Rome again, naturally
TeresaandPeter had a baby boy! In anticipation of that event, Karen, her friend Cathy and Karen's mom also named Kathy decided to take a trip to Bratislava to see the new addition. Karen's seen quite a bit of Gernsheim so we decided to meet in Rome since all roads lead there anyway.
But I flew because it was a lot faster and got Ryan.air flights for a total of 40Euros. It's about a two hour drive from home but the price is right! It cost me the same to park for five days as it did for the flight. I arrived on Thursday, January 15th.
The cheaper flights are at odd times so after I took the shuttle bus to downtown Rome I ended up at the train station after 11 p.m. I had booked the same hotel Rose and I used two years ago so knew it was just two minutes away from the train station but it took me a few minutes to orient myself. But I was freaking out a little because it was somewhat late, I was alone , dragging a suitcase, and the train station area is a little iffy. So in my haste I didn't read a street name completely and got myself more lost and disoriented. After wandering around for about 10 or 15 minutes I finally pulled out a map, looked at the street signs right, and found my hotel. I took the elevator up to the fifth floor and walked in expecting to see a receptionist like last time. No one was there. I waited. No one came. I yelled "Hello!" No one answered. I finally went out into the hallway and looked around and found a sign that said the reception was downstairs. They had changed it and I had come from a different direction. Lesson: never expect things to remain the same. So I went downstairs, got checked in and watched a movie in Italian before going to sleep.
My room on the street side was pretty noisy early (I need to remember to always bring ear plugs) so I woke up even before my alarm and went down to breakfast which was now served downstairs behind the reception area. I bought a three day bus/metro ticket for I think 11 Euro at a tobacco store on my way to the station and took the metro over to the colesium stop since the forum is right nearby and that was my goal for the morning before Karen and Cathy would arrive. I think I was the first person there and asked about the audio tours. The guy in the booth said there was no power so they didn't work. I asked when they might work and he had no idea. Hmmm... I decided to look around anyway using my outdated guide book. You really need some help interpreting the forum because it's pretty ruined but the weather was great for January and I wandered around there and up on Palatine Hill as well which this year was included with the forum ticket as opposed to our experience in 2007. The other sight that Rose and I had missed in 2007 (I'd seen it in 1978 but that was awhile ago) was the Pantheon so after the forum I took a bus which got me in the approximate area. Impressive building considering it has been standing for 2000 years. I hope I got that right. Sure seems remarkable. I used the audio tour there and was glad it is currently a church so there was pews to sit in as my feet had already started to hurt. The day after I got back from Rome was President Obama's inaugeration and when I saw the place the politicians had lunch that day I thought it looked strikingly like the Pantheon. Many of the building in Washington remind me of Rome. From the outside most of the churches in Rome look more like government buildings than churches to me. Directly across from the Pantheon is a McDonald's and after looking at the building I had a hamburger there on the plaza looking right at the Pantheon. Nice contrast. And a movable band of a bass player, a violinist and a saxophonist played a couple of numbers before passing the hat. It was warm enough for me to sit outside. Nice.
I think it was the guide book I had from the library that claimed some of the best ice cream in Rome was right around the corner so we went to the place although the name now escapes me. It was very modern looking with really good but way over-priced ice cream like 10 Euros for a dish. It was interesting but I wouldn't do it again and don't think it is a "must do".
Karen and Cathy thought it was be nice to see the Vatican at night so we got on another bus and ended up on St. Peter's Square. We passed by several Swiss guards that Karen was excited to see in their winter cloaks and berets. She thought the outfits were really cute. Judge for yourself: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/17963149 although I think the ones we saw didn't have the striped spats but rather just tights. Seeing the Vatican at night was a great idea! The lighting was beautiful and it is eery in an awe-inspiring way. We walked past an open barricade and got reprimanded by a Swiss guard which pissed Cathy and me off since we didn't think it was well marked but I think Karen was happy to get another look at their outfits fashionista that she is. There was a giant larger -than -life-sized Nativity set near the obelisk and we watched as an Italian cop or security guard got up on a ladder and adjusted St. Joseph's headwear at the direction of an old nun who was about four feet tall and dwarfed by the statues in the scene. Rather disturbingly to me at lease, Baby Jesus' crib was empty and he was represented by a toddler sitting on his mother's lap. Odd. This is it provided by another tourist I don't know: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_wW5TBqSdTgs/R4330L3I8wI/AAAAAAAAADE/vcpxnt6PTc4/P1050746.JPG Other pictures I found on the internet of the same Nativity show baby Jesus in his manger (http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0aQx6vJ7o89R3/610x.jpg ) so I guess the nuns in charge of it may just rearrange stuff sometimes like girls with dollhouses this just being a really giantic, really religious version. We eventually took the bus back to our lowscale hotel and got doners and beers at a place next store and took a few beers with us back up to the room and watched some Italian TV until we went to sleep.
When Rose and I were in Rome in 2006 the lines to get into the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel were enormous with many thousands of people waiting. I had prepared the girls for this and we got up early on Saturday to take the metro down there and try and get in relatively early. We got there and basically walked in the door with no waiting. Incredible! You could spend a lot of time in the Vatican Museums. We took the shortest route to the Sistine Chapel which takes you through the map room and past lots of wonderful artwork including the School of Athens http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/x-Schede/SDRs/SDRs_03_02_020_big.html by Raphael being one of my favorites because I remember it from art history classes and like that it is so much bigger than I had imagined. Just the ceilings in this place make it worth seeing. At the end you are rewarded with the Sistine Chapel with its relatively newly clean ceiling and walls. Karen managed to find both St. Bartholomew's skin and a snake apparently chomping on some guy's penis represented in the Last Judgement and thus managed to gross herself completely out all on her own. They are both in this link if you scroll down and Karen I think you probably shouldn't you being such a delicate flower. http://www.vaticanotours.com/sistine-chapel-last-judgement.html Every once in awhile a gong goes off in the chapel and they ask everyone to keep the noise level down because it is, after all, a church. We eventually wandered out of the chapel and saw a sign to the "Carriage Pavilion" or something similar and went just for the heck of it. Basically, it seemed like an underground garage with old papal carriages, horse tack, sedan chairs and--all right!--two, not one but TWO popemobiles! Of course the popemobiles made us about as happy as the great art so I think we can accept that we are heathen Americans.
Next we wandered over to St. Peter's Basilica and headed straight for the cupola. We took the elevator after a short wait and then the stairs and my heart rate was right up there after the first 100 or so stairs. There are signs up that people with heart problems or claustrophobia should skip it and I think that is good advice. We looked down on the altar from the inside of the cupola and went up to the top outside and looked at the spectacular 360 views of Rome. On the way down we stopped at the gift shop on the roof of St. Peter's that Rose and I went to two years ago. Cathy bought a small nativity set. Karen bought many holy cards and she and I both got little holy water bottles with Vatican written on them. I thought I would give some holy water from the Vatican to my mother-in-law for her 84th birthday which was coming up. I asked where we could get the holy water and a non-nun sales woman told me we should get it in the church downstairs. Seemed a little odd but what do I know. I also got my mother-in-law a picture of the German pope. I wanted something for Rose and Karen picked up a shot glass with the Vatican on it. We both thought this was pretty funny and we laughed about it apparently really pissing off a nun that worked there. I got one for Rose and Karen got one for her brother Matt with the nun telling us we didn't HAVE to use them and some people collect them you know blah, blah, blah. Well, Rose loved hers and if I get back there I'll probably get more AND use them.
After the roof we went down to the basement and saw the tombs of many popes and I also saw one of the nuns from the rooftop gift shop praying at the tomb of the last pope. Then we finally went into the main part of the church. Karen and I pulled our little Vatican holy water bottles out and were filling them up by dunking them in one of the giant holy water fonts in St. Peter's. It took us a bit to find one that had enough water to dunk them in it. Weellll, apparently that is not where you get the holy water. After a minute a guard (not Swiss) appeared and indicated we couldn't do that. But he also indicated we could finish filling them if we did it quickly but we were too embarassed and stopped with them not really being full. But he never gave us any indication where we could fill them. I still don't know where you are supposed to get the holy water or if they just sell the bottles and you can't get any. Karen and I were both rather put off by the whole experience.
Rose and I had missed seeing the Treasury when we were there so I wanted to go in but Karen and Cathy did not so I went in while they looked at the church. The treausry had lots of relics which always appeal to me including one finger in a reliquary in the shape of a finger. Very cool.
While I was doing that Cathy and Karen saw the church and Karen wanted to pray in a chapel reserved for prayer but got turned away. Karen is on her church council and teaches Sunday school and some guard in St. Peter's wouldn't let her in to pray. She was pissed off and so was I when she told me. So she showed him by praying someplace else. Take that!
We then took a bus to the Pantheon with a nice Italian woman telling us where to get off and Karen and Cathy went to look at it while I went to McDonald's since I had just been there the day before. Unfortunately, they couldn't really go in because there was a mass going on as it was Saturday evening so we decided to walk over to The Church of the Gesu since it should have been right near by. We, however, walked in the wrong direction but had a nice tour of the neighborhood before we found it. To my delight, there is a chapel with a reliquary containing St. Francis Xavier's hand on the right hand (no pun intended) side of the church. If you use this link and scroll down you can see a picture of it in all its grotesque glory. http://grevy525.multiply.com/photos/album/60/The_Gesu_The_Jesuit_Mother_Church_in_Rome#58 While we were there, mass started so we just stayed for mass and Cathy and Karen even went to communion. By then we were all pretty tired so took a bus (I think) back to the train station and had dinner at Cecilio right across the street from our hotel.
Sunday we got a slightly later start after breakfast in our hotel. We (bus? metro? I gotta take notes)went to St. Peter in Vincoli which I believe is one of the Pilgrim's churches. There is a very famous and very weird statue of Moses by Michaelangelo there. I quietly leaned over to Karen and said, "Are those horns?" So we looked in the guidebook and indeed Michaelangelo gave Moses horns. One of those things that make you go hmmm...The guidebook says it was because of a translation error but there seems to be disagreement as to why Moses is horned. There are also some chains that had held St. Peter that got "miraculously" fused and a pretty creepy skeleton with wings carved into a wall. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pietro_in_Vincoli
From there Karen and Cathy headed over to the Coliseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill but since I had just seen that I didn't go. I walked over the Circus Maximus to St. Maria in Cosmedin which is famous for its Mouth of Truth which was in Roman Holiday, a movie with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. The marble mouth is actually outside on the church porch and there was a line and a 50 cent charge to stick your hand in the mouth and have your friends take your picture. Since I was alone and without a camera, I skipped it and went into the church to find my so far favorite Roman relic, St. Valentine's skull apparently knawing on another of his bones. It is pretty grotesque and fortunately someone has posted a picture of it on flickr! http://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/2262875989/ That picture and the postcard I bought both show it better than you can actually see it because it is poorly lit in person but still quite remarkable. I am astounded that the skull is decorated with artificial flowers as if that somehow makes it "prettier". The church is within walking distance of the Colesium and I highly recommend it if you are interested in the bizarre. After that I walked to a flea market recommended by the hotel clerk and it was a total waste of time with just a lot of junk. So I took a bus back to the hotel and was happy to pass the pyramid C&K has mentioned seeing. Walking back I passed an internet cafe so emailed home and to TeresaandPeter that we were all well since somehow I had not managed to charge my cell phone and it had no juice.
Apparently Karen had some issues with the Coliseum which I can understand. I still want to see it at night sometime and will make a point of that on my next trip. We ate at an cheap Indian Pizzeria (actually, I had already stopped at another cheap place) and then walked, partially in the metro tunnels because we mistakenly thought we'd have to take the metro, to Santa Maria della Vittoria. This church wins the prize for overall bizareness of all the ones we saw. First of all, there is the very famous statue of St. Theresa (unfortunately not MY St. Therese) in Ecstasy. http://www.flickr.com/photos/raimist/49868722/ The stautue is phenomenal and kinda embarassing because, particularly if you read what St. Theresa said which they have available, it sure sounds and looks like a pretty carnal as opposed to mystical kind of ectasy. It's like very beautiful, very soft porn in marble. I am not the only one to reach this conclusion. Karen called the whole church itself "super-gaudy" and I can't disagree . Lotsa gold, lotsa marble. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Santa_Maria_della_Vittoria_-_5.jpg
On the right side of the church there is what appears to be a life-sized replica (doll?) of St. Victoria on what I think is her tomb. The postcard I bought says "Santa Vittora, virgine e martire" and here is a not very good picture. http://www.esnips.com/doc/4c11e513-d016-4af4-8a71-45260733bf31/Santa%20Vittora,%20virgen%20y%20martir There was a doorway to the left of Santa Vittora with some kind of indication that the hallway would lead to souvenirs and postcards. While I was trying to figure out what Santa Vittora was made of Karen started to wander down the hall and then chickened out and came and forced me to lead the way. At the end of the hall you could see an Italian priest sitting at a desk talking to a couple. It sure looked like we were about to invade his office but I went in anyway and next to his desk were shelves with souvenirs like guidebooks, post cards, holy cards, bath salts, booze, candy and some other food items. I'm really kicking myself for not buying some food or booze there. At some point Karen indicated that there were some skulls in a reliquary in the hallway so I went back out there with her to see. Karen has a good eye for the grotesque which I appreciate. Here they are: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyrven/2701467165/ Like the person who posted the picture, I have no idea whose heads these are. I looked through the English guidebook sold in the church and there was not mention of them. I've looked online and nothing. I couldn't ask the priest because I don't speak Italian. I may have to learn how to ask, "Whose skulls are those?" in Italian and go back and ask because I am curious. I'll go back to this church the next time I am in Rome just because it is so weird.
After that we walked to Santa Maria della Angeli which had been Roman baths but were turned into a church by Michaelangelo when he was 85. That guy sure had a long career. This church seems to be orienting itself to science and the sky with a sundial, pendulum and a Galileo exhibit towards the back of the really big church. There was a mass for immigrants going on when we were there. We also noticed there was a statue of the BVM with a lighted halo which Karen said made her feel like we were in Mexico. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-santa-maria-degli-angeli-pictures/index.htm
Karen had read "Angels and Demons" and wanted to see the Chigi Chapel mentioned in the book at Santa Maria del Popolo. (Yes, yet another church dedicated to Mary.) So we took the Metro there. The chapel was unfortunately being renovated so wasn't completely visible but has statues by both Rafael and Bernini. There was another chapel across from it that was almost completely marble that we thought was more interesting. http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Santa+Maria+del+Popolo%20Rome&w=all
We wandered outside to the Plaza del Popolo where there is a fountain, an Obelisk (seem popular in Rome), a pair of matching churches and a statue of a she-wolf feeding Romulus and Remus.http://www.redbubble.com/people/chord0/art/1179137-1-statues-at-plaza-del-popolo-rome http://www.aviewoncities.com/rome/piazzadelpopolo.htm
It was getting late, around 6:30 p.m. but we decided to take the metro to San Giovani in Laterno to see if we could still see it but went to the Holy Stairs first since they are diagnolly across the street. Amazingly, we were the only people by the stairs except when a man came in for a few minutes. The stairs were open and with great fanfare I went up two of them on my knees, Karen one, and we decided it was too hard to do. Cathy was cleverly keeping as much distance as possible between herself and us to avoid the lightening bolt she was pretty sure was going to kill us because we were being a quite sacrilegious. I suspect we didn't get the promised indulgences. Now that she knows there are indulgences involved Rose wants to go back and do them. If I'm with, I'll watch. http://www.medjugorjeusa.org/holystairs.htm
By the time we got to San Giovani in Laterno some guy at the door waved us away as the church was closing which was probably just as well because I'm not sure we could have handled yet another church that day.
We took the metro back to our neighborhood, ate at the same place we ate on Friday and had a humorous waiter called Yogi or Jogi who liked to make jokes like pretending to spill a cup of coffee on me but the cup was empty. Ha, ha but he was actually o.k. just trying to earn a living. I don't remember what we ate but I'm pretty sure it was some form of pasta. So ended an exhausting Sunday and we finally went back to our cheap hotel.
We were all leaving on Monday, Cathy and Karen in the middle of the afternoon and me at night. So back to San Giovanni in Laterno we went since we had missed it the previous night. It is also pretty easy to get to since there is a metro stop not too far away. Rose and I went to mass there when we were in Rome two years ago. The altar is supposed to contain the heads of of St. Peter and St. Paul. Sure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_St._John_Lateran As we left the church some guy was walking his dog without a lease and a woman was eating a sandwich on a bench outside of the church. Not surprisingly, the dog decided he wanted some of the sandwich and took off towards the woman who apparently was afraid of dogs so she dashed behind Karen while grabbing Karen's arm convincing Karen she was trying to steal her money. Fortunately, the lady was not a pickpocket and the man got the dog under control but everyone was a bit shaken up by the incident except me because I'm a mean person and mainly found it humorous since I didn't happen to be involved.
We took the metro back to the train station area to see Sant Maria Maggiori which is near the train station and our hotel. This basilica supposedly has pieces of the crib (aka manger) of Baby Jesus in a reliquary. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-st-mary-major.htm I remembered that there is a minor basilica called Santa Prassede right across a plaza so we went there too. I mean, you can't really see too many churches, can you? There is a great little chapel with mosaics that you can light up if you throw a coin in a box and off that in a small room is what is titled "The Column of the Flagellation of Jesus Christ" which Rose and I had seen and loved two years earlier. It's basically a broken marble column is a golden reliquary. Scroll down in this link and it's pictured as are the mosiacs. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-santa-prassede.htm Karen said she thought the column might be an actual relic. I said I didn't believe any of them are actual relics, not one. And then I turned and bought postcards of the column. Karen says I am the most Catholic lapses Catholic she knows. Cathy and Karen were running out of time so we walked back to our hotel, got their bags and took a long walk to the train they would take to the airport. We said our fond fairwells and I went back into the train station to find someplace to sit down. Did I mention my feet? I really didn't have the right shoes and my feet were killing me. Based on Cathy's example, the next time I go to Rome I'm wearing hiking shoes. Really. So I sat and ate something at the train station and planned my next move. I still had quite a bit of time until I had to catch my bus to the airport at 7 p.m. so had to decide what to do. After Rose and I returned from Rome in 2006 I had heard a report on NPR about San Clemente which is a church built on a church built on Roman ruins and had decided I wanted to see that the next time I was there. So I found out it was near the Coliseum and limped to the metro and limped to the church and found out it was closed for lunch. A lot of churches in Rome close for lunch. Now I had an hour to kill with nothing to do. I limped around the neighborhood a bit and-- allelujah--found an Internet Cafe. Hell, I would have paid them the same amount just to set in a chair at that point.
Eventually the hour passed and I went back to the church. The first floor is a pretty standard Roman church; it is really in the basements that this place shines. Because they are underground they are dark, kinda dank and especially the Roman ruins are pretty eery particularly as I ended up being completely alone when I looked that part over. I'll probably go back sometime. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-san-clemente.htm Even after I wandered pretty slowly through San Clemente I still had time left so followed my map up a hilll on my aching feet to Basilica (how many basilicas can they have in one town?) Santi Quattro Coronati. This places looks way more like a fortress than a church and I guess at some point it was used as such. I went through two courtyards feeling like I was going back in time and go to the church door and heard singing. What, I thought, another mass? But it's Monday for God's sake and walked in and found the all nun choir practicing. I just sat in a pew and listed and boy could those nuns sing. It was overwhelmingly beautiful and I was sad it only lasted for about 15 minutes. The cloister was closed and I didn't even know about some other chapel up there so will definitely have to get back so see them. But it will probably never impress me as much without the music. http://www.initaly.com/regions/latium/church/4cor.htm
By this time I could barely walk but got myself to the metro stop over by San Giovanni in Laterno, picked up my bag at the hotel, stopped for to eat some mussels, and got the bus to the airport to find my flight was delayed. Sigh. So I had some wine and bought an Italian soccer jersey that was on sale (Saldi!) for Cathy because she had mentioned she wanted one and eventually flew back to Germany and drove home literally in the middle of the night.
Rome is an odd place. Karen said it was like Wisconsin Dells for Catholics and that she thought the churches are like the water slides. I think for practicing Catholics it can be a little like pulling back the curtain because there are some disconcerting parts like selling Vatican shot glasses, holy water bottles with no holy water or getting indulgences for kneeing your way up stairs. But I'll certainly go back. It is quite overwhelming because there is so much to see and after about three churches in a day they do start blending together so more shorter trips are definitely better. In four days I saw 15 churches. No wonder I'm confusing them. And really comfortable shoes are a must. My blister is still healing. Guess I missed the miracle. Maybe I should ask to use some of my mother-in-laws holy water which thrilled her by the way and she is saving for her last rites. Oh, and January was a great time to go. We got lucky with the weather and while I assume Rome is always busy the overwhelming crowds were gone. I shall return!
But I flew because it was a lot faster and got Ryan.air flights for a total of 40Euros. It's about a two hour drive from home but the price is right! It cost me the same to park for five days as it did for the flight. I arrived on Thursday, January 15th.
The cheaper flights are at odd times so after I took the shuttle bus to downtown Rome I ended up at the train station after 11 p.m. I had booked the same hotel Rose and I used two years ago so knew it was just two minutes away from the train station but it took me a few minutes to orient myself. But I was freaking out a little because it was somewhat late, I was alone , dragging a suitcase, and the train station area is a little iffy. So in my haste I didn't read a street name completely and got myself more lost and disoriented. After wandering around for about 10 or 15 minutes I finally pulled out a map, looked at the street signs right, and found my hotel. I took the elevator up to the fifth floor and walked in expecting to see a receptionist like last time. No one was there. I waited. No one came. I yelled "Hello!" No one answered. I finally went out into the hallway and looked around and found a sign that said the reception was downstairs. They had changed it and I had come from a different direction. Lesson: never expect things to remain the same. So I went downstairs, got checked in and watched a movie in Italian before going to sleep.
My room on the street side was pretty noisy early (I need to remember to always bring ear plugs) so I woke up even before my alarm and went down to breakfast which was now served downstairs behind the reception area. I bought a three day bus/metro ticket for I think 11 Euro at a tobacco store on my way to the station and took the metro over to the colesium stop since the forum is right nearby and that was my goal for the morning before Karen and Cathy would arrive. I think I was the first person there and asked about the audio tours. The guy in the booth said there was no power so they didn't work. I asked when they might work and he had no idea. Hmmm... I decided to look around anyway using my outdated guide book. You really need some help interpreting the forum because it's pretty ruined but the weather was great for January and I wandered around there and up on Palatine Hill as well which this year was included with the forum ticket as opposed to our experience in 2007. The other sight that Rose and I had missed in 2007 (I'd seen it in 1978 but that was awhile ago) was the Pantheon so after the forum I took a bus which got me in the approximate area. Impressive building considering it has been standing for 2000 years. I hope I got that right. Sure seems remarkable. I used the audio tour there and was glad it is currently a church so there was pews to sit in as my feet had already started to hurt. The day after I got back from Rome was President Obama's inaugeration and when I saw the place the politicians had lunch that day I thought it looked strikingly like the Pantheon. Many of the building in Washington remind me of Rome. From the outside most of the churches in Rome look more like government buildings than churches to me. Directly across from the Pantheon is a McDonald's and after looking at the building I had a hamburger there on the plaza looking right at the Pantheon. Nice contrast. And a movable band of a bass player, a violinist and a saxophonist played a couple of numbers before passing the hat. It was warm enough for me to sit outside. Nice.
I'd told Karen I'd be at the hotel at 3:30 p.m. on Friday since their flight from Bratislava was getting in at 2:30 or so so headed back there and got there about an hour early. I'd already gotten a larger, bigger room with a balcony overlooking the courtyard that morning. My single room had been 50 Euro per night, the triple was going to be 75. We had the best room in the hotel, which wasn't saying much.
Karen and Cathy showed up at about 3 p.m. having taken a shuttle bus from the airport which conveniently took them directly to the hotel door. We wandered in the direction of the train station and because the girls hadn't eaten stopped at an Italian place with a "barker" who sucked us in. They got their mass tran tickets at the tobacco store and we took a bus to the Trevi fountain. The buses in Rome and plentiful but rather confusing. I bought a bus map which just tended to confuse us more but somehow we did end up getting everywhere we wanted to go. The Trevi was nice at night, we tossed our coins and then went across to a church called Santi Vincento & Anastasio which was still open figuring we'd make it a two for one deal. The most interesting thing about the church was a bunch of padlocks on the fence outside which Karen thought had something to do with bikes. I bought a candle for two euros from some guy selling them by the door in order to have the right to ask him about them. Apparently, couples in love or getting married write their name on the locks and then throw the keys in the Trevi Fountain. This seems to be happening in other places as well. http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy/lazio/love-locks-appear-trevi-fountainI think it was the guide book I had from the library that claimed some of the best ice cream in Rome was right around the corner so we went to the place although the name now escapes me. It was very modern looking with really good but way over-priced ice cream like 10 Euros for a dish. It was interesting but I wouldn't do it again and don't think it is a "must do".
Karen and Cathy thought it was be nice to see the Vatican at night so we got on another bus and ended up on St. Peter's Square. We passed by several Swiss guards that Karen was excited to see in their winter cloaks and berets. She thought the outfits were really cute. Judge for yourself: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/17963149 although I think the ones we saw didn't have the striped spats but rather just tights. Seeing the Vatican at night was a great idea! The lighting was beautiful and it is eery in an awe-inspiring way. We walked past an open barricade and got reprimanded by a Swiss guard which pissed Cathy and me off since we didn't think it was well marked but I think Karen was happy to get another look at their outfits fashionista that she is. There was a giant larger -than -life-sized Nativity set near the obelisk and we watched as an Italian cop or security guard got up on a ladder and adjusted St. Joseph's headwear at the direction of an old nun who was about four feet tall and dwarfed by the statues in the scene. Rather disturbingly to me at lease, Baby Jesus' crib was empty and he was represented by a toddler sitting on his mother's lap. Odd. This is it provided by another tourist I don't know: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_wW5TBqSdTgs/R4330L3I8wI/AAAAAAAAADE/vcpxnt6PTc4/P1050746.JPG Other pictures I found on the internet of the same Nativity show baby Jesus in his manger (http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0aQx6vJ7o89R3/610x.jpg ) so I guess the nuns in charge of it may just rearrange stuff sometimes like girls with dollhouses this just being a really giantic, really religious version. We eventually took the bus back to our lowscale hotel and got doners and beers at a place next store and took a few beers with us back up to the room and watched some Italian TV until we went to sleep.
When Rose and I were in Rome in 2006 the lines to get into the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel were enormous with many thousands of people waiting. I had prepared the girls for this and we got up early on Saturday to take the metro down there and try and get in relatively early. We got there and basically walked in the door with no waiting. Incredible! You could spend a lot of time in the Vatican Museums. We took the shortest route to the Sistine Chapel which takes you through the map room and past lots of wonderful artwork including the School of Athens http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/x-Schede/SDRs/SDRs_03_02_020_big.html by Raphael being one of my favorites because I remember it from art history classes and like that it is so much bigger than I had imagined. Just the ceilings in this place make it worth seeing. At the end you are rewarded with the Sistine Chapel with its relatively newly clean ceiling and walls. Karen managed to find both St. Bartholomew's skin and a snake apparently chomping on some guy's penis represented in the Last Judgement and thus managed to gross herself completely out all on her own. They are both in this link if you scroll down and Karen I think you probably shouldn't you being such a delicate flower. http://www.vaticanotours.com/sistine-chapel-last-judgement.html Every once in awhile a gong goes off in the chapel and they ask everyone to keep the noise level down because it is, after all, a church. We eventually wandered out of the chapel and saw a sign to the "Carriage Pavilion" or something similar and went just for the heck of it. Basically, it seemed like an underground garage with old papal carriages, horse tack, sedan chairs and--all right!--two, not one but TWO popemobiles! Of course the popemobiles made us about as happy as the great art so I think we can accept that we are heathen Americans.
Next we wandered over to St. Peter's Basilica and headed straight for the cupola. We took the elevator after a short wait and then the stairs and my heart rate was right up there after the first 100 or so stairs. There are signs up that people with heart problems or claustrophobia should skip it and I think that is good advice. We looked down on the altar from the inside of the cupola and went up to the top outside and looked at the spectacular 360 views of Rome. On the way down we stopped at the gift shop on the roof of St. Peter's that Rose and I went to two years ago. Cathy bought a small nativity set. Karen bought many holy cards and she and I both got little holy water bottles with Vatican written on them. I thought I would give some holy water from the Vatican to my mother-in-law for her 84th birthday which was coming up. I asked where we could get the holy water and a non-nun sales woman told me we should get it in the church downstairs. Seemed a little odd but what do I know. I also got my mother-in-law a picture of the German pope. I wanted something for Rose and Karen picked up a shot glass with the Vatican on it. We both thought this was pretty funny and we laughed about it apparently really pissing off a nun that worked there. I got one for Rose and Karen got one for her brother Matt with the nun telling us we didn't HAVE to use them and some people collect them you know blah, blah, blah. Well, Rose loved hers and if I get back there I'll probably get more AND use them.
After the roof we went down to the basement and saw the tombs of many popes and I also saw one of the nuns from the rooftop gift shop praying at the tomb of the last pope. Then we finally went into the main part of the church. Karen and I pulled our little Vatican holy water bottles out and were filling them up by dunking them in one of the giant holy water fonts in St. Peter's. It took us a bit to find one that had enough water to dunk them in it. Weellll, apparently that is not where you get the holy water. After a minute a guard (not Swiss) appeared and indicated we couldn't do that. But he also indicated we could finish filling them if we did it quickly but we were too embarassed and stopped with them not really being full. But he never gave us any indication where we could fill them. I still don't know where you are supposed to get the holy water or if they just sell the bottles and you can't get any. Karen and I were both rather put off by the whole experience.
Rose and I had missed seeing the Treasury when we were there so I wanted to go in but Karen and Cathy did not so I went in while they looked at the church. The treausry had lots of relics which always appeal to me including one finger in a reliquary in the shape of a finger. Very cool.
While I was doing that Cathy and Karen saw the church and Karen wanted to pray in a chapel reserved for prayer but got turned away. Karen is on her church council and teaches Sunday school and some guard in St. Peter's wouldn't let her in to pray. She was pissed off and so was I when she told me. So she showed him by praying someplace else. Take that!
We then took a bus to the Pantheon with a nice Italian woman telling us where to get off and Karen and Cathy went to look at it while I went to McDonald's since I had just been there the day before. Unfortunately, they couldn't really go in because there was a mass going on as it was Saturday evening so we decided to walk over to The Church of the Gesu since it should have been right near by. We, however, walked in the wrong direction but had a nice tour of the neighborhood before we found it. To my delight, there is a chapel with a reliquary containing St. Francis Xavier's hand on the right hand (no pun intended) side of the church. If you use this link and scroll down you can see a picture of it in all its grotesque glory. http://grevy525.multiply.com/photos/album/60/The_Gesu_The_Jesuit_Mother_Church_in_Rome#58 While we were there, mass started so we just stayed for mass and Cathy and Karen even went to communion. By then we were all pretty tired so took a bus (I think) back to the train station and had dinner at Cecilio right across the street from our hotel.
Sunday we got a slightly later start after breakfast in our hotel. We (bus? metro? I gotta take notes)went to St. Peter in Vincoli which I believe is one of the Pilgrim's churches. There is a very famous and very weird statue of Moses by Michaelangelo there. I quietly leaned over to Karen and said, "Are those horns?" So we looked in the guidebook and indeed Michaelangelo gave Moses horns. One of those things that make you go hmmm...The guidebook says it was because of a translation error but there seems to be disagreement as to why Moses is horned. There are also some chains that had held St. Peter that got "miraculously" fused and a pretty creepy skeleton with wings carved into a wall. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pietro_in_Vincoli
From there Karen and Cathy headed over to the Coliseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill but since I had just seen that I didn't go. I walked over the Circus Maximus to St. Maria in Cosmedin which is famous for its Mouth of Truth which was in Roman Holiday, a movie with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. The marble mouth is actually outside on the church porch and there was a line and a 50 cent charge to stick your hand in the mouth and have your friends take your picture. Since I was alone and without a camera, I skipped it and went into the church to find my so far favorite Roman relic, St. Valentine's skull apparently knawing on another of his bones. It is pretty grotesque and fortunately someone has posted a picture of it on flickr! http://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/2262875989/ That picture and the postcard I bought both show it better than you can actually see it because it is poorly lit in person but still quite remarkable. I am astounded that the skull is decorated with artificial flowers as if that somehow makes it "prettier". The church is within walking distance of the Colesium and I highly recommend it if you are interested in the bizarre. After that I walked to a flea market recommended by the hotel clerk and it was a total waste of time with just a lot of junk. So I took a bus back to the hotel and was happy to pass the pyramid C&K has mentioned seeing. Walking back I passed an internet cafe so emailed home and to TeresaandPeter that we were all well since somehow I had not managed to charge my cell phone and it had no juice.
Apparently Karen had some issues with the Coliseum which I can understand. I still want to see it at night sometime and will make a point of that on my next trip. We ate at an cheap Indian Pizzeria (actually, I had already stopped at another cheap place) and then walked, partially in the metro tunnels because we mistakenly thought we'd have to take the metro, to Santa Maria della Vittoria. This church wins the prize for overall bizareness of all the ones we saw. First of all, there is the very famous statue of St. Theresa (unfortunately not MY St. Therese) in Ecstasy. http://www.flickr.com/photos/raimist/49868722/ The stautue is phenomenal and kinda embarassing because, particularly if you read what St. Theresa said which they have available, it sure sounds and looks like a pretty carnal as opposed to mystical kind of ectasy. It's like very beautiful, very soft porn in marble. I am not the only one to reach this conclusion. Karen called the whole church itself "super-gaudy" and I can't disagree . Lotsa gold, lotsa marble. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Santa_Maria_della_Vittoria_-_5.jpg
On the right side of the church there is what appears to be a life-sized replica (doll?) of St. Victoria on what I think is her tomb. The postcard I bought says "Santa Vittora, virgine e martire" and here is a not very good picture. http://www.esnips.com/doc/4c11e513-d016-4af4-8a71-45260733bf31/Santa%20Vittora,%20virgen%20y%20martir There was a doorway to the left of Santa Vittora with some kind of indication that the hallway would lead to souvenirs and postcards. While I was trying to figure out what Santa Vittora was made of Karen started to wander down the hall and then chickened out and came and forced me to lead the way. At the end of the hall you could see an Italian priest sitting at a desk talking to a couple. It sure looked like we were about to invade his office but I went in anyway and next to his desk were shelves with souvenirs like guidebooks, post cards, holy cards, bath salts, booze, candy and some other food items. I'm really kicking myself for not buying some food or booze there. At some point Karen indicated that there were some skulls in a reliquary in the hallway so I went back out there with her to see. Karen has a good eye for the grotesque which I appreciate. Here they are: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyrven/2701467165/ Like the person who posted the picture, I have no idea whose heads these are. I looked through the English guidebook sold in the church and there was not mention of them. I've looked online and nothing. I couldn't ask the priest because I don't speak Italian. I may have to learn how to ask, "Whose skulls are those?" in Italian and go back and ask because I am curious. I'll go back to this church the next time I am in Rome just because it is so weird.
After that we walked to Santa Maria della Angeli which had been Roman baths but were turned into a church by Michaelangelo when he was 85. That guy sure had a long career. This church seems to be orienting itself to science and the sky with a sundial, pendulum and a Galileo exhibit towards the back of the really big church. There was a mass for immigrants going on when we were there. We also noticed there was a statue of the BVM with a lighted halo which Karen said made her feel like we were in Mexico. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-santa-maria-degli-angeli-pictures/index.htm
Karen had read "Angels and Demons" and wanted to see the Chigi Chapel mentioned in the book at Santa Maria del Popolo. (Yes, yet another church dedicated to Mary.) So we took the Metro there. The chapel was unfortunately being renovated so wasn't completely visible but has statues by both Rafael and Bernini. There was another chapel across from it that was almost completely marble that we thought was more interesting. http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Santa+Maria+del+Popolo%20Rome&w=all
We wandered outside to the Plaza del Popolo where there is a fountain, an Obelisk (seem popular in Rome), a pair of matching churches and a statue of a she-wolf feeding Romulus and Remus.http://www.redbubble.com/people/chord0/art/1179137-1-statues-at-plaza-del-popolo-rome http://www.aviewoncities.com/rome/piazzadelpopolo.htm
It was getting late, around 6:30 p.m. but we decided to take the metro to San Giovani in Laterno to see if we could still see it but went to the Holy Stairs first since they are diagnolly across the street. Amazingly, we were the only people by the stairs except when a man came in for a few minutes. The stairs were open and with great fanfare I went up two of them on my knees, Karen one, and we decided it was too hard to do. Cathy was cleverly keeping as much distance as possible between herself and us to avoid the lightening bolt she was pretty sure was going to kill us because we were being a quite sacrilegious. I suspect we didn't get the promised indulgences. Now that she knows there are indulgences involved Rose wants to go back and do them. If I'm with, I'll watch. http://www.medjugorjeusa.org/holystairs.htm
By the time we got to San Giovani in Laterno some guy at the door waved us away as the church was closing which was probably just as well because I'm not sure we could have handled yet another church that day.
We took the metro back to our neighborhood, ate at the same place we ate on Friday and had a humorous waiter called Yogi or Jogi who liked to make jokes like pretending to spill a cup of coffee on me but the cup was empty. Ha, ha but he was actually o.k. just trying to earn a living. I don't remember what we ate but I'm pretty sure it was some form of pasta. So ended an exhausting Sunday and we finally went back to our cheap hotel.
We were all leaving on Monday, Cathy and Karen in the middle of the afternoon and me at night. So back to San Giovanni in Laterno we went since we had missed it the previous night. It is also pretty easy to get to since there is a metro stop not too far away. Rose and I went to mass there when we were in Rome two years ago. The altar is supposed to contain the heads of of St. Peter and St. Paul. Sure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_St._John_Lateran As we left the church some guy was walking his dog without a lease and a woman was eating a sandwich on a bench outside of the church. Not surprisingly, the dog decided he wanted some of the sandwich and took off towards the woman who apparently was afraid of dogs so she dashed behind Karen while grabbing Karen's arm convincing Karen she was trying to steal her money. Fortunately, the lady was not a pickpocket and the man got the dog under control but everyone was a bit shaken up by the incident except me because I'm a mean person and mainly found it humorous since I didn't happen to be involved.
We took the metro back to the train station area to see Sant Maria Maggiori which is near the train station and our hotel. This basilica supposedly has pieces of the crib (aka manger) of Baby Jesus in a reliquary. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-st-mary-major.htm I remembered that there is a minor basilica called Santa Prassede right across a plaza so we went there too. I mean, you can't really see too many churches, can you? There is a great little chapel with mosaics that you can light up if you throw a coin in a box and off that in a small room is what is titled "The Column of the Flagellation of Jesus Christ" which Rose and I had seen and loved two years earlier. It's basically a broken marble column is a golden reliquary. Scroll down in this link and it's pictured as are the mosiacs. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-santa-prassede.htm Karen said she thought the column might be an actual relic. I said I didn't believe any of them are actual relics, not one. And then I turned and bought postcards of the column. Karen says I am the most Catholic lapses Catholic she knows. Cathy and Karen were running out of time so we walked back to our hotel, got their bags and took a long walk to the train they would take to the airport. We said our fond fairwells and I went back into the train station to find someplace to sit down. Did I mention my feet? I really didn't have the right shoes and my feet were killing me. Based on Cathy's example, the next time I go to Rome I'm wearing hiking shoes. Really. So I sat and ate something at the train station and planned my next move. I still had quite a bit of time until I had to catch my bus to the airport at 7 p.m. so had to decide what to do. After Rose and I returned from Rome in 2006 I had heard a report on NPR about San Clemente which is a church built on a church built on Roman ruins and had decided I wanted to see that the next time I was there. So I found out it was near the Coliseum and limped to the metro and limped to the church and found out it was closed for lunch. A lot of churches in Rome close for lunch. Now I had an hour to kill with nothing to do. I limped around the neighborhood a bit and-- allelujah--found an Internet Cafe. Hell, I would have paid them the same amount just to set in a chair at that point.
Eventually the hour passed and I went back to the church. The first floor is a pretty standard Roman church; it is really in the basements that this place shines. Because they are underground they are dark, kinda dank and especially the Roman ruins are pretty eery particularly as I ended up being completely alone when I looked that part over. I'll probably go back sometime. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-san-clemente.htm Even after I wandered pretty slowly through San Clemente I still had time left so followed my map up a hilll on my aching feet to Basilica (how many basilicas can they have in one town?) Santi Quattro Coronati. This places looks way more like a fortress than a church and I guess at some point it was used as such. I went through two courtyards feeling like I was going back in time and go to the church door and heard singing. What, I thought, another mass? But it's Monday for God's sake and walked in and found the all nun choir practicing. I just sat in a pew and listed and boy could those nuns sing. It was overwhelmingly beautiful and I was sad it only lasted for about 15 minutes. The cloister was closed and I didn't even know about some other chapel up there so will definitely have to get back so see them. But it will probably never impress me as much without the music. http://www.initaly.com/regions/latium/church/4cor.htm
By this time I could barely walk but got myself to the metro stop over by San Giovanni in Laterno, picked up my bag at the hotel, stopped for to eat some mussels, and got the bus to the airport to find my flight was delayed. Sigh. So I had some wine and bought an Italian soccer jersey that was on sale (Saldi!) for Cathy because she had mentioned she wanted one and eventually flew back to Germany and drove home literally in the middle of the night.
Rome is an odd place. Karen said it was like Wisconsin Dells for Catholics and that she thought the churches are like the water slides. I think for practicing Catholics it can be a little like pulling back the curtain because there are some disconcerting parts like selling Vatican shot glasses, holy water bottles with no holy water or getting indulgences for kneeing your way up stairs. But I'll certainly go back. It is quite overwhelming because there is so much to see and after about three churches in a day they do start blending together so more shorter trips are definitely better. In four days I saw 15 churches. No wonder I'm confusing them. And really comfortable shoes are a must. My blister is still healing. Guess I missed the miracle. Maybe I should ask to use some of my mother-in-laws holy water which thrilled her by the way and she is saving for her last rites. Oh, and January was a great time to go. We got lucky with the weather and while I assume Rome is always busy the overwhelming crowds were gone. I shall return!
posted by Terry at 11:41 AM
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