When in Rome...

Ciao!

This is long overdue - but I'm finally blogging about my trip to Rome from 4 weeks ago. These past few weeks have gone by so quickly that I actually had to check a calender to see how long it had been since I was on vacation.

So first, we'll start with cars. Just about every airport I went to had some really nice car on display - the airport in Brussels even had multiple car brands on display.

BMW in Frankfurt, Germany

Audi in Brussels, Belgium 

And of course, a Volvo in Gothenburg, Sweden 

Speaking of cars - Italian drivers are crazy! It brought me memories of being back in India hearing people constantly honking their horns and seeing tetris-inspired parking. The drive from the airport to my hotel was terrifying, but we made it!

This was the view from my hotel. It was super hot at night, but opening the window brought in a lot of traffic noise. Luckily sleeping isn't too much of a struggle when you walk around like tourists!

So the first day, Alex (fellow intern and travel buddy) and I decided to head straight for the Colosseum. Trouble was, we got off a bus stop too early and ended up near Circus Maximus.

Yes, it doesn't look like much today, but it once held 250,000 spectators to watch chariot races.

Being hungry travelers, we found this cute restaurant and I tried some lasagna. The food was good, a bit oily for my taste, but it was great fuel for the rest of the day.

Travel tip: Italian restaurants charge for water, so bring your own bottle and refill at multiple public water fountains throughout the city.

I believe those two structures are ancient Roman temples, before the Romans converted to Christianity.

After figuring out how to read a map, we arrived at the Colosseum, which was under construction .

Travel tip: All museums and monuments are free to the public the first Sunday of every month.
Since we happened to be in Rome the first Sunday of the month, we signed up for a tour in order to skip the line and actually learn about the Colosseum from an archaeologist.

Above is the inside of the Colosseum - amazing right? The bottom layer is closed off to the general public but it was still incredible to see the detailed architecture of the entire stadium. It turns out gladiators didn't die often; it wouldn't be profitable if they did. Gladiators would sign a contract with a company where they would be paid to work 5 years (I think) or til death. If they completed their contract, they received a bonus, but they were pretty much a slave to the company during the period of the contract. Some slaves and prisoners of war were made into gladiators as well. Pictured to the right is an apartment on the ground layer of the Colosseum. The stadium housed many people who lived in these window-less apartments. 

The Colosseum has a mini-museum on the second level. There you see me reading up on the classic scrolls and looking at these Roman statues. A lot of the artwork is damaged from ancient time, so seeing busts (only the head of the statue) is very common. 



We then visited Palatine Hill as a part of our tour. Palatine Hill once hosted the Royal Palace and was the grandest structure in Rome. It had the public baths (Romans actually worried about hygiene) and there is even remnants of indoor plumbing. Once you enter the hill, you also get to see many more ancient Roman ruins. 

From what I remember, those are stairs leading to the former palace and that is a significant old church or temple (I shouldn't have waited 4 weeks to blog). Here are some of the ancient Roman ruins - my guide book sometimes gives pictures of what Rome looked like in its prime, and it is incredible. Below is Alex and me in front of the ruins.

It's incredible to think that the old emperors had the Colosseum in their front yard. Making public appearances was probably a bit easier knowing you only had to walk maybe a quarter mile. I suppose having servants and slaves to carry you there also helps.

Random facts: 1) The word "palace" gets it's origins in the word "palatine" which also led to the Italian word "palazzo".
2) To ask for someone's hand in marriage comes from Roman origins since the Roman way of seal contracts was a handshake where you grab one another's forearm.
3) Like I mentioned earlier, Romans had public baths. These baths were very dimly lit and people used to use sticks with a sponge on one end to wash their behinds. Now it's dark, you ask someone to pass you the sponge, let's hope you don't get "the short end of the stick". This is also the origin of some nasty insults.

 Above is the Palazzo Venezia, or as the locals call it "The Wedding Cake". It used to serve as the embassy of the Republic of Venice to Rome (according to Wikipedia). For us, it was the landmark we used to catch a bus back to the hotel and find ourselves on the map.

After a long, hot day full of walking around, we decided a gelato break was in order. The tiramisu gelato I had was delicious and perfect for a hot day.

We then tried to walk around and find Granny's restaurant which was recommended to us by our tour guide. We couldn't find it, but we stopped at this restaurant in Campo de Fiori which is my favorite little plaza in Rome.

Yes, that is prosciutto pizza and it was delicious. I couldn't finish it all, but I definitely refilled on any salt I lost sweating in the heat.

Day 2!

The next day, we started with a "Off the beaten path" tour. We got to Campo de Fiori a bit early and were pleasantly surprised by this outdoor market.

I threw in a picture of the pigeon because I've decided pigeons in Europe are the seagulls of California. They are everywhere!

Okay, the following pictures are from my tour. I don't remember the significance of everything I saw, but I'll comment on what I remember!

This is the basement of Granny's restaurant is remnants of the Theater of Pompey, where Julius Caesar was assassinated.

Above are pictures of a church in Rome (I honestly couldn't tell you which one). From what I remember, the significance of this mold of a Michelangelo sculpture is that it depicts Mary holding Jesus. Now when it was brought from Florence to Rome, Michelangelo stood in the back as the crowd admired his sculpture. Problem was, is that people insulted it since Mary is built like a man, and Jesus is made significantly smaller. Michelangelo gets mad, and tells the crowd "It's me, Michelangelo, I built that sculpture" but nobody believes him since he looks like a commoner. So he gets mad, and carves out "this is made by Michelangelo" or something to that effect, on the belt across Mary's torso. See, Michelangelo desinged this sculpture intentionally. He carved it to depict Jesus as Mary saw him after the crucifixion, as her young child, not as a grown man. 

Here we find the cross and the stag - which you also find in the front of every Jägermeister bottle.

Below is the "best coffee shop" in Rome. I can't say I've tried them all, but they did serve the best espresso I've ever had! 

I can finally understand the appeal of espressos - it was the perfect combination of milk, sugar, and coffee!

 This elephant is, as my tour guide calls it, the ugliest Bernini sculpture ever. That is because it was designed by the Reverend (I believe), who was in charge of watching over Bernini. Once Bernini finished it, he tried very hard to somehow "accidentally" break it but couldn't. Instead he paid someone to place the sculpture facing so that the tail end of the elephant faces the house of the Reverend.                                             

This church has some amazing ceilings (as do most churches in Rome)! It also contained this Michelangelo original. It was amazing to be able to see it up close and admire the master sculptor's work. The finishing on the marble made it seem as though the figure had sweat glands like human skin. 

Now here are some picture of another church, I'll explain the significance at the end.

You see, Michelangelo passed away in Rome, but his tomb was magically placed in Florence. What happened is that Michelangelo was originally buried at this church here. The tombstone above is where he was kept until the tombstone on the right was complete. The thing is, someone paid some people to steal the body and move it to Florence, Michelangelo's birthplace. The church didn't want to look bad by having people know the body was stolen under their noses, so they made up some cover story that I can't remember at the moment as to why Michelangelo was buried in Florence. Not sure if this is all true, I wasn't there to witness it, but my tour guide was pretty convincing.

I then had this 5 euro bowl of pasta for lunch. It was pretty good, but I finally understand what cooking pasta to "al dente" means.

We then decided to make a trip to the Vatican. We were originally planning on sticking with the same tour guide company, but decided we should just wait in line. Then we got to the Vatican, saw the HUGE line, and went in with another company. Let me tell you - if you find good tour guides, stick to them! We got stuck with this sweet old man as a tour guide who to be quite frank, was a bit slow and boring. I still had an amazing time seeing everything though.

Below are all pictures inside the Vatican Museum (or at least the parts I saw). 

These maps were drawn so well it actually looked like a modern day map. This is just a key to the larger map tapestry we saw. There were so many statues, tapestries, and ceiling artwork in the Vatican Museum it is hard to believe that the church controls so much wealth in such a concentrated space.

Above is the pictures of St. Peter's Basilica. To be honest, it felt more like a palace than a church because it was so large an grand. We also got to see the Sistine Chapel, though we weren't allowed to photograph it. It had Michelangelo's depiction of how god created earth. It was amazing to be able to see this artwork with my own eyes because pictures don't capture every detail the artists put into their work. I noticed again and again that the art all looked more "3D" in a way in real life than in the pictures.

Alright, here is a short side story about love in Rome. See the four people the middle - the two girls and the two guys in the red/maroon shirts? Well these are 4 Canadians who met at the beginning of our tour and I swear it was like watching a romantic comedy in real life. Turns out these two groups of friends (the two girls and the two guys) had pretty much booked the same vacation through Europe except one group was staying in Rome a day longer than the other group. I was in disbelief that I was witnessing such a cliche thing in real life.

After we saw the chapel, Alex went to collect his bag. Turns out he had to wait an hour til they came out and dropped all the bags outside, next to the church. If you are visiting the Vatican, don't bring food items that can "damage" the church so that your bag doesn't have to be checked in.

We then found Granny's restaurant and ate a delicious and authentic Italian meal with Jamena, a girl who we met in our tour group earlier. She's the one in the picture with me and Alex two pictures up!

The food was delicious and we even got a picture with Nona Paula! This little band was playing in the middle of Campo de Fiori and we stopped for some gelato for dessert. 

There was sooooo much gelato to choose from. I got the Ferrero Rocher kind, which was rich, chocolaty, and nutty. It was perfect!

Day 3!

This is Piazza Navona or Circus Agonale. It used to contain the Stadium of Domitian which could hold 30,000 people. The piazza was very pretty and had a few restaurants and shops. It also has three fountains: The Fountain of the Moor by Giacomo della Porta, Fountain of the Four Rivers by Bernini, and The Fountain of the Calerari (in order of the pictures). The Fountain of the Four Rivers has four men which represent the Niles, Ganges, Danube, and Rio de la Plata. 

Below is the Pantheon, which the Rome's only architecturally intact monument from classical times (according to my guide book). In 609 A.D., the pope changed this pagan temple into a Christian church. It now contains the tombs of several important figures such as the tomb of Raphael pictured below. This building is also known as "the dome" and it is incredible to think that they built this without the technology we rely on today. 

We then had lunch at the Piazzo Navona (the one with the fountains). There we overheard an American family that was adorable at times. This little 5 year old really wanted a grilled cheese sandwich :( To be honest, I had higher expectations for the homemade tiramisu, but the food was good overall. 

This is the glorious Trevi Fountain - under construction. There was a little pond where you could still throw a coin. Although, I just googled it, and you are supposed to throw a coin from your left hand over your right shoulder. I guess I need to go back and do it correctly! I also learned that they use the money collected from people tossing coins to feed the needy, so I'm glad to know my euro went towards a good cause. 

Our next stop was the very crowded Spanish Steps. 

I couldn't resist posing for a classic picture on the steps! 

As we found our way back to "the Wedding Cake", we were happily surprised that it was opened to the public! Here are some close ups of the amazing detail that went into the sculpture on the outside of the building. On the inside there is a museum and also this sculpture of a woman leading what looks like four deer.

Our last stop of the day was Isola Tiberina, which contains a church that used to be a temple for the Greek God of medicine, Aesculapius. 

I borrowed this picture from Google since I didn't have a chance to get an aerial view myself.  

On the other side of this island is the "heart of Rome", which I wish I had discovered earlier in the trip. There were a lot of cute shops and restaurants, and it was a lot less touristy than the rest of home. Alex didn't agree, but I liked the brightly colored buildings. I thought it gave the town some vibrancy. 

After walking around, we decided to have our last dinner at this restaurant on the other side of the bridge. It there that I realized I hadn't had vegetables in days and ordered broccoli with my pasta.

The pasta with clams was my first time having clams in years and I thought it was quite good. The restaurant had a homemade tiramisu on the menu, but after the last disappointment, I couldn't risk it. So then we went to find gelato, but sadly we couldn't find a place that looked appetizing on our way home. 

The next morning we got lost on the way to the train station, but eventually made our way to the airport and arrived back to Gothenburg safely! I forgot to mention earlier that I got a few bug bites in Rome - remember to pack anti-itch cream or you'll have to invest in some as I did.  

Rome was an amazing city, but it was a bit too touristy for my taste. If I were to go again, I might choose a hotel closer to the city center to have better access to everything and I would probably only stay for two days instead of three. I would also wear better walking shoes, but I'm proud to say that my rainbows held up pretty well. 

Ciao ciao!

Dilpreet

P.S.  Sorry this is a day late, but this should be the last of the super long blog posts!