Roman Holiday: Day Four: Vatican City

I am not religious. I know almost nothing about Christianity and even less about the Vatican. I heard the Pope hangs out there occasionally. Haha. All kidding aside, the Vatican was closer to our rental than the city center of Rome, so why not? 

Fountains everywhere

The Pope makes appearances at St Peter's Basilica every Wednesday and Sunday. Since our last day was a Wednesday, we had no other options to visit the Vatican. By choice, we went after the Pope spoke. 

Beautiful day

I don't like crowds. Something about the unorganized chaos of pushy strangers makes me anxious. Not to mention that my new husband is about a foot taller than me, so if we got separated, he would have a hard time finding me in a crown. This especially proved to be true when we visited Tokyo. So we opted to visit in the afternoon, after the Pope spoke, in hopes that the crowd would have died down.

Little did we know that the crowd at the Vatican does not die down until about 4pm. Since there is no entrance fee for St Peter's Basilica, flocks of tourist come to visit the monument and the line seemed about a mile long. 

St Peter's Square is quite remarkable. the tall columns and ten foot tall statues of saints form an oval surrounding an obelisk and with the church as it's main focal point. Everything is proportionate, so everything looks smaller than it actually is. According to our handy little guidebook, many of the optical illusions in and surrounding the church are made to seem grand, but not intimidating. After all this is a place of worship, you want people to feel welcome.

So, in an effort to avoid the long queue, we went to some local eateries to grab a bite. More food to go and gelato never hurt anyone. 

Fish suppli from FaFaMi Loboratoio Gastronomio

Misto frito, kinda like tempura

Now, Rome is beautiful, the Vatican is opulent, but nothing compares to this. If I had to recommend one place to eat in all of Rome, it would be a little gelato shop called Hedera. I ordered a small cone with hazelnut and dark (and I mean DARK) chocolate. Hubby got persimmon and ricotta. I won. It was so good, that I almost forgot to take a picture, hence the picture of the half-eaten gelato. So rich and creamy and yet light. So satisfying, so decadent, so worth coming to Rome.

On the wall surrounding the Vatican

After our little nom nom detour, we went back to the long queue, which was only half as long at this point. A brisk 30 minutes later, we were through security and on our way to St Peter's.

Swiss Guard (extra small)

Nuns, so legit

Giant columns

Michelangelo's Pieta

U of I represent, haha

Sunset

In front of Castel Sant Angelo, former castle and fortress, now museum

Our last restaurant meal in Rome was at La Scala Trastevere, just a few blocks from our apartment. I'm not going to lie, I was dead tired at this time, so my appetite was not what it normally is. So we decided to opt out of wine, and just share three dishes. And no dessert, because how could we possibly top Hedera?

Bruschetta with black truffles

Carbonara

Veal saltimbocca

Our little corner of Rome

The rest of our time in Rome was spent sleeping, in transit or at the airport. Even the airport food tastes better. 

My last cappuccino in Rome

Business class champagne

Salad and salmon pancakes

Herb crusted fish, risotto and veggies

Ice cream with berries and nuts

Bose headphone time

Up in the clouds

After a stop in JFK and O'Hare, we finally made it back to Champaign and enjoyed a nice quiet weekend at home. Rome was everything I hoped it would be a more. The history, the culture, the food, the beautiful weather. It was exactly what we needed after a year of wedding planning. 

Thank you to all of our friends and family. It was your generosity that made this trip possible. We love you all and look forward to many more adventures as Mr. and Mrs.

-Akemi-chan

Roman Holiday: Day Three: Ancient Ruins and Musei Capitolini

When you think of Rome what is the first thing that comes to mind? Pasta? Cappuccino? Probably not. The ancient ruins of the Roman Empire is probably the first thing that comes to mind, specifically, the Colosseum.

On our third day in Rome, we woke at a decent hour (after the sun rose), had some espresso in the apartment and set out for a day of sightseeing for what would be the biggest attractions of our honeymoon. Little did we know, the biggest attractions were bigger than big. 

The ancient ruins of Rome are all kind of clustered together for the most part. Starting with the Circus Maximus, leading into Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum and the Colosseum, so that's the order we took. 

Beginning of Circus Maximus

Palatine Hill is said to be the birthplace of Rome. It is where Romulous and Remus were found being nursed by a wolf, part of ancient mythology that starts civilization in the area. Palatine is now home to the ruins of several ancient buildings, including homes, temples and bathhouses. 

Entrance to Palatine Hill

Old aquaducts

Palatine Hill, gently flows in the Roman Forum, where most of the action is (tourist-wise). The Forum holds several historic sites and remains of temples dedicated to the many gods of Rome. What used to be a sea of marble and columns, is now empty facades of what used to stand, but the grandeur is not lost thanks to the size and detail that still remains. 

View of Forum from Palatine

Arch of Titus

The Forum is quite beautiful actually. The stonework is still visible and thanks to a hand-held guide from Rick Steves and a convenient pop-up book in our apartment, we could picture the Forum in it's former glory. The size off the structures is overwhelmingly impressive and the experience makes you marvel at the fact that this is where man came to exchange ideas to make a more educated world.

Temple of Romulous

The Colossuem rivals modern stadiums and is not surprisingly is a shell of it's former self. Years of tearing down parts for construction materials and weather corrosion have stripped the structure of thousands of seats, yet it continues to leave people in awe of it's magnitude.

Thanks to our handy tour book, we decided to book a tour ahead of time, avoiding the long queue with our Roma pass. A ticket to the Colosseum can get you into the first and second levels, where the men of wealth and stature would be seated. When you buy a guided tour, you can go onto the third level (currently the highest), as well as the stage floor and the underground level. Not bad for under ten euro a person.

Entrance to the stage

I love history. Cities and buildings and archives mean nothing if there is no story behind them. But I wasn't well informed of the history of the Colossuem. Yes, gladiators fought there, but then what? We were about to find out.

Center stage

So we get to go onto the stages where these epic battles were fought, and you can really get a feeling for what it would be like to hear the thousands of people cheer for you. It looks big from the outside, but when you're at ground level and the center of it all, it really is mind-blowing. 

Underground hallways

Peak at the elevators

The underground level is where the gladiators and animals were held. It's dark and damp and looks like something out of an old movie. Old pulley elevator systems existed under the stage floor, to raise animals up from out of nowhere to fight the gladiators. 

The Coloseum, as our archeologist/ tour guide informed us, was a combination of entertainment and propaganda tool to the Roman people. It was a way to appease the people and give them a spectable, but it also told the stories of battles in distant lands. Animals and plants from around the empire were collected to create scenes from Asia and Africa and gladiators fought these exotic beasts for all of Rome to see. Oh and did I mention that tickets to the Colossuem were free? Wish the NFL would take a hint. 

Third level view

View of the Forum and Palatine Hill from the third level of the Colosseum

What it used to look like

Stairs and pigeons

Underground elevator systems

"Are you not entertained?"

For lunch, we decided to stop by a little place nearby to soak in the sunlight and grab a quick bite. Not a bad view right? The young Italian men adjacent to us singing American hip-hop songs was hilarious and really captures the juxtaposition of old and new. Haha.

Husband, Colosseum, Prosciutto with melon and tapenade bruschetta and beer. 

Our next stop was the Musei Capitolini. Upon recommendation from Bryan's friend, we decided to use our Roma pass at this museum. I'm not much for art museums, something about paintings gives me the creeps. But we decided to check it out and there was a surprise on the roof for us. 

My man and a sculpture of him

Famous sculpture of Romulous and Remus being nursed by a wolf

Galileo

On the roof of the museum is a cafe that sells little pastries and drinks. I wasn't so much interested in another espresso as I was the view. It was gorgeous. We had been looking at ruins all day, it was nice to see the more modern skyline.

Dusk was upon us and the church bells were chiming as flocks of birds danced over the sky. The sun set and painted the sky with vivid colors that peaked through the puffy clouds. It was a great end to a day of sightseeing. NO words, just soak it in.

Italians eat dinner late. Many restaurants don't open their doors until 8pm. We found a cute little place a couple blocks from our apartment called Taverna della Scala. 

Salmon and traditional bruschetta

Carbonara, the thing dreams are made of

Tripe (front) and oxtail (back) in a Roman sauce

Creme caramel

In many respects, this was my favorite day in Rome. We got to see the ruins, took a little glimpse into history and had the best food of the trip. Hard to top that. One more day in Rome to go, then back to real life.

-Akemi-chan