Eurotrip: Rome

My almost final stop on my Eurotrip was Rome. As I said this was the stop I was truly looking forward too but once I got there… well. Some of it came down to my host. To put in plainly he was a jackass. The only reason I didn’t check myself into a Hostel was because he thought he could verbally dual with an American girl. First off I’m American so English is my first language. And secondly I’m a girl, we’re skilled in putting guys down when we want to. And his best insult was calling me a redneck. But I’ll get back to that. 

I had spent some of my last night in Pisa looking up things to do in Rome. Since I had spent 4 days there on Spring Break I had already seen all the stereotypical tourist things. So this time I spent a long time looking up new and random things to do and see in Rome. I actually found a ton of things to do.

So I arrived in Rome around 9 and David (my host) met me at the train station. Now I had been talking to him on face book and seen a few pictures and this was the first time in life that I ever ran into to a situation where someone was better looking on facebook. It was a let down. His personality was also a huge let down. He was a real jackass. And the fact that he tried to dual with me was too funny. His best insult was call me a redneck. And when I asked him what he thought a redneck was he couldn’t even define a redneck. So that just made it funnier. Moral of the story I was a jackass right back but you see to me it was more fun because half the jokes I made at him went over his head because he didn’t quite grasp the American English slang. It was great craic.

The next day I woke up fairly early and headed to city centre. My first stop was 
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.

Then to Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri.

After that I wandered around the gardens of Villa Borghese for almost two hours. I won’t say I was lost but I didn’t know where I was going either.

When I finally decided it was time to find some food I wandered to Piazza del Popolo 

And Santa Maria del Popolo. Most people know this church from the Da Vinci Code.

After that I got it in my head to so to Vatican City. I wanted to see what Saint Peter’s looked like on the inside. I had wanted to go last time but the Pope had been giving a mass while we were there so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to see it.

On my way to Vatican City I walked past Castel Sant'Angelo and for some reason I have a huge fascination with this castle. Maybe it’s the statue on top…

Or maybe I lived there in a past life…

Either way I think it’s brilliant.

From Castel Sant'Angelo the Vatican is only a few minutes walk. And after going through security I was walking into Basilica di San Pietro. It was… well over the top and extravagant and crazy and wow. I don’t think I’d ever be able to attend mass in a place as opulent as that it was a bit excessive in my opinion…

But I can say I’ve seen it now. After my walk around the basilica I went to the post office there in the square since I had a few postcards I wanted to send home. Turns out I met this priest, Dave, Who was from New York and lived in the Vatican. We ended up talking about never taking something for granted and to enjoy everything in life. He pointed out where the Pope’s private quarters were..

It the top one third from the right… I think… it was strange to think that the Pope lives right there and has such a great view of the square, the lucky bastard. And Dave also pointed out that there’s a spot in the square where you can look and all the columns line up. 

You see there are four rows of columns and when you stand just right…

BAM! Cool right. Then I snapped a few last pictures before I headed on my way to have a dinner of gelato.

Yeah that’s right even though it was winter and really cold I just had to have gelato in Piazza Navona. 

Then I wandered around and took some cool night time pictures of Rome.

And it was time to go back and deal with David. 

The next day I got up early because I wanted to go take a stroll on the first road! But the first stop was the Pyramid of Cestius. There’s a Pyramid in Rome! Cool I know right! It was built around 15 BC as a tomb for Gaius Cestius Epulo, a rich important dude in Rome at the time. After the Roman conquest of Egypt in year 30 BC, Rome was going through a fad for all things Egyptian. Several obelisks were taken from Egypt and placed about. There was also another pyramid raised in Rome, the pyramid of Romulus but sadly that was demolished in the 16th century. It’s said to be based upon the more pointy Nubian pyramids. The Pyramid stands 37 meters high and almost 30 meters wide. It was built using concrete and brick on a travertine foundation and covered with marble blocks. Today, the pyramid is located in the city but during the time of its construction, it stood in open countryside. During this period, large tombs were not allowed within the city walls. Nifty Right?

From there I walked about an hour to Catacomba Di San Callisto on Via Appia Antica (the first road). 

Now these catacombs were really cool. It was started in the second  century. First off they housed a like 16 Popes, before they were buried in the churches and Basilicas. Because back in that time Christians were persecuted for their faith and weren’t allowed the use of the cemeteries in the city. There are some catacombs that were strictly for Christians, San Callisto is not one of those. It housed everyone. There are also a number of martyrs buried there. The most notable and the one I saw was Saint Cecilia. She is the popular patron saint of music. Of a noble Roman family, she was martyred in the 3rd century and entombed where the statue now lies. There’s a story that goes with her. Because her mode of death was to be beheaded and in those days there was only one swing allowed to bring death, there was some law that prevented a second blow. Saint Cecilia got her one blow and it was done so poorly that she still lived and she was taken away to die in a private home. She ended up dying (obviously) but it’s said her hands were in the position carved in the statue. She was venerated in this crypt for at least five centuries. In 821 her relics were transferred to Trastevere, in the basilica dedicated to her.

From that crypt we wandered around small tunnels past family crypts and individual crypts. There’s something like 5 or 7 layers of tombs in the catacombs. And people used to live in the catacombs and they would meet at night in these bigger family crypts. I think it must have been awfully cool to live in the catacombs. It’s so quiet there.

^Crypt of the Popes^

While on the tour I learned why Rome has so many basilicas because really there should only be one in every city. You see in the early centuries barbarians came to Rome. In their search for gold and other shinies they ransacked the catacombs and broke open all the tombs. They obviously found very little but left behind destruction and scattered bones all over the place. So instead of painstakingly putting all the bones back in the right place they picked out relics like bodies and bones of popes and martyrs and shipped them out to churches in Rome. All these churches became Basilicas. And they moved all the scattered bones to the lowest levels as a mass grave. So when you do tour the catacombs that’s why they are all empty. Cool and tragic at the same time. 

After my inspirational walk do the first road and into the oldest and largest catacombs of Rome I hopped a bus back to city centre and went to find a Keyhole.

A Keyhole? Yes a keyhole. Not just any keyhole though. It’s unique in the view that it provides. It’s set atop a hill and when you look through it you can see about a mile across Rome the most quaint sight.

Walk up to the dorr

 Look into the keyhole

 Annnnd a perfect view!

Here’s a google maps image to give you an idea of about how far you see. B is the keyhole and A is Saint Peter’s. It's almost an hours walk between the two!

It was really breathtaking and cool to see. So if you get a chance to see it it’s in Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta.

From there I wandered to Bocca della Verità. Now legend has it that if you put your hand in it’s mouth and tell a lie you’ll have a bloody stump to show for your efforts. I put my hand in it…

And said “I’m going to live in Europe.” Well guess what I’ve still got both my hands so good news for me I’ll be living in Europe!! Not sure when or how but the Bocca della Verità deemed it to be truth so it must be in my future! 

After risking my limbs I headed off to Piazza del Campidoglio. What’s so important about this Piazza? Well it was designed by Michelangelo. Cool right? So naturally I just had to find it. Turns out it’s really easy since it’s right behind the Victor Emmanuel Monument.

Then I wandered down to see some more ruins of the Forum. 

And then I wandered around a bit more to capture more of Rome at night…

And it was back to David’s where I went to bed early since I had to be up early to catch my flight to Madrid. My Eurotrip was nearly over and I was starting to get excited about going home because I was exhausted and sort of sick still. But I had only 2 days left in Europe and I was still going to take advantage of it. After all I was going back to one of my favourite countries and it was going to be warmer there!

Cheers,