The Eternal City
It
was getting late as we arrived in Rome. The Tiber was reflecting the
fading day. The heat was giving way to a pleasant evening air and the
traffic was unbelievably heavy and aggressive. We checked in to our
hotel and stepped out for a bite of supper.
Afterwards we joined another couple to go explore the neighborhood. Across the street and up some stairs was the Church of Saint Peter in Chains, which houses the chains which bound Saint Peter when he was imprisoned in Rome, as well as Michelangelo's famous statue of Moses, part of the originaly-intended-to-be-monumental-but-scaled-back-by-his-successor tomb of Pope Julius the Second.
The
hotel next door was named after an obscure Mithraic god, the
Unvanquished Sun. I had once used him in my annual Herod play
soliloquy at our Church, having Herod complain about the number of types
of greeting cards he had to send out in December. In the third century
AD there was a collosal statue of Sol Invictus near the
Flavian
Amphiteater, which gave it it's nickname "Colosseum."
Around the corner was the self-same Flavian Amphitheater, all lit up. We delighted in being in Rome, took a bunch of pictures, then turned in for the night.
Bright and early the next morning, we piled into the bus and headed over to the Vatican Museums, intent on being at the head of the line when they opened. It was an exciting visit.
That afternoon some of our group members went on a walking tour of the fountains of Rome. It was really hot, so we decided to skip it and simply take a city bus. One of the participants later referred to it as "The Bataan Death March."
Walking around Rome
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| We took the bus to near the
Trevi Fountain and walked over. It was magnificent, but it
was totally mobbed by fellow tourists. We took refuge in a nearby Church to cool off before continuing. |
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 This plant is growing out of a wall! |
| Big monuments like the
National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II (the wedding cake,
to locals,) are out in the sun, surrounded by traffic. We preferred the cooler, narrow back streets. Then we discovered our favorite fountain of Rome: the "nasone" or big nose. The water flows continuously, but if you put your finger on the end of the pipe, a jet of water comes out of a small hole at the bend. It shot out 20 feet and almost soaked Marie before I got the hang of it! We refilled our water bottles and went on refreshed. |
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The following day we toured the Colosseum and the Forum, but that's on another page.