Boatgirl #13: Roma, Italia - Rome, Italy

Save This Page

Stumble It!

3 June, 2002

There is a secret to surviving a ride in a taxi in Rome without getting an ulcer: put on the seatbelt (if there is one), and close your eyes. Just don't look. And hang on. I know there is a big gap between this entry and the last, and I have been suitably chastised for being lazy. So, I'm starting from now and I'm going to work backwards to fill everyone in.

Giac and I planned to come to Rome with minimal bags, and see as much as possible in one day then train to Pompeii and then catch up with the ship. Things just don't go as planned, do they? Gran decided to come with us, which was lovely, of course, but it did make things more complicated. Luckily, Gianni at Hotel Pergola was extremely helpful and organized a driver for the morning, so she could join us. If you're ever in Rome, Hotel Pergola was very nice, by the way, but quite far out from the center. About a 15 euro cab fare one way.

Our first stop, recommended by Gianni, was the Crypt of the Capucins. You know, the ones who came up with the cappuccino. In 1631, they left their friary near the Trevi Fountain and moved to the present location and brought the bones of 4,000 monks with them. They decorated their new chapels with the bones, creating patterns and pictures on the walls and ceilings, floral motives made from shoulder blades, and even hanging lamps made from vertebrae. Each room gets a little more creepy and strange, until the last. There, a plaque on the floor reads "As you are now, we once were. As we are now, so will you be one day."

The Colisseum, our next stop, was impressive and crowded. It was worth the wait to get in, but I couldn't face the line for the audio guides. Normally, I love the audio guides. I like knowing the history and context of what I'm looking at. However, this time we had to much left to see in one day, and I did see "Gladiator" after all. It's still fun to stand in the Colisseum and imagine what the crowds would have looked like.

At the top of a hill I could never find again in a million years, we each took turns peering through a keyhole in a big green door. Through the keyhole, a garden path with perfectly pruned trees framed St. Peter's perfectly, all the way on the other side of Rome. Then, we headed for the Vatican, to see it from the inside.

Gran headed back to the hotel, and we entered Vatican City on foot. We tried a couple of restaurants, but lost out to large tour groups. We finally found somewhere with an empty table, priests drinking wine, and endearingly surly service. Then we entered the church of churches. It is almost impossible not to pop out with something inappropriate like "Holy @#$%" when you walk in the door. It's big. Really big. But, the frilly Vatican Guards and their hidden machine guns are a bit intimidating. I was looking forward to doing the Anita Ekberg/La Dolce Vita run up the steps to the cupola, but they've changed the stairwell and it looks different now. The stairs lead out on to a walkway around the inside of the dome. It's high. Very high. The people below filing past to touch St. Peter's very worn toes looked like ants lining up to attack a picnic. There's an impressive view from the outside as well.

We crossed the Tiber River past the Castel Sant'Angello, but didn't go inside. The Pantheon seemed like a better choice. It's the oldest building in Europe. Very nice inside. We sat on the steps outside and had some limoncello-flavored gelato and rested our feet. Okay... Colisseum, check... St.Peter's, check.... Pantheon, check... What's left? Quick dash over to the Trevi Fountain. I had to resist the Anita Ekberg urge to jump in the fountain, as a very severe looking blonde policewoman was busy wagging her finger and brandishing a citation booklet at some parents whose children had dipped their feet in.

The sun was setting as we arrived at the Monumento a Vittorio Emmanuele II. We sat and watched Roman rush hour and the headlong rush of mopeds and buses through the Piazza Venezia. There must have been an accident or something at the monument, because an ambulance pulled up. Then the carabinieri. Then the polizia. Each pair choosing one representative to go in and investigate, and one to stay behind with the vehicle, posing against it looking like Serpico. Every off-duty officer of each branch on their way home had to stop and chat and find out what was going on. Never did see anything resolve, just a lot of discussing and arm-waving.

We crossed back over the river through Isola Tiberina, where there has been a hospital for 25 centuries. We were looking for a restaurant that Gianni had mentioned, but we couldn't find it. Judging on where we ended up eating, we should have kept looking. Probably the worst food of the trip, and we had to sit next a bunch of L.A. film people who talked loudly about their paychecks, their per diems, and their coworkers' boyfriends. Sigh. Why did I never get sent on location to Rome? What a beautiful deranged city. Anyway, we managed to see every thing we wanted to see. I'll have to come back to explore again. Off to Pompeii tomorrow.


Save This Page | Stumble It!