Last Day In Europe: Rome

Now that I have updated our cruise bloggings, I will update you on our last two days in Rome.

Yesturday we got up early to get off the boat in Civitavvechia. We caught the 8:45 train to Rome and checked into our hotel. This time, our hotel was in the "suburbs" (what I'm calling it because it feels more city/residential then the main part of Rome) instead of main city. We decided that we would go see the Vatican and all the related stuff. We took a shuttle bus into the centre of Rome and then began the trek to Vatican City. It was far from the bus stop which was in Ancient Rome! It was very tiring, but a very pretty walk along the Tiber River. We walked up the Pont S.Angelo which was amazing. I told you I love sculpture now and this was no exception. The bridge over the river is lined with marble angels made by Bernini and led to the Castle Saint Angelo, or the Castle of Angels or something like that in english. We didn't go in, but it is a museum now and was in Angels & Demons so I know some from there. The walk to the Vatican was lined with barters of bags, wallet, belts, etc. who were pretty pushy and I wasnt too happy. The square of Saint Peter's was very cool. We had to go through security and we decided to hitch on to a tour guide who was also from Canada. It was amazing the different people in our group. We had Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, England, Germany, Israel, U.S, Aussie, and probably more but it was so weird having all those different nationalities and not it just being American and Canadian. Did you know the police's uniforms are designed by Dolce & Gabbana? Ha! We saw the Swiss Guard, who are quite good looking (that is actually a requirement) but I thought we would see many more. I only really saw 3 I think. And the "fashion police". Women cannot enter the Vatican if their clothing is not below the knee or if their shoulders are visible. Our guide took us into St. Peter's Basillica and explained stuff about some of the statues and perception and stuff like that. I would have liked to have had a bit more time to look around, but it was worth it having the tour guide. Likewise with this, I can't really put too much into words. The gold in the basillica is worth over 40 billion American dollars!! Holy crap hey? The statues in there are emmense and the church itself is huge. You have big name artists making everything in there. There are so many little facts the guide told us that I can't even put down here, it just has to be explained in person. We then decided to stick with the tour guide as he took us to a bar for some lunch, and then to a tour of the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. There is so much art in the Museums that if you look at each from 60 seconds consecutavely, it would take you 12 years to see it all. He showed us basically the highlights and shed some light on each piece. I definately wished I had gotten more time to snoop around, or at least take more time, but it was worth it again. Plus, women have to have an armed escort inside the Sistine Chapel. ....ugh. Poor women. The chapel was amazing. Michaelangelo was a genious. I didn't even expect it to be that spectacular. I think that the fresco 'The Final Judgement' over shadows the ceiling though. The ceiling took him 4 years to complete. It was mind-boggling. We saw the door that the cardinals come through during conclave, and we went down the royal staircase and saw the door to the room that the Pope shakes hands with the dignitaries. Our tour was over, so we descided to go into the crypts of the Popes. I had really wanted to go into the Necropolis. But we couldn't, or didn't, or didn't really have enough information. But the crypts was so sad, because we saw JP II's crypt. It was very sad and I felt myself tearing up alittle. We then saw the supposed tomb of St. Peter's, which is in a little gold tabernacle like enclosure benethe the alter of the Basillica. After we went through that, we were finished with the Vatican. We began our walk back to the busstop to catch the shuttle to the hotel. It was very long. We had dinner at the restaraunt by the stop, and then just went back to the hotel for the night.

Michaelangelo was a genious.

Today we woke up and set out on the bus again. Today our goal was to tackle Ancient Rome. We started out with the Theatro de Marcello, which was the inspiration for the Colosseum. We then walked up Capitoline hill, which was the nerve centre of Ancient Rome. This lead to the Capitoline Museum and the entrance to the forum. We took a walk through the Forum, which was pretty spectacular. It was kind of sucky though because we didn't have a guide or anything, so we didn't know what any of it was. It was more like window shopping. I was so excited though because I love this stuff anyways. The Roman ruins is characterized by a reddy-brown brick and can be found all over Rome. What is neat is that the ruin have grass and plants growing on them! You can imagine them having been in the ground. We started to head up to the Palatine Hill which is where the Emperors had their palaces. It still stands today. However, you had to pay so we decided not to spend the money. We saw the arch of Constantine and exited the Forum in to the Piazza de Colosseo. What is nice about Ancient Rome is that everything is very fluid and spills into eachother. You could walk through the Forum to the Colosseum. We decided to hitch onto a tour guide in the Colosseum to bypass the lines and get a little more out of it than we had gotten out of the Forum. The guide was pretty good, and a bonus was we got a free picture with the gladiators ;) The Colosseum was such a nasty place. Romans were such brutes the stuff they did in there was unbelieveable. It was very cool in a way though even though brutal. And what is interesting is that every stadium today is now built like the Colosseum. We saw where the emperor sat and where they would keep the animals and stuff along those lines. It was a pretty good tour I would say, although I wish we got one of the forum. We then got lunch and walked over to the Trevi Fountain, which is ways away from Ancient Rome but one of those must-sees. This fountain is AMAZING! I didn't even expect it to be that big. It is spectacular. The work that must have gone into that sculpture. I wonder who made it and how long it took. It was so busy there as well, and I had no coin to through into the fountain. They say whoever does guarentees their return to Rome. Ah! We then headed back to the hotel for dinner and now I am writing all of this! Our flight is around noon tomorrow, so we are leaving for the air port at 8:30. I can't believe our vacation is over!! I'm excited to get home but I really don't want to leave. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I don't have the pictures for Rome yet on the computer, so they won't be up unfortunately. Arivaderci Europe!