Day two - Rome and the Vatican
Trip Start
Nov 16, 1995
1
3
10
Trip End
Nov 25, 1995
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Rome,
Lazio,
Italy
Saturday, November 18, 1995
Our destination this morning is the Vatican . This is quite a distance (as we found last night) so we decide to take the bus. Our guidebook dutifully tells us that bus tickets are sold at newspaper stands located all over the city. The guide omits to tell us that the majority of these close on Sunday! We are told that we can buy tickets from the new machine at the bus stop on Piazza Venezia. At the machines we are met by a small mob of mystified foreign tourists attempting to find out how it works (Romans buy passes, and therefore have absolutely no idea how the machines work either). There is no one to help. Already a small fortune has been lost into the maws of the vicious red machine that gulps thousand lire notes like an alligator consuming marshmallows
Piazza San Pietro
. Are we doomed to spend our morning at the feet of King Victor Emmanuel instead of being blessed by the Pope? Finally, we decide to challenge the system. In fear of massive fines, maybe jail, or even execution, we board the bus WITHOUT TICKETS. No one takes any notice of us and no one asks for our tickets. We just hope that riding free on a bus within the Vatican is not a mortal sin! The huge colonnaded piazza in front of Saint Peter's is really imposing, but our greatest awe is reserved for the spectacular interior of the largest Christian church on earth. Words cannot describe the glory of this building, so I will not try. We see Michelangelo's beautiful "Pietá", protected behind bulletproof acrylic, and St. Peter's tomb in the crypt.
We notice a group of people lining the road into the Vatican , and in a few seconds a black Mercedes limo with a police escort appears, and a waving Pope speeds by in front of our noses. Within ten minutes we will see him delivering his traditional Sunday blessing from his office high up above the square.
The Sistine Chapel next? I wish! The Vatican Museum closes on Saturday afternoon and Sunday
That's Pope John Paul II
. We are in Rome only Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Result..no Sistine Chapel for us on this visit! So after the blessing we wander off towards the city, past the Castel Sant' Angelo, originally Hadrian's Tomb, but converted later into a fortress, and across the Roman Ponte Sant' Angelo. We now enter medieval Rome by the narrow Via Coronari, Rome 's antique row. At the end we reach Piazza Navona. Although it's still cold, the sun is out and the square is packed with locals. It's the most characteristic of Rome 's public spaces and is graced with three glorious Bernini fountains, and circled by sidewalk cafes. Only the sunny ones have any business today, the ones in the shade are empty. We are told that in the summer, the reverse occurs, with the sunny ones empty and the shady ones thronged! We continue to the Campo dei Fiore, and take lunch at a lively street cafe (on the sunny side). The spinach calzone is out of this world! After lunch we continue our walk and come upon the Pantheon. This is the best preserved major Roman building to be found anywhere, saved because it was turned into a Christian Basilica. Caught by the enigmatic and annoying opening times of public places, we arrive 30 minutes too late to view the inside. The Pantheon closes at 1.00 pm on Sunday. We share the keyhole and cracks around the doors with a multitude of other visitors, and get a vague idea of what we are missing
Basilica de San Pietro
. It's a very impressive building considering its age almost 2,000 years old. This was the largest dome in the world until Brunelleschi's of Il Duomo in Florence was built 1,200 years later. Our next stop is the Trevi Fountain. We cross Via del Corso and soon come face to face with this wonderful work of masonry. The whole complex blends into the side of a building so it actually seems to be a part of the structure. It's a great photographic opportunity, but what's wrong with my camera? Oh no! The battery is flat! I remember clearly the other two times this happened. One was in the middle of Universal Studios, where new batteries where easy to find, but almost emptied my savings account, and the other another was in the Braulio Castillo National Park in Costa Rica, where I was unable to get spare batteries at any price. If after each occurrence I swore never to be without a spare set. In this case, why am I here without any! I wrack my brains. Wherever am I going to get a new set of very unusual batteries in Rome on a Sunday afternoon? Where else but the local newspaper stand! Am I dreaming? There they are, right beside Corriere Della Sera! US$ 21.00 later, the camera is lighting-up, zooming, clicking and whirring as it should, and off we go to Ancient Rome.
We walk right past our hotel (with a short stop for a pee, of course) and continue down the hill past Trajan's Forum onto the Via dei Fori Imperiali. This is a wide thoroughfare carved right through the middle of Imperial Rome, constructed when broad streets were considered more important than ancient ruins. At one end is the ubiquitous monument to Victor Emmanuel, and at the other, the great monument to the power of the Caesars, the Coliseum
Swiss Guard
. It's 4 pm , and when we get to the gate we find that the monument closes two hours before sunset. Sunset is at 5.30 pm , ergo, the gates closed at 3.30 pm . Piped at the post again! So once more we have to make do with looking in from the outside. It's so overwhelming that it literally takes your breath away. It is about the same size as a modern football Stadium, height and capacity. It could actually be filled and emptied faster, it had numbered seats, and could be covered by a great awning for shade. It could even be flooded for mock naval battles! And the Coliseum is only one thousand nine hundred and twenty four years older than Dolphin Stadium in Miami !!
One of the extraordinary things that we notice in this area is the number of wild cats that dwell here. Of all shapes and sizes, looking fit, well fed, and very cautious of human designs, they seem to thrive. If these are direct descendants of ancient Roman cats, perhaps some of their forebears where present when Christians were fed to the lions (just great big cats, really!).
We stroll slowly back through the Forum in the fading light. By the time we arrive back at the Victor Emmanuel Monument it is dark, and we are ready for a rest and a great Italian dinner.
Our hotel receptionist recommends a nearby restaurant. We pass it at the entrance to the cul-de-sac, but I elect not to enter, in spite of Miryam's protests. The prices on the menu seem quite high
Colosseum
. Instead, I decide to be adventurous. This is Rome ! There is great Italian food on every corner, isn't there? We walk down the hill past a Chinese restaurant and into the Piazza Venezia. There's not a restaurant, oratorio or pensione in sight, just a rather nondescript bar with a few chrome tables and chairs...not very Italian at all. Up the first few blocks of Via del Corso. No luck! In the end we return to the bar. I decide to give it a try. What a dump! They are out of virtually everything. Miryam's steak is inedible, and is returned forthwith. My risotto, is fair. Bryan 's pasta is mediocre. And it isn't cheap either. I have to hang my head after this awful experience. Had I followed Miryam's advice, we would have probably paid a bit more, but got a good meal. 
