You better have the right shoes, when deciding to take on Rome by foot. Luckily, the missus and I had some advance warning. So, aside from the tour bus to the Vatican Museum, we've walked to every tourist attaction, and was able to take in Rome as it should be...slowly and with tremenduos gratitude.
Prior to the last posting (05.16.08), Keisha and I had arranged for a tour of the Vatican Museum and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. Vatican City is it's own, independent country in Italy. It has it's own leadership (The Pope, obviously), police force, population (which is counted separately form the population of Rome) and its own currency. There is a great wall that envelopes the city, so you have to go inside to get a glimpse of the treasures and history that the city offers. Going through the museum, you pass corridor after corridor of wall to ceiling artistry. Celings alone would be covered in these vignettes of worship and recounts of religious history. The walls that are not works of art themselves serve as a backdrop for tapestries, sculptures and pantings that border on being intimidating. Every square inch is a canvas, and the display of detail alone is enough to take time away...and separate you from the tour guide (Keisha and I had to play catch-up a few times, once we could not hear her through the headphones). The entire museum is huge. So huge, in fact, that Keisha spotted a couple seated on the bench in a corner taking a siesta. Keisha thought it was funny. I was just jealous.
Now, as far as the Sistine Chapel goes: simply astonishing, the level of detail, artisitc integrity and, if you talked to our tour guide, incredible gumption and creative licence employed by Michelangelo during the production of the Sistine Chapel, which is one giant art piece that envelopes you more than you can possibly take it in. Like within many halls in the Vatican Museum, we were not allowed to take photos inside the Sistine Chapel, and we had to be extra quiet, as it is still a place of worship that must be respected at all times.
After our tour of the Museum, Keisha and I broke from the group and headed to St. Peter's Bisilica. As far as the size of this place goes, this house of worship and honor is no smaller than the Colosseum (which we visited today 05.17.08). Detailed sculpures depicting Jesus Christ, Disciples and Priests line the columns, walls, ceilings and vestbules. Dome ceilings also create alcoves for artistic renderings, which are accented by beams of sunlight peering through the opening at the apex of each dome. Thank goodnes for the power zom lens! Keisha tried to take a couple of photos of me enjoying our visit there, but she just could not get the night vision setting right (it's kind of dark in the Bisilica, so night portrain settings might work better in some cases). She's no Gordon Parks!! LOL! Well, neither am I. We worked damn hard to get the shots we did get. So we'll be proud to show them as soon as we get back to the states.
Today (Saturday) was devoted to the Colosseo! We walked from our hotel, up Via del Corso, past the Monument of Vottorio Emanuele II (another amazing example of architecture and art smack in the middle of everything), and down the Via dei Fori Imperiale to the Colosseum, which is first visible many blocks away by the monument of Vittorio. I got really nervous, because the battery power on the digital camera was getting low (probably from all of the do-over pictures that Keisha was taking). But, it lasted through our tour (which is worth the price, because you legally jump lines that are estimated at a 90 minute wait or more). This 10th Wonder of the World is indeed that. Aside from learning bits of history on the Colosseum (like the fact that the Colosseum is a more modern name for it, as far as the Roman timeline goes), the ability to just sit, take photo after photo and imagine the place buzzing at the height of the Roman Empire is enough to make my trip. I could go home right now and be satisfied, partly because there is no way that we could see all that Rome has to offer in a week. Our Colosseum tour guide said that "even if you stayed in Rome for two months, it would not be enough. You need a year." Judging by how my feet feel, after just getting back, I beleive her.
After the Colosseo, Keisha and I jetted ahead of the group to the Palantino, which houses the "Casa di Augusto," The Roman Forum and ruins that would take your breath away. Of course, I was praying to the tourism Gods that the camera doesn't go dark, because I did not want to be the only tourist in modern Roman tourism history who didn't have pictures of this place from every possible vantage point. Luckily, I was able to keep myself out of the history books.
Well, tomorrow is Sunday, so the missus and I plan on taking Rome at a more relaxed pace. So, if I blog tomorrow, the bulk of it will be about our casual jaunts through town, some funny stories and some spots and "things to do" that have already become our "favorites."
Ciao!
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