Roma I: Vatican Museums, Pantheon

Buongiorno!

I am writing on the first really stormy day of our time in Almunecar. Dark clouds, rain, strong wind. Luckily it seems not to have woken up Alison who is getting over jet lag.

Having Alison here is amazing -- like a bit of home came to visit us. We might keep her here. Last night we took her to our favorite cheap restaurant in town, New Little Italy. And that reminded me we have not posted any pics of our trip to Rome at the end of last week. Also Abby keeps reminding me to do it.

Last summer Eric MacGilvray and I passed 24 hours in Rome on a stopover from Dubrovnik back to the US. It was my first visit to Rome, and I just loved how much there was to see simply by walking around and following one's nose. Every turn seemed to reveal some beautiful old building or fountain or gelato shop. Because it's also such an historically important European city, Abby and I thought it'd be a great place to see with the kids early on during our sabbatical year.

We arrived late on Tuesday night, leaving after the kids got out of school. (They then missed school on Wednesday but everyone was off Thursday and Friday.) We stayed in a simple interior apartment near Piazza Navona, which is west of the Pantheon on the way to the Vatican. The owner Matteo was a young, gregarious, long-haired guy wearing a suit jacket and jeans who also ran the leather bag shop next door -- a friendly welcome to begin our stay.

The main itinerary of our four days looked something like this:

Wednesday: Vatican Museums, Pantheon area walkaround
Thursday: Coliseum and Forum, Gladiator School
Friday: Sleep in, Spanish Steps, Piazza del Popolo
Saturday: St. Peter's Basilica, fly home at night

Because of the location of our apartment, we saw some places a number of times, and at different times of day (including lit up at night): Fiumi Fountain in Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, and Trevi Fountain.

It is a wonderful city to visit -- so much life and history and art and good food. It's a complicated city, too. Pride in ancient Roman imperial discipline and organization is contrasted with a taxi driver's reference to provincial "mafia justice" as we passed the main court building. A traditional Roman Catholic service at St. Peter's Square (where we spotted the Pope) is followed up the same day with revolutionary anarchist and communist political rallies around government buildings near the Pantheon. Beautiful sculptures and paintings by Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, and Bernini make you forget that Italy was on the totalitarian side of World War II.

Before I end, it should be said: the kids did wonderfully. We walked many miles each day and they stayed upbeat almost the whole time. I hope some of the sights and sounds stay with them for a long time.

I'll do four posts, one for each day. Here are some pics of Day I.

The door and inside of our apartment, and the road just outside the apartment (we ate breakfast just a few steps down the street):

Our first approach to the Vatican was on Wednesday morning, when the Pope was having a general audience. In the third picture you can see him in white, with his back turned as he greets people while wheeling through the crowd:

We then went to the Vatican Museums, which are more extensive and impressive than I imagined. We all loved the long halls filled with so many sculptures of different shapes and sizes and classical subjects. I'm including here just a handful of favorites.

This next one was on a sarcophagus, I think. It depicts the life of a city at some important time, but I forget which city and at what time. A reminder: if you click on any of these images it will enlarge them:

Charlotte loved seeing all the statues of Roman and Greek gods that she knows from books:

Cyrus also found the statues very educational:

Charlotte thought this stone basin was big enough for even Uncle Dodie to take a bath in:

The sign said scholars are divided as to whether this next figure just has very many breasts or is adorned with bull testicles. Either way, interesting statue:
 

The map room is almost overwhelming, lined with large painted maps of various regions (including visions of sea serpents) and a spectacular ceiling. The room also had an odd light which my iPhone seemed to emphasize.

                

          

Of course I especially enjoyed seeing Raphael's famous mural of the School of Athens, with Plato in red and Aristotle in blue. Even better in person:

We weren't allowed photos of the Sistine Chapel. The more we looked at the ceiling the more I appreciated it. It did not disappoint. This was one of the main places we tried to tell the kids, as parents vainly do: "Make sure you are taking this in! It's the Sistine Chapel!" But, actually, they did seem to take it in, though they preferred the sculptures earlier.

As we left, the children drank some Vatican water from a fountain, one of many offering fresh water around Rome:

            

It might be hard to tell, but with all the switchbacks in the museum, you end up walking at least a few miles. We were tired and ready for a break, and decided to leave St. Peter's Basilica for another day. 

We took a short rest and then decided to explore our area in the afternoon. We started over to Piazza Navona, with its famous Fiumi fountain, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. I do not know a lot about the history of art, so one thing I came to appreciate on this trip was just how amazing Bernini was--his fingerprints are all over many of the most beautiful sights in Rome, including St. Peter's. 

            

Then we stopped by the Pantheon. This particular exterior photo is actually from later in the day. If Yaacov Smirnoff had been with us, he'd have said, "What a building!" Probably my favorite single thing in Rome.

        

That last shot is a vertical panorama photo that flattens everything out, but it shows how the floor, walls, and ceiling all look together.

During our trip, we made a daily pilgrimage to the world-class Giolitti gelato shop recommended by my colleague Justin. I learned that the combination of pear or lemon gelato with coconut gelato and whipped cream is delizioso. The kids tended to go with chocolate and mint, while Abby was a wild card.

                

As we sat on those steps we realized there was an anarchists' (or at least anti-establishment) rally in the piazza around the corner. We couldn't understand what they were saying, but the Guy Fawkes masks and V for Vendetta banner were prominent.

We then moved on to Trevi Fountain. It is something special, the way it just emerges from the side of a building. But having visited Rome with Eric, I admit I can't see it now without hearing him sing Three Coins in a Fountain. :)

We then turned around, headed back west toward our apartment near Piazza Navona. As we passed the Pantheon this time, there was a whole other political rally going on. This time it was the communists.

With the crowd of Catholics in the morning, and now the anarchists and the communists, we got a taste of Italian social and political groups.

We ended with a nice dinner back near our place. Day one a success, with lots to think about.

More to come... I am sure I am forgetting bits about these adventures, so check the comments in case Abby, Charlotte, or Cyrus want to add anything.

--Piers