10 Monuments Rome-ing

4 January 2008

So today we "attacked" Rome. It was an intense blast of amazing monuments, historical sights, political commentary, miles and miles of walking, and centuries of history. Here's the rundown of the whole day.

We met up with our guide outside the walls of Vatican City. We walked through the Vatican Museum first. The art work was amazing and it houses over 1/2 of the worlds’ pieces of art. We walked through a room with some of the oldest existing tapestries. The room was air and light controlled because of the fragile nature of these pieces. One of the adults in our group decided that it would be OK to touch one. Obviously, just because someone is an adult, doesn't mean they have grown up.

Our next stop was the Sistine Chapel. The experience of awe was similar to the time in the St. Frances Basilica. Everyone was walking through from the altar towards the back of the church looking up. About 1/2 way down the sanctuary, there was a step that they had put a ramp on. I figured, if this were in the US, there would be big red letters painted across the ceiling of the beautiful Michelangelo ceiling that would say, "Caution: Please watch your step."

Next monument was the St. Peter's Basilica. The church is the largest in the world, but designed to appear 1/3 smaller than it is through optical illusions. The goal is to not overwhelm the occupants and make them feel insignificant. I could have spent a whole day in any of these places.

After lunch, we went to the Coliseum. Our guide for the day, Paula, was wonderful and knowledgeable. She had a great blend of commentary, history, and anecdote to keep the day interesting. One of the things she mentioned was that the Coliseum was not used by Nero to kill the Christians. They know this because 15 years ago they were able to date the Coliseum building to 7 years after Nero. The Christians were fed to the lions in Circus Maximus.

We had huge amounts of walking around the city and driving around in the tour bus. We met up at the Plaza Colonnade after seeing Palentine Hill, the National Monument, Hadrian's Arch, and the Pantheon. After dinner we all went to throw our leftover coins into Trevi Fountain. The thought is that if you throw 1 coin, you will come back to Rome, 2 coins, you will find love in Rome, 3 coins- you will marry in Rome.

On our evening bus tour before heading back to the hotel we saw the Castel Sant’ Angelo that is the "secret stronghold" for the Pope, according to Dan Brown and fact, however the secret tunnel is an over the road walkway.