The room is freezing cold when the air conditioning is on but then gets pretty warm and stuffy once it goes off, so having the extra blankets really helped. We met for breakfast at 9:30 except it was down stairs and not up on the terrace, but at least it is included in the price of the room I had determined from looking at the email I had printed in Tuoro. A great bit of advice is to be sure to bring every bit of correspondence you have had with a hotel, airline or car rental place to use as verification if there is ever any question about the reservation or arrangements. It really was a great break fast with great bread and all the usuals. We even got an extra cappuccino. No spumute however. J
Vatican Tour
We were going to walk to the Vatican but then Gary suggest we take a cab (€8) to maximize the time. Roma cab rides are amazing. You thought that Gary could drive the Centro Storico through the narrow streets. These guys go place you would dare to tread. We drove up the main entrance toward St Peter’s and the view was stunning. We then darted around a side street to get back to the line. I had read about this line in guidebooks but oh my goodness. There had to be 10,0000 people and 300 yards long. I decided to take one last shot to see if my name was on the group list but when I got to the head of the line where the group guy was you had to produce a fax. I had failed. So I walked and walked and walked back to try to find where they were and they were even farther than I though it was possible they could be. I finally did find them but before I could go walking over to see what was up with the Scavi tour a guy came up and asked if we spoke English and then he presented up with a deal. If we went with him, for €45 each he would not only get us into the museum but we would have a registered Vatican guide. It was hot and even if we did get in we would be in that line for two and a half or three hours. So we said all right and followed the guy down a side street to an office. There we paid our money and it all seemed to be quite legit. They had group spots and just had to fill them. Sometimes they got people from hotels and sometimes they filled them from the people they grabbed from the line. Apparently the guy who found us gets €2 a head. Everyone is making money and we are happy. Then the wait started. We got there about ten and were told we would be going in momentarily. Then we were told it would just be ten minutes or so. The reality was that first they were waiting for the tour to fill at about 50 and then they were waiting from four people from a hotel. At any rate we didn’t get moving until after 11. We go past the group gate I had been at and then through a metal detector to get into the main lobby area. Our guy from the office had to get the ticket and that took much longer than expected. While we waited we me a bunch of lovely, grateful people. But somewhere around 11:30 we had a guide and we were off into the museum.
I never did hear our guide’s name, but she was terrific. She seemed to know everything about everything. First we stopped in a courtyard for a good look at the dome and then walked into a gallery and then through to another courtyard with this funky gold globe with another perfect world coming out of it. We then walked into a roman sculpture gallery and the most amazing thing she showed was the statue with the glass eyes still in it. Then it was up some stairs in the Belvedere to see the first the great view of Rome off to the right. Last time we were able to go out there and stand but there appeared to be some dignitaries out there so it was closed off. Then to the left we went into the courtyard to see the Apollo Belvedere, a Roman copy of a Greek statue found during the Renaissance. When it was discovered it was considered the most perfect work of art in the world. Next was the Laocoon, a Greek statue of a pagan high priest of Troy. It is considered the most famous Greek statue in all of ancient Rome and considered “superior to all other sculpture or painting” and then lost for over a thousand years. It was discovered in 1506 in Nero’s House the Domus Areas. It wthe next biggie was the Belvedere Torso, an ancient statue of Hercules. Michelangelo also studied it at length and used it as one of his major inspirations.
I’m not sure of the order but we did see Constantine’s sarcophagi, made though not used for his mother and daughter and then we walked down a long hall with beautiful maps on all the walls. It was really fun seeing the one with Lake Trasimeno and the exact place we had stayed. This time we really saw no painting. I was sad we did not get to see Raphael’s School of Athens. Glad we got to see it with Scala Reala last time in 2003.
Sistine Chapel
After the long hall of maps we walked down a set of stairs and then made a left turn to enter the most amazing gallery anywhere in the world–The Sistine Chapel Capella Sistina. First on the right is the full wall of the Last Judgment. The color of blue that Michelangelo created alone is breathtaking. I never really thought about it that much but back then each artist had to create his own color palette mixing them with what ever ingredients he could concoct. Really an entire other part of the creative process. Our guide pointed out Michelangelo’s own self portrait in the skin of St. Bartholemew that had been excoriated. The last judgment remarkable was painted 23 years after the ceiling had been finished in 1535. When the last Judgment was unveiled to the public in 1544, it caused a sensation. The pope is said to have dropped to his knees and cried, “Lord, charge me not with my sins when Thou shalt come of the Day of Judgment.”
As you walk down toward the center of the chapel you first notice all the throng of people and then you here ever few minutes some one loudly saying “Silencio.” But as soon as you look up none of the rest of it seems to matter. Pope Julius II asked Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of this chapel but he at first said no, but only agreed if he could do it his way. Julius at first just wanted the 12 apostles along the sides of the ceiling but Michelangelo had a much grander vision. He wanted to paint the entire history of the world until Jesus. He spent the next four years (1508-1512) on a scaffold six stories up covering the ceiling with these majestic Biblical scenes. The ceiling is around 5,400 square feet. Of course the creation of Adam is always amazing, But I was struck this time by the temptation and expulsion scene and the beauty and rich and unique colors of the Dephica heralding the coming of Christ. We could never stay in there long enough, but in a group our size with as many people who were there we were quite luck we got to stay as long as we did. We walked through the screen into the area and the end and then finally out the door to the spot where people were queueing up to walk to the top of the cupola on St. Peter’s dome. The Sistine chapel is probably the most beautiful single room and work of art anywhere in the world, bar none. One of those things that everyone should have the privilege to see once in his or her life. And to think I have been blessed to have seen it twice. Double the blessing that we almost did not have the opportunity today, especially when it was the one thing that Peggy really wanted to do while we were in Rome.
We then marched right into St. Peter’s Basilica and made our first stop at Michelangelo’s Pieta which he created when he was just 24 years old, and many would say he never equaled it. It is his only signed work. It would be so great if you could actually get close to at as you could before 1972 when that crazy dude started hitting it with a hammer on Christmas day.
We went by the bronze statue of St Peter that was part of the old church. As many pilgrims have for thousands of years we all walked up and touched his toes which are nearly completely worn. We topped and saw the Bernini canopy which seems to be and attempt by Bernini to try and out do Michelangelo. We looked at several other things them walked out the front, to the right and down the stairs to gt a look at the Pope’s residence and where the Sistine Chapel was and where the smoke comes out when they are selecting a new Pope. We finally walked through Bernini’s colonnade and across the street to give back our headsets. What an incredible way to do a tour with a very large group. You can stand everywhere and anywhere and still it it all perfectly. Our guide was spectacular to say the least. Right at that moment it was almost 1:45 and I decided to abandon making any attempt to resurrect my Scavi tour reservation. What seemed like a possible nightmare yesterday had worked out beautifully. Thank you Lord.
Gary had mentioned he wanted to see Trastevere and I have wanted to as well, so we walked through a gigantic tunnel and headed East along the Tiber. Along the way we stopped at an internet café to see if we could get seat assignments for our flight home, but they weren’t allowing it. We kept walking and with the help of our map we found it and it really was quite quiet and charming. In the cheap eats section of the Top Ten Rome book we found one place for pizza but it was closed and wound up at Pizzeria Da Vittorio, 14A Via Cosinato. It was number 8 on their list. My was great especially since Christine and I split on and it was only €5. finally a cheap lunch. Well with coperti and drinks maybe it wasn’t really that cheap.
We wandered back over the Tiber toward our place and split up when Peggy decided to continue on her mission to buy Capri pants for the boys. We stopped at Santa Maria sopra Minerva and went in to visit the amazing Michelangelo’s Risen Christ there. The church was built in 1280 over the site over an ancient Roman temple of wisdom. The statue was created nude, but now has a lovely bronze fig leaf.
We were back in our deliciously cool room by about four and got a grand nap. As soon as they got back Peggy called and I went down to look at the pants she had bought. Gary wanted to try and see the Caravaggio painting that a woman we stood in line with at the Vatican was telling him about. It was in the church San Luigi dei Francesi church very close to where we are at the Pantheon. First I took them back to see the Risen Christ and then we went on a Caravaggio hunt. The church was the San Luigi del Francesi the national church of France in Italy. It is very close to the Piazza Navona and just one steet over from the Parthenon. We found it quickly and went inside to see the Matthew Chapel and the three Caravaggio’s there, the Angel and St. Matthew (1) (center), The Calling of St. Matthew (3) (left) and the Martydom of St. Matthew (3) (right). The calling of St. Matthew got the number 7 spot on Top 10 Rome’s list of top ten Artistic masterpieces. It was his first large scale work done when he was 29. What an unexpected treat. Gary must have fed the light box five times. All three of us were totally fascinated, reading the beautiful explanations that ran down the side aisle then going back to look at the painting. This is one place and experience I had no idea would happen and be so amazing. Perhaps even more amazing I think Gary is actually getting hooked on seeing more Caravaggio’s. And Gary did not use to like going into museums and galleries hardly at all. We shall see what happens. We then went back to the del Senato and went upstairs to the sixth floor bar for a drink and a view. What a treat to be able to see the cityscape and the view of the roof of the Parthenon so well. Today probably was the hottest day we had had on the trip so far and in the direct sun it was warm but then one of the breezws would come up and it would be fine. It was amazing to see all the birds gather up there. The barkeeper eventually fed them on the other side to keep them occupied. I had made the dinner reservation for 7:30 at Osteria del Sostegno on Via Colonelle no more than 75 yards from the del Senato. This was the place that Christine and I had eaten twice at in 2003 and loved. The place was empty and we sat at the first four table on the left. The ladies were under the tent and we were able to look up and see the sky.
Emanuelle the maitre’d, said the melone wasn’t so good so we split a caprese for the primi piatti. He also brought us each a tomato bruschetta. For the segundi I had the pasta and zucchini flowers (which they called pumpkin flowers) and Christine had the most amazing asparagus lasagne in an amazing white sauce. We were able to sprinkle it with goat cheese or parmesian. Gary had something with two eggs and tartuffo and Peggy had the melanzane parmesiana. Tonight we used the 1-2 strategy: one primi to split and two secundi, one for each. We did not plan to have dessert but we had seen one of the women bring out a box of fresh fruita and when we asked about it he showed us the most beautiful strawberries and blueberries and the most amazing tiny wild strawberries. So we had to have the mix with vanilla ice cream. It may have been my favorite dessert of the trip. It was that good. We also had the excellent house wine and the whole bill came to €50 per couple. Pretty amazing considering we had spent €80 the night before with out dessert. We went for a walk after dinner over to Piazza Navona and stopped at a bookstore before we got there Christine and Peggy had a great time looking at cookbooks and Gary found the Caravaggio books. J We then got over to Piazza Navona and it was the happening place. The new take and the statue guys was a guy who looked like he was a businessman in a rush with his briefcase swept back and his tie flying. It was amazing how he could hold the pose. He didn’t really do anything when you gave him money except raise his eyebrows. Not sure he was making much money. The Berninni fountain was under renovation so you couldn’t see much of it. We also say a guy doing juggling who had drawn a huge crowd. Peggy was enjoying looking around so we hung around awhile and caught some street musicians playing “Stairway to Heaven.” We even saw King Tut get out of character and reach down in his suit and scratch himself. We wandered back to out piazza and stopped to hear a guy singing opera then went down the street to have gelato at the Cremeria, the place that Lucca from the Del Senato had recommended. It definitely not as good as Della Palma. One last evening activity we went up and looked out over the city from out the bar area on the sixth floor. What a treat. We had heard that there was a free Genesis concert going on over at the Circo Massimo and that there might be up to 500,000 people there. Another day and time Peggy and I would have been there checking it out, but we were just too tired so we called it a day. And what a day it was
