Roman Holiday

View of the Eternal City from the Pincio - an overlook near the Borghese Gardens.


Been blessed with warm, sunny weather so far this week for our stay here in Rome. Rita has been trying to shake a nagging cold but we've still been able to get out and about...we usually try to be out the door early to get our sightseeing in during the cooler morning hours, and before the tourist hordes invade the inner city.
Some photos of our week so far:

Piazza del Popolo (People's Square), still looking down from the Pincio. The obelisk in the center is Egyptian from the reign of Ramses II (the Pharaoh from Exodus)  and was originally brought to the city by the Emperor Augustus in 30BC. It originally stood in the center of Circus Maximus.

Spent one whole day wandering around the Villa Borghese area - basically a large parkland dotted with museums and galleries as well as the Zoo. Was really nice to step out of the frenetic pace of the city for a few hours and spend time exploring one of the prettiest parts of the city, yet one that doesn't see the crowds that some of the better known attractions experience.

 Hopped on the subway one morning for a trip to the city center. Here's the Arch of Constantine with the Colosseum in the background. Since this area tends to be a people magnet we opted to go up the street and explore Palatine Hill and the Forum.

Nice look at Palatine Hill on the left, and the Forum on the right. When the lady at the ticket booth told me I had to return the audio guide I'd rented within 3 hours I thought she was kidding - couldn't possibly take that long, right? Turned out that it wasn't nearly enough time to see and explore everything we wanted to see. Could spend a week here and still not cover everything if you're a true history buff. For example, the area on the distant right of the photo are the ruins of the Temple of the Divine Julius (Caesar), erected by his adopted son Octavian (later Augustus) after Caesar's murder on the Ides of March. The temple was built at the site of his funeral pyre. The house where Caesar lived when he was Pontifus Maximus is just to the left across the forum. The place is full of historical locations like that...or at least what's left of them.

My Italian is pretty rusty. Couldn't quite make out whether these are the ruins of the Temple of the Vestal Virgins, or the first service station along the Appian Way.

The Curia is one of the oldest structures in the Forum, and was the meeting place of the Senate (although this isn't the place where Caesar was killed). The Romans were big into a creation myth which claimed that the founders of the Republic were actually escapees from Troy after the city was sacked and burned by the Greeks. These frescoes depict in graphic detail some scenes in the aftermath of the whole Trojan Horse thing. The idea being, I suppose, that the Senators would have constant reminders of their noble origins in antiquity.

For something completely different we wandered into the Bioparco, or zoo, while we were ambling around the Villa Borghese one day. Happened to be a Wednesday and, since the price for senior citizens on that particular day was only 4 Euros (as opposed to full freight of 13 Euros) we decided to give it a look. Turned out to be a very pleasant diversion for a couple of hours. Although it was quite small for a major capitol city, it was well done and had an assortment of creatures great and small. Decided to post this photo of an Australian Cassowary - probably the most dangerous bird on earth (hey, it's from Australia!) because it's notoriously ill-tempered and, if provoked, will slice you open from crotch to collarbone with a razor-sharp claw that it has on each foot. One of the few Aussie creatures we didn't see during our visit earlier this year...had to come to Italy to see one (go figure).

Rita was feeling well-enough today for a short excursion outside the city, via metro and bus, to Appia Antica, or the old Appian Way -  the first major road constructed by the Romans in 300 BC to facilitate quick movement of the legions to hotspots around the empire. There's a section of it that's been preserved and enclosed by a park. Really well done and with not too many people around. It's a little difficult to get to so most people give it a miss I guess. Too bad - it was one of our favorite things to see while we were here.

Near the beginning of the road was the Quo Vadis Church. Legend has it that St. Peter, while fleeing persecution in the city one day,  met the reincarnated figure of Jesus Christ heading in the opposite direction. Upon seeing him Peter supposedly asked "Quo Vadis, Domine" (where are you going, Lord?) to which Christ replied that he was going into Rome to be crucified a second time for the love of his church. A shamed Peter then reversed his steps and returned to the city - eventually to face his own martyrdom. This church supposed marks the spot where they met.. and has the footprints to prove it. These are supposed to be the footprints of Christ himself - left behind from his meeting with Saint Peter all those years ago.

There were evocative scenes all along the road, including the Circus of Maxentius shown here, dating from the 1st century BC. He apparently built all of this to stage funereal games in honor of his dead son Romulus (no, not that one).  The games included chariot races and gladitorial combat, as well as Olympic-style athletic contests, and were attended by the Emperor himself.

The funeral monument and tomb of Cecelia Mettela, who was a family friend of a young Julius Caesar.

Long sections of the road still displayed the original paving stones laid down 2300 years ago...complete with ruts formed by the passing of a couple of thousand years worth of chariots, wagons, and carts.

Rita dressing up one of the structures along the ancient route.

The park has about 6 miles of the old road preserved, and it all looks pretty much like this. Lots and lots of history unfolded along the Appian Way. In 71 BC, for example, Spartacus and 6,000 members of his slave army were crucified along this stretch of road...Kirk Douglas just to the left, and Tony Curtis just to the right...

General notes: For those of you complaining about the cost of gasoline back in the US listen to this. The price of gas here in Rome is 1.95 Euros per liter which, after you do the conversions from liters to gallons and from Euros to dollars, comes out to be $9.63 per gallon. Yikes! Small wonder that most of the vehicles you see on the roads here are those tiny little "Smart Cars" that get about 60 mpg.

Other than that the prices here aren't too terribly out of line with the US - things are generally more expensive, yes, but not as outrageously so as gasoline.

Supposed to start raining tonight, so we've planned some museum tours for the wet weather over the next couple of days. Found a special deal online for night tours at the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel so we're signed up to do that tomorrow night.

Two more days here before we board a train back up to Vicenza on Sunday morning. After one night there we hope to catch the same free shuttlebus we rode before but this time back to Ramstein for a flight home (we hope). The same weather front that will dump rain on us here for the next few days is forecast to send temperatures plummeting in Germany - forecast for our arrival on Monday evening is for a nippy overnight low of 24 degrees. Time to dig out the cold weather gear from the bottom of our suitcases...