Europe 2006: On to Rome

Robby has said that he thinks the coolest stuff we saw on the whole trip was in Italy. As far as art and history goes I have to agree, although as far as the atmosphere, Rome was not my favorite place to visit! We always felt like we had to be on our guard because there were warnings everywhere to watch out for pickpockets. We were very cautious, and fortunately we did not become victims of pickpockets. But, we did become victims of outrageous exchange rates and fees! Partly our own fault though because we didn't read the sign very closely!

I digress... Let me tell you about what cool things we saw in Rome. Our first stop was St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. This church is enormous! We read that the Basilica and the Square just outside the door can accomadate 95,000 people! The structure with the pillars that is in the middle of this picture is where the Catholic church says the remains of Peter lie.

After we visited the Basilica, we decided to jump in line to see the Sistine Chapel (which was on the top of our "must see list" in Rome.) As you can imagine, the line outside the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel was VERY LONG! Well little do you know that once you get inside the Museum they wrap you through more than a mile of corridors before you get to the Sistine Chapel, and the whole way you are following a BIG line of people and wondering when you are going to get there! Finally we got to the chapel, and it was amazing! Some of the images are so realistic that they jump out at you! I wish I had some pictures from the Chapel, but they were forbidden.

Robby and I really liked how colorful many of the buildings were in Rome. This is an example of some of the colors you might see.

Later on that first day in Rome we headed over to the Colosseum. When we got there Robby told me he didn't really care if we didn't go inside. I said, "We came all the way to Rome and you don't want to go inside?!" Needless to say, we went inside! We even took the guided tour which was really cool. One thing we learned was that the Colosseum was actually a covered stadium. There was a very large cloth that they pulled over the top to protect the spectators from inclement weather.

Our second day in Rome we checked out the Roman Forum. This area was the center of Rome at one time. The whole area is sunk down below the current ground level of Rome. The artifacts that we were walking by were excavated so we could see some of the historic locations of Rome. In this picture Robby stands next the spot where Marc Antony stood to give Julius Caesar's funeral speech. Here we are standing in front of the Roman Forum. The coolest thing about going to Rome was learning the history of the place. I think I would have been more interested in history in school if I had had an experience like this. It is so much more interesting to visit the places you study.

Lastly, we have a picture of Robby drinking from a Roman water fountain. The water is fed to it by aqueducts. Pretty cool! When you see one of these concrete structures in Rome there is a pipe sticking out one side with one hole in the bottom and a second smaller hole in the top. When you want a drink you plug the hole on the bottom and water shoots upward out of the top hole for you to drink.

Overall we only spent 2 days seeing the sites in Rome. It was our hardest city to navigate and communicate in. There are only 2 subway lines and the rest of the city is serviced by buses. We were never able to get a bus map, so we had to ask others which bus to get on and hope they had a clue. Also, there were fewer people that spoke English, so we had a hard time because we didn't know any Italian. Phrase books can only get you so far. It is handy if you can carry a pen and a small pad of paper to help with communication (especially when asking prices).

Would I go again? Yes, but only because there are some things in Rome that are so incredible to see in person like the Sistine Chapel.