When we turned that corner, I teared up... I guess it just got to me seeing something of that historic significance. Meaning "all gods" in Latin, the Pantheon was once a pagan temple, but now a Catholic church. We weren't able to immediately enter as a mass service was going on, but after about 20 minutes, they opened the doors. The inside has many sculptures and the like, which are more modern additions. I would've liked to see it before all the things were added to it. But the structure remained the same. A large hole in the dome lets in light, and when it rains, the water drains into small holes in the floor and into a drainage system that the Romans designed and is still functional.
After that, we watched a man sing opera in the piazza, then ate a light dinner in view of the Pantheon. On the way over to Trevi Fountain, we watched a street artist paint.
Trevi Fountain was beautiful, and I imagine particularly because it was at night.
The sculptures that comprise the fountain seem to come right out of the wall. After getting a "Poloroid" picture taken by an Indian man, sitting around taking pictures and people watching, and throwing coins in the fountain, we walked back to the metro, then back to the hotel.
NEXT morning we planned on the Vatican City, because the Vatican museum is free every last Sunday of the month. We got there before opening time, and the line had already snaked around the wall of the city. I think half of the Chinese population was there that day. After waiting in line for at least an hour, we finally entered. It was a little crazy having SO many people in the museum, not to mention the layout is kind of confusing and we saw too many things that we didn't particularly care to. But we saw one of my favorite sculptures, Laocoon and Sons...
...and the Raphael Rooms, which includes the wall-sized School of Athens (another favorite)...
...and then the Sistene Chapel, which was just surreal!
The room was packed, and although talking and photos are forbidden, it's very hard to control talking and photos. But the paintings....so much detail! While Michaelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel, other artists (including one of my favorites, Botticelli) painted frescoes on the walls, all depicting Biblical scenes. I wish I had taken more pictures of the Sistene Chapel, but considering the guard was constantly yelling "NO PHOTOS," the fact that I got a few of the ceiling is enough.
After about four hours at the museums, we had some lunch, and walked out of the city to enter at another point to see St. Peter's Basilica, the pilgrimage hot spot (not exactly ours...) This is the Pieta, which Michaelangelo sculpted at the young age of 25.
The Basilica as a whole feels very open and naturally lit, which was really nice compared to some other major churches we've seen.
After we left the basilica, we sat for a bit to write and then mail postcards. (All the chairs in this picture below are for the crowd blessed by Pope Benedict about 30 minutes before we got to the basilica. Oops...didn't know that minor detail. Not like we care too much about the pope, it just would've been cool.)
We stopped by one of the drinking fountains, found a gelateria, then headed to the metro to go to the Colosseum.
OHmahgoodness, the Colosseum. I knew it would be close to the metro station but not THAT close! We walked out and there it was! Another amazing moment. We hadn't planned on joining any tour groups during our trip, but considering how we knew very little about the Colosseum, we joined an English-speaking one, and our tour guide was fantastic.
We learned so much!
With the price of the Colosseum tour group, we also got a free tour of the nearby Roman Forum -- however, after running through the Colosseum to meet our tour group just outside, we could not find them, and we couldn't even see them near the entrance to the forums. We were pretty bummed about that, but entered the area after some time anyways -- we just didn't have much time. We saw the Arch of Titus...
Photo by Joanna...and the Forum...
This was about the time we decided to call Merco to let him know we hadn't forgotten about him and we'd like to know where a good place to eat near the Colosseum was? But it turned into a 10 minute conversation...I'm sorry he couldn't come to meet us that night, but no, we were very busy with teaching, we wouldn't be able to meet up anywhere else. No, we couldn't meet up with him in Florence some time. So sorry, have a nice evening.
It is very beautiful there, and the next time I'm in Rome, I would like to spend more time in the Palatine area, which looks even more beautiful.
After a long day, we found a restaurant with a view of the Colosseum at night. Another metro ride and a walk back to the hotel later, we crashed for the night before a morning of shopping and the Jewish district.
Monday morning, we took the metro back over the the Colosseum where we got a picture of us as we were on our way to nearby Mamertine Prison.
After the suggestions of my mom and a friend, we visited Mamertine Prison, aka Peter and Paul's prison, where they are believed to have been imprisoned. It wasn't much to speak of -- steps down to a small cell. But the thought of being in the same room as these great men was very powerful.
We had another quick view of the Roman forums...
...then made our way past the Capitoline museums (recognize this?)...
Photo by Joanna...cute little Joanna...
...to find the Jewish district near the Tiber River. We walked along it for a bit, crossed the Tiber at the point of an island in the middle, then went back. We passed by the main synagogue, which is also houses a Jewish history museum...
...and shopped a bit. We stepped into a small Judaica shop to find our brother-in-law a prayer book. Score! We found one with Hebrew and Italian side-by-side! After a lovely light lunch at a Kosher restaurant...
Photo by Joanna...we passed by the Colosseum one last time, hopped on the metro, and blitzed back to the hotel. The rather hellish walk uphill back to the train station involved Joanna getting hit by a van and a man complimenting me effusively in Italian all while we tried to powerwalk. We made it to our train platform with a few minutes to spare, and talked and napped the train ride home...
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