy. After a shockingly minimal amount of passport control (not even a stamp!), we set foot onto the motherland. The first thing we saw that ended up having a bigger affect on our trip than we would have expected: snow! Rome's first snowfall in 25 years. What timing...
We took the 30 minute cab ride from the airport and enjoyed our first Italian driving experience through small Roman streets. We had the added bonus that the sidewalks were covered in snow, so the tourists and people were even more apt to just walk in front of your car. The streets were so tiny and narrow, they didn't even look like they could fit a car. And there were sites everywhere - ruins, palaces, piazzas. We were speechless.
When our cab driver stopped in front of our hotel, we weren't quite sure what to do with our view. Perhaps this is why it ended up in the Book (which was shockingly, a complete accident - I didn't realize until we got there that it was a Book hotel). Click here for the pictures: Hotel Albergo del Senato.
After dropping off our bags in the room and freshening up, Loren and I wandered out on a quest for none else but food. And what kind of food...pizza and wine, duh. This wasn't too hard to find, and after our meal, we had a little bit of a wander back to our hotel.
At this point, we entered the ancient forums. Click here for those pictures: The Roman and Imperial Forums.
Afterwards, we went to the Colosseum (click for pictures).
After the disappointment of the Colosseum, we continued on our walk. Next to the Colosseum was the Arch of Constantine. It was built in 315 AD to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius in the Battle of Milvian Bridge. It was pretty ballsy of Constantine, because he put a bunch of famous emperor's on his arch, thereby saying he was just as cool as them. It's also the first emperor to use the chi-rho on a monument, which was a sign that Rome was turning to Christianity.
Eventually we came upon this large oblong field. This was the Circus Maximus. This was where Roman chariot races took place. The raised sections around the perimeter had stands that could hold over 155,000 people, far more than the Colosseum.
After a slow and slippery trek away from this area, we commemorated our Roman holiday with an Audrey Hepburn moment: Bocca della Verita (click for pictures).
After surviving the Bocca with hands in tact, we continued our journey through Rome. Love how there are just random old ruins pretty much everywhere.
Next up, we found ourselves in the Piazza del Campidoglio (click for pictures).
Next to the Piazza are the long stairs up to Santa Maria in Aracoeli. We decided that whatever was at the top of the stairs could be viewed just fine from the bottom.
Continuing along the road, we saw an old structure that was called an insula. This was basically the equivalent of a Roman apartment building. The bottom floor was usually used as a shop, while the top floors had rooms for lower to middle-class families. Just like New York.
We then started our great mission - to head for the Borghese Gallery with stops at the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain along the way. There were a few wrong turns, and a couple lucky breaks, thanks to our guidebooks, but we eventually found ourselves at the bottom of the Spanish Steps (click for pictures).
After the Spanish Steps, we could NOT figure out how to find the Borghese Gallery. We decided it would be up this one road that happened to be a very steep street covered in ice and flowing with traffic. After a very winding and treacherous climb, we had no idea where we were. But then we turned around and were not at all disappointed with the view.
It turns out, we made the right decision and that we were at the entrance to the Borghese Gardens and Borghese Gallery. Click here for pictures.
After all this walking, we were QUITE hungry. So we wandered around until we found a little place to duck in for some pizza. The only other people in the restaurant were a family of Italians. About halfway through our meal, two teenage boys and their dad came over to us with a very giggly little boy. While speaking Italian and holding a camera, laughing hysterically, we got the idea that the older guys were making the little boy take a picture with the American girls. We happily obliged to be in the picture, and it was absolutely hysterical.
Next up, we headed to the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappucini. This was one of the craziest things I have ever seen - a crypt of five rooms filled with the bones of approximately 4,000 friars. The bones have been used to make elaborate designs. The quote as you enter: "What you are now, we once were; what we are now, you shall be."
We couldn't take pictures in here, so I've found some on the internet because this was just too crazy to not show and its hard to explain. The grim reaper made of bones on the ceiling of the last picture holding the sickle and weights was a fitting end to the tour.
After that...uplifting experience, we headed off to find something a little happier by way of the Trevi Fountain. And so, our wandering through Rome continued.
As we turned down the street back to our hotel, we found some more snowmen. They were built by the local restaurants. If we told you these snowmen had no affect on where we decided to eat dinner, we'd be lying.
So after finishing a bottle of wine in the room, we had a delicious dinner. We closed down the restaurant. An excellent end to our first full day in Rome.
Day 3
On our next day in Rome, we took a walk to another country.
Well not really, we went to the Vatican. Click here for pictures.
And crossing back along the Tiber, we headed back into Rome.
Our quest for the evening was to try to see the Pantheon. It would be particularly sad if we didn't when we stayed in the same square. Click here for the Pantheon pictures.
That night, we had another bottle of wine, and ended up crashing early (well I did at least). Rome was incredible, and ended up being my favorite city we saw. Very glad I threw the coin in the fountain, cause there really is a lot more I need to see...hopefully, I won't be seeing snow again if I go back.
When: February 4 - 7, 2012
With Who: Loren and Rachel
For my first official "holiday" while here in London, Loren and Rachel flew over to Europe for a girls trip to Italy. First stop, Rome.
Day 1
Loren and I met in London Heathrow, and enjoyed the 2 1/2 flight over to Italy. After a shockingly minimal amount of passport control (not even a stamp!), we set foot onto the motherland. The first thing we saw that ended up having a bigger affect on our trip than we would have expected: snow! Rome's first snowfall in 25 years. What timing...
We took the 30 minute cab ride from the airport and enjoyed our first Italian driving experience through small Roman streets. We had the added bonus that the sidewalks were covered in snow, so the tourists and people were even more apt to just walk in front of your car. The streets were so tiny and narrow, they didn't even look like they could fit a car. And there were sites everywhere - ruins, palaces, piazzas. We were speechless.
When our cab driver stopped in front of our hotel, we weren't quite sure what to do with our view. Perhaps this is why it ended up in the Book (which was shockingly, a complete accident - I didn't realize until we got there that it was a Book hotel). Click here for the pictures: Hotel Albergo del Senato.
Since we were both pretty tired (though I had no excuse, I only had a 1 hour time change), we headed back to the hotel to take a much needed nap. By the time we woke up, it was almost time for Rachel to arrive. Since we had no way to get in touch with her, we decided to camp out in the hotel bar waiting for her to arrive.
After a couple of glasses of wine (served to us with pieces of dark chocolate..oh Italy), we heard the front desk attempting to speak to someone on the phone in English. The general message being that the person on the other end was at the train station with no means of getting to the hotel since there were no cabs. After realizing it was Rachel, we attempted to help translate. There was a cab driver very conveniently located in the lobby of the hotel who said he'd go get her. Then they all looked at me and said "You a-go too, a-get your friend". Um, ok.
It ended up being a beautiful ride through Rome at night, covered in snow and all lit up. I reached the Stazione, and had a lovely experience wandering the station looking for Rachel while listening to black cab drivers yelling "Bella, you a-need ride?" Finally, I found my lost friend and we were off, back to the hotel. It was pretty late at this point, so the 3 of us finished the bottle of wine and spent a good portion of time having a much needed catch-up.
Day 2
After a good night's sleep and delicious breakfast, we set off to explore Rome. It was mildly treacherous since the side streets were still covered in snow and ice. Rome had no idea how to clear the snow. At one point, I saw a mini-snow plow repeatedly banging its scooper-thing up and down on top of the snow - I can only hope it was trying to break up some unseen sheet of ice or else they better get the civil workers some snow plow operation manuals.
Our first big site was the Piazza Venezia.
On the right, our cab driver informed us (at least I think he did) that Mussolini gave several of his speeches from this balcony during World War II.
On the left, this palace was probably one of the grandest things I've ever seen in real life. It is called the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II. It was built to honor Victor Emmanuel, the first king of unified Italy, and was completed in 1935. Now, it houses Italy's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and is apparently still a point of contention among Italians for its garish size and shape.
It did have some fantastic statues on it though.
At this point, we entered the ancient forums. Click here for those pictures: The Roman and Imperial Forums.
Afterwards, we went to the Colosseum (click for pictures).
After the disappointment of the Colosseum, we continued on our walk. Next to the Colosseum was the Arch of Constantine. It was built in 315 AD to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius in the Battle of Milvian Bridge. It was pretty ballsy of Constantine, because he put a bunch of famous emperor's on his arch, thereby saying he was just as cool as them. It's also the first emperor to use the chi-rho on a monument, which was a sign that Rome was turning to Christianity.
We then continued on down the road around Palatine Hill, hoping to be able to enter somewhere. But sadly, no, the snow stopped us again. Another picture from the outside looking in, and in our desperation, contemplating a break-in.
Eventually we came upon this large oblong field. This was the Circus Maximus. This was where Roman chariot races took place. The raised sections around the perimeter had stands that could hold over 155,000 people, far more than the Colosseum.
The ruins of Palatine Hill, as they would have looked down onto the Circus.
After a slow and slippery trek away from this area, we commemorated our Roman holiday with an Audrey Hepburn moment: Bocca della Verita (click for pictures).
After surviving the Bocca with hands in tact, we continued our journey through Rome. Love how there are just random old ruins pretty much everywhere.
Next up, we found ourselves in the Piazza del Campidoglio (click for pictures).
Next to the Piazza are the long stairs up to Santa Maria in Aracoeli. We decided that whatever was at the top of the stairs could be viewed just fine from the bottom.
Continuing along the road, we saw an old structure that was called an insula. This was basically the equivalent of a Roman apartment building. The bottom floor was usually used as a shop, while the top floors had rooms for lower to middle-class families. Just like New York.
We then started our great mission - to head for the Borghese Gallery with stops at the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain along the way. There were a few wrong turns, and a couple lucky breaks, thanks to our guidebooks, but we eventually found ourselves at the bottom of the Spanish Steps (click for pictures).
After the Spanish Steps, we could NOT figure out how to find the Borghese Gallery. We decided it would be up this one road that happened to be a very steep street covered in ice and flowing with traffic. After a very winding and treacherous climb, we had no idea where we were. But then we turned around and were not at all disappointed with the view.
After all this walking, we were QUITE hungry. So we wandered around until we found a little place to duck in for some pizza. The only other people in the restaurant were a family of Italians. About halfway through our meal, two teenage boys and their dad came over to us with a very giggly little boy. While speaking Italian and holding a camera, laughing hysterically, we got the idea that the older guys were making the little boy take a picture with the American girls. We happily obliged to be in the picture, and it was absolutely hysterical.
Next up, we headed to the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappucini. This was one of the craziest things I have ever seen - a crypt of five rooms filled with the bones of approximately 4,000 friars. The bones have been used to make elaborate designs. The quote as you enter: "What you are now, we once were; what we are now, you shall be."
We couldn't take pictures in here, so I've found some on the internet because this was just too crazy to not show and its hard to explain. The grim reaper made of bones on the ceiling of the last picture holding the sickle and weights was a fitting end to the tour.
After that...uplifting experience, we headed off to find something a little happier by way of the Trevi Fountain. And so, our wandering through Rome continued.
It was pretty funny. We wandered around this piazza for awhile, wandered away from it, then realized the fountain is right underneath it. We were just not having luck navigating Rome.
To see the Trevi Fountain, click here.
After our very long day, we decided to head back to the hotel. But before doing that, we decided it was only necessary to stop in a supermarket to buy a cheap (but delicious) bottle of wine. Also being sold in this shop was pasta of a certain nature...well, by fact this photo contains a urologist, I'll let you figure out what shape the pasta was in.
Just in case you forget what country you're in, these are some lights on one of the main roads.
As we turned down the street back to our hotel, we found some more snowmen. They were built by the local restaurants. If we told you these snowmen had no affect on where we decided to eat dinner, we'd be lying.
So after finishing a bottle of wine in the room, we had a delicious dinner. We closed down the restaurant. An excellent end to our first full day in Rome.
Day 3
On our next day in Rome, we took a walk to another country.
Well not really, we went to the Vatican. Click here for pictures.
And crossing back along the Tiber, we headed back into Rome.
Our quest for the evening was to try to see the Pantheon. It would be particularly sad if we didn't when we stayed in the same square. Click here for the Pantheon pictures.
That night, we had another bottle of wine, and ended up crashing early (well I did at least). Rome was incredible, and ended up being my favorite city we saw. Very glad I threw the coin in the fountain, cause there really is a lot more I need to see...hopefully, I won't be seeing snow again if I go back.
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