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Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rome Tuesday, 17 April. We were up at 7:00 and had our luggage in the hall before 8:30. We were luckier than most of our group because we had a later flight out. A van picked us up at 9:30 and in an hour we were at the airport in Catania. Oliviero was there and we said our goodbyes. Our 1:35 flight left on time. We had a great view of the Aeolian Islands en route. The plane landed at Fiumicino Airport at 2:45, and in less than an hour we were on the connecting train to Rome's Termini Station. After checking out the track number and buying the tickets for our Saturday trip to Verona, it was 5:00 when we caught a taxi to the Hotel Piave. We unpacked for our four-day stay, then took a walk around the neighborhood to check it out. We went out again at 7:30 and had dinner at the nearest trattoria. We were back in the hotel by 9:30. The weather was very cold, and our room wasn't much warmer.
Wednesday, 18 April. We were up early, hoping to beat the crowds at the Vatican. At 7:30
we had a nice breakfast in the bar on the corner, then caught a bus to Termini and on to the
Vatican. The day was mostly sunny and mild. It took us a while to find the new entrance to the
Sistine Chapel and Museum. When we did, there already was a line a block long. But it moved
fast and we were inside at 9:30.
With the new entrance, visitors pretty much have to go through, or at least by, all the other museums before coming to the Sistine Chapel. We rushed by most of them, planning to see them on the way back. Of course, we took plenty of time when we came to the Rafael Rooms. Rafael was only 25 years old when he was commissioned to paint these four rooms in the papal apartments in 1508. Nine years later (1517) he painted the Raphael Loggia consisting of 52 biblical scenes, often referred as "The Raphael Bible".
Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1508. It took him four years. Twenty-three years later (1535) he returned and spent another six years painting "The Last Judgment" on the front wall. (He did not do the side or rear walls.) We had visited the Sistine before, but this was the first time we had seen it since the restoration. It was so different, almost shockingly bright with color. It was also wall-to-wall people. We managed to get some of the scarce seats along the wall in a couple of places so we could take in the ceiling and the side walls without too much strain on our necks.
Finally we left the Chapel and visited several of the other Vatican museums and galleries, including the Egyptian Museum, Etruscan Museum, Chiaramonti Museum, Biga Room, Tapestries Gallery, Map Gallery, Sobieski room, among others. We saw a greater variety of Etruscan artifacts in the Etruscan Museum than we had ever seen before.
By 1:00, though, we were suffering from sensory overload. We had lunch at a sidewalk café across the street, then walked back to St. Peter's Square. After a brief stop at the Porta Santa, we went inside and walked through the entire interior. We had been here many times before, but it had been several years since the last time.
Leaving St. Peter's, we hopped a bus to Castel Sant' Angelo. The original structure was built in 139 A.D. as the mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian. The beautiful Sant' Angelo Bridge was built about the same time. Over the years the structure has served as a fortress, a castle, a prison, and a residence of the Popes in times of unrest. In 1277 a tunnel was built between the Castel and the Vatican to allow the Pope to escape danger.
We walked up the winding ramp (originally used for Hadrian's funeral procession), then a very long flight of stairs, until we came out into the Courtyard of Honor, the first level outside. Then we proceeded to the upper level where the bronze statue of Archangel Michael rests. There were great views in all directions, especially across the Tiber toward the center of Rome. We sat on one of the benches there for a long time, drinking in the view, but also resting after the arduous climb to get up there. (We later discovered there was an elevator for the infirm, but Jane wouldn't hear of using it.)
On the way back down, we stopped at the middle level to explore the ornate Papal Apartments. We decided to skip the Arms Museum (that Darrell had seen before) because Jane was exhausted from all the walking and climbing we had done in the last six hours. We caught a bus back to Termini, then the hotel, arriving after 4:00. Darrell tried to phone the Domus Aurea to make a reservation for Friday, but at the first number he tried he just got a recorded message that there was no such phone number. At the second number there was no answer. He decided to go out to scout the route to the Villa Borghese for the next morning. While he was there, he discovered that he could buy the tickets we'd reserved right then instead of doing it in the morning. After walking miles tracing bus lines, he also learned that the best way to get to the Borghese from our hotel was to walk. It was 6:00 by the time he got back to the hotel. To our delight, the heat was turned on, taking some of the chill out of the room. We tried a different restaurant for dinner at 8:00 and spent a full two hours eating. It was another very cold night. Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
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