Rome

Hey again! After my two week reprieve I am now blogging like crazy to bring you all the pictures from my spring break adventures. Now, spring break is probably a bigger deal than Christmas, birthdays, or any other holiday combined for college students. It's kind of like Mecca. Only we all scatter to different places. Now, spring break vacation abroad is an even bigger deal - becuase we're abroad! Which means the wildly expensive plane ticket across the atlantic has already been paid by mommy and daddy, and puddle jumping from one European country to another is remarkably less expensive. So this is where I get to brag - In 12 days, I made it to Rome, Paris, and Scotland, with airfare totalling under $130 dollars American. That's right, my friends - a disgustingly cheap trip to some really amazing places. And actually, only for 11 days. Because on what would have been the first day of my much awaited Spring Break, something dreadful happened.

There was a train strike.


All over Italy, busses, trains, and airplanes took themselves a 12 hour spring break, from 9pm Thursday until 9am on Friday. So my 10pm train plans to Rome didn't happen. Now, what I find most remarkable about this story is that no one in Italy finds it remarkable. Evidently, strikes are so common in Italy that now they don't even bother announcing them to the general public. There was no information on the internet, no information (even in Italian) at the station, and my school didn't even bother to tell us that on the first night of spring break, there would be no leaving of Florence. The freshman, I am told, were warned. The freshman had big signs up in their residence hall. But the upperclassesmen were not considered. My school has time to write us e-mails about basketweaving events with Nick the Gardener (this is not an exageration) but they do not find it important to let us know when there will be a country-wide transportation strike the first night of spring break.

But-

I was only going to Rome, which did not involve a missed connecting flight in Germany as so many other disheartened NYUers were mourning. So I did manage to get there by 12:30 the next afternoon. A mere loss of 14.5 hours of my spring break. And once there, I met up with this handsome devil:


Personal tour guide, luggage carrier, and Boyfriend extraordinare. And he cooks! The first thing I noticed about Rome was the unexpected abundance of Palm trees! Look at that.


We first headed for Vatican City.




Vatican City is a tiny autonomous state within Rome encompassing St. Peters’ Basilica and St. Peter’s Square. And some other stuff. From the Vatican, the Pope acts as the "Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City," the political head of Vatican City and the only absolute monarch in Europe right now. Separately, he is the head of the Holy See, the sovereign religious dominion of Catholicism worldwide. His religious and secular power are each distinct but concurrent.

If you’re Catholic, this must be incredibly boring to read, but it was news to me and I found it really interesting. For one thing, the Holy See has significant political influence, not just religious influence. The territorial boundaries of the Holy See actually extend slightly over the boundaries of the Vatican City. The Holy See (not Vatican City) has the power to enter into treaties and legal contracts as the equal of other nations or states, and has embassies in 69 other nations. It exercises formal diplomatic relationships with 175 nations in total, complete with permanent observer statue in the United Nations. Now, we've only got like 180-something countries on this little globe of our, so that represent a pretty significant political hold. Vatican City was granted independence from Italy in 1929 in order to ensure religious freedom of the Pope’s office from any outside government influence. This is why he technically has the responsibility of heading the secular administration of the little state also. "Vatican City" is this area:




And the parameters of the Holy See extend from this back to the city walls of Rome, a fairly small area also. If you've been to Washington D.C., the teritory of the Holy See can fit inside The Mall between the White House and the Washington Monument. It wasn't anything like what I was expecting. I kind of thought the church would be bigger, actually. But there are lots of these huge cathedrals throughout Italy and so I suppose I am getting jaded, haha. But it was the most elegantly decorated, by far. A lot of the churches here feel a little gawdy and cluttered, but this one was very tasteful. Inside St. Peter's Basilica:








Holy Water:


If you should happen to want to know more about the Vatican, click here: http://www.vatican.va/. My roomate knows the nun that designed the website! It's her mother's childhood nanny, who is now a supernun at the Vatican. I guess I never thought of nunery as something you could get promoted at, but there she is all the way from New York to the vatican, designing groovy websites for the Pope. Here's to Sister Judith - you go girl.

Now this is the part where I have to admit something humiliating. Me, little art student that I am, exhausted by my travelling and rather more interested in seeing my boyfriend than Vatican City –– I failed to realize the Sistine Chapel was in the Vatican. Oh my god. How one can miss that sort of thing, I don't know. I'm getting worried about myself. Now, Tim LIVES in Rome, so he REALLY should have known. Hmm. But I will be back to Rome! And I will take pictures for you. (Even though you're not supposed to take pictures of it.) I don't think the Pope will sue me for putting them online, do you think?

As we were leaving Tim pointed out these rather adorable guards outside the Basilica:




They look like toy soldiers. Actually, they've had that same outfit design since 1548. They are Swiss mercenary soldiers, swore to protect the Pope. The requirements for the job are strict - They must be single between 18 and 25, Roman Catholic, and are officially required to be tall and good looking. Aunt Maribeth, I found you a souvenir! Might be a bit difficult because you have to steal him from the Pope, though. A worthy challenge.

We then took a lesuirely stroll up the Tiber River...






...to one of Tim's favorite Parts of Rome. This is the Pantheon, originally built as a temple to all Roman Gods by Emperor Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in about 25 BC.




The huge dome on the inside was a big architectural breakthrough at the time. They still didn't have the ability to complete the dome, however, so there is a circular hole in the middle of it. Makes a nice skylight. It stood as the largest dome ever until a good 14 centuries later, when our very own dome of the Florence Duomo was built.


To build this dome, they mixed their very own concrete out of lime, vocanic ash, and water, and laced it with ceramic ropes for support. The building itself has tremendously thick walls to hold up the heavy dome, but the dome gets lighter toward the top becuase they molded the cement into panels with indentions to reduce mass. They also embedded clay jugs into the cement toward the top to reduce weight. Creative!

We then headed down to Rome's most famous ancient structure:


The Colosseum! It once had room for 50,000 people. They held chariot races here, re-enacted naval battles (they could fill the entire place with water) and staged wild animals hunts which usually involved convicted crinmals being eaten in front of the audience. It was also built about 2000 years ago. They used it for these purposes for about 400 years, but by 700-800 AD it was completely abandoned. During the middle ages some people built homes and churches in it. From about 1100-1200 it was used as a fortress and home for the Barons who then ruled Rome. Most people around that time couldn't read, and all knowledge of gladiators and lions was lost - it was widely assumed to have been a temple to the sun God. (You know, if I were tyring to sell someone a house in the Colloseum, I'd probably tell them that too.) In 1231 part of it collapsed in an earthquake. Another earthquake in 1349 caused even more damage, and during the renaissance (around the 14th century) it was used as a quarry. Stones and marble from the Colosseum have been used to make many palaces and churches in Rome, including part of the Vatican and the walls of Rome. Which is why half of the place now looks like this:




The divits in the stone are where iron reinforccements were once attached. The building was such a massive project that they weren't sure if the walls would last on their own. The iron reinforments have also been recycled, obviously, so now the walls stand completely on their own, and they seem to still be doing a pretty good job of it. Here's some pictures in the daylight:


During that time lots of pagan temples and non-christian buildings were recycled to make churches to emphasize the domination of Christianity over pagan beliefs. Often they would just hack the temples down and plop a church right on top of it. In fact, the Pantheon was turned into a Church in 609. Luckily the Collosseum was so large they didn't manage to dismantle the entire thing, and after a while public sentiment changed and some efforts were made to protect and preserve it. After Napolean invaded Italy in 1796, sincere attempts to restore and excavate the building began. In the 1820's it became neccessary to reinforce the stone walls with brick and concrete:


In the 1870's they finally reached the floor again (the first story of the building had filled with dirt again and it took a good century to excavate) and discovered the maze of under ground tunnels and rooms that were used to transport gladiators, criminals, lions, etc. to the stage. It closes at 4.00 pm, NOT 5:00 pm, so unfortunately I don't have pictures of the inside because I didn't make it in there. But, I'll be back in a bit and that's a first on my list of things to do. (I also don't have pictures from inside the Pantheon because the mean security chick wouldn't let me bring my gelato in. So gelato won out over history. Sorry guys.)

So then we headed home, back across the Tiber River. Here's a bridge that fell into the river a long time ago but left this one arch standing:


And here is an absolutely fascinating homeless musician we found on the way home. He had made his own instruments using junk. You can watch a few seconds of him playing here:


Then we went to this cute place for hot cocoa. Or rather, chocolate soup.




So Rome has a very artsy, late night student atmosphere as well. The next day we walked back over to the Colloseum area to see the Roman Forum. Some things of note along the way:


That is Tiber Island. Way back when Rome was just an itty bitty village, this is where the town was centered because it was easiest to protect. Once weapons became more advanced and had further reaching power, it became more strategic to live on near by Capitoline hill, which is right next to the Roman Forum. At some point everyone decided that Tiber Island had bad mojo, so they started condemning criminals to live out the rest of their lives there, and after that they used it to quarantine and abandon the sick. Eventually, people went there to try and treat the sick, and today Rome's best hospital stands there - the Hospital of St. Bartholomew, run by the Fatebenefrateli Monks. Tim says it's like a big spa - the monks consider relaxation and rest a vital part of healing, so sick people get to go chill with monks on an island in Rome. Not bad.


This here is a cat sanctuary:


Roman people seem to like cats a lot. They are everywhere here. And this entire city square is devoted to making sure they have a safe place to hang out. I'm not sure how it is decided which ruins need to be meticulously preserved and which ones can be given to the cats. I personally thought that these ruins were pretty neat. They are called the "Torre Argentina" collectively, but there are actually three temples in it. Allegedly, one of them is where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death by the Senate. There is an official vounteer agency that feeds and cares for the cats 7 days a week, and spays and neauters them. The volunteers and financial suppporters are from multiple countries around the world. Their website refers to it as a "United Nations for cats." http://www.romancats.de/.




And onward to the Roman Forum. The forum is a valley between the Capitoline Hill and the Palatine Hill, and was the equivalent of Washington D.C. A bunch of monuments and temples were built there, and the Roman Senate House is also there. Many of the temples here have also been dismantled to supply building materials for newer buildings.








This is the Roman Senate house, or the Curia.:


Inside the Senate House:


Now, this is an interesting historical side note. We're all familiar with the Toga - the big sheet thing you wrap around yourself to go to keg parties in. Well back then, Roman senators would wear these, and only these, to the senate. It was carefully wrapped, not pinned or tied, and you had to adopt a careful stance and walk when wearing this. Now, when senators would give a speech, there were strict rules about how you could begin. At first, you could not make any gestures whatsoever. You had to stand perfectly still and begin your speech. Now, if you got people riled up in support of what you were saying, then you got to break all the rules and move about as much as you wanted. But the more you moved around, the looser your robes would be. And traditionallly, if you really had the entire audience jazzed, at the grand conclusion of your speech you would throw off your robe and stand before your peers completely naked, as a sign of humility. Really interesting.

And here are some pictures to proove that yes, we were actually there:








Then we headed up the Palentine Hill for a beautiful view of all the Roman ruins. The Palentine was, again, the second site of the the early town of Rome, but during the Roman Empire it was basically the rich neighborhood for the aristocracy that worked in the Forum. We had a beautiful view of the Forum:






And this is the Circus Maximus, where the chariot races were held and where the famous chariot scene in the movie Ben Hur was filmed.




The top of the hill is beautiful, too.




There are orange trees and flowers everywhere.


And more cats.


A ticket to the Collosseum is 9 euros, and a ticket to the Collosseum and Palatine hill is 11 euros. Very worth it. We had ourselves a little picnic lunch outside the Collosseum:


And watched as hordes of Canadians stormed toward it:


And Asian tourists took pictures in front of it:


And a wedding party took pictures in front of it, too.


This is a statue of Julius Caesar, all dressed up for battle...


...but with no shoes. Tim pointed out that statues of Gods were always made with bare feet, since they live up in the clouds. This was one of Caesar's many subtle ways of affiliating himself with the Gods, the habit that got him killed.


Then we took a stoll up one of the main streets in down, Via Corso.


And just in case you were wondering if the shopping in Rome is cheap:


It isn't, evidently.

Corso led us straight to the Spanish Steps. Eh. I don't know what the big deal is. Way to many tourists. The steps were built to be... steps. To the church. Up the hill. Not exaclty a monumental kind of thing. I'm not sure why this is considered a landmark. The flowers are pretty.


Then we walked on to the Trevi Fountain.


This fountain is the end of the line for the Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct constructed in 19 BC, which brings water from 20 km out of Rome into the heart of the city. It's absolutely beautiful. The statue in the center is Nuptune, God of the sea, on a shell chariot led by two horses - one calm and one fighting, to represent the changing moods of the ocean. The fountain forms the facade of the Palazzo Poli, and it is very creatively intertwined with the building facade:


That's all one block of stone, but they carved the top part flat with the wall and let the bottom part jut out and form the fountain. It's about 300 years old, so fairly recent as far as Roman history goes. It's in a small city square, which is unfortunately teeming with tourists, and some very unpleasant street vendors who get mad at you when you don't buy their stupid toys. But, if you can squeeze through the crowd, legend has it that if you stand with your back into the fountain and toss a coin behind you into the water, you will one day return to Rome. Let's see if mine worked. And it's very worth putting up with the crowd to see.


Day Three: the Roman black market. :)

Sunday we headed to the Porte Portese. Each Sunday, thousands of street vendors line up along the wall of Rome along via Portese (Portese Street) from 6:00am until whenever the police come. It was so much fun! Tim found himself the most masculine beer opener ever:


Made out of a tusk. Complete with fur. He's extremely happy about this.


And I found CHEAP CAMERA STUFF!! YAY! I got myself a 24mm wide angle lense complete with pentax universal converter and 10 special effects filters for under $100 american!! WOO HOO! This is me, deliriously happy:


Tim's testosterone hadn't quite warn off yet:


But evidently the police showed up somewhere because soon this was all that was left of the vendors:


Monday, I had to catch my flight to Paris. (And for those of you who are familiar with my missed flight to Paris last year, yes I did get to Paris this time! Passport and all!) However, we did manage to squeeze in one more not-so-touristy destination. the crypt of the Capuchin Church of the Immaculate Conception, built in 1645, is decorated with the bones of 4000 monks, elaboratedly arranged all over the walls and ceiling. You're not allowed to take pictures but I did get this one in:


Entrance is by donation, but monks glare at you if you don't put anything in the basket. So I put in two euros. (Evidently that's not enough to get them to stop glaring.) And after a short lunch, I hoped in a cab to head for the airport to go to Paris. Everything in Rome is covered with ruins, even the road:


And the countryside:


But here I am! With my passport this time! Heading for France. Pictures from Paris up next week!


Love, Kate