Day 4 - Rome

            This morning after grabbing breakfast at the grocery story on the street corner by our apartment, we walked to the church Saint Peter in Chains to see the Moses. 

We got a bit confused as the streets twisted and turned and nearly went in circles, but thanks to the GPS in the iphone, we made it.  I still prefer to look at the paper map, but sometimes it fails me.  I can’t decide if the Moses or the Pieta is my favorite Michelangelo statue in Rome.  I love Moses’ intense look.  We enjoyed the quiet of the church with very few early morning visitors.  We were suppose to meet our tour guide for the Coliseum at 9:00 outside the church, but at 9:15 she wasn’t there.  When I called to see if something had happened, it was clear she had forgotten our appointment (a theme that continued later in the trip).  I strained to hear and understand the directions she gave me for the new meeting place.  Something like, down the hill, over the bridge, find the piazza and she would meet us there.  Blindly we headed down the hill not evening knowing what our tour guide looked like.  Amazingly enough we eventually found her 30 minutes later!  So goes Italy time. 

            Laura was her name and she was a very knowledgeable guide.  We started at the Coliseum and thanks to our guide and our Roma Pass, we went to the front of the line, thank heavens.  It’s amazing that this gigantic arena still stands 2000 years later.  It’s amazing that millions of Romans drive past this structure every day and just think of it as part of the landscape, like our Mountains or something.  This structure is portrayed in almost every Rome postcard. 

            After the Coliseum we viewed Constantine’s Arch and then walked to Palatine Hill, the Hill where the Emperor’s lived.  I never realized how big Palatine Hill was.  It was fun to imagine the elaborate palaces and buildings and what things must have looked like at the height of the Roman Empire. 

Over looking Palatine Hill (Rich, Jeff, Lara, John Katie)

After 3 hours with Laura, we dashed through the Forum, unfortunately with very little info.  But our legs were tired and our stomachs were hungry.  We found an excellent Tavola calda with sliced pizza and a nice neighborhood piazza nearby to sit down and eat.  We looked like quintessential Americans on a European vacation.

            We decided we could walk to San Giovanni in Laterano via the church San Clemente.  San Clemente is a unique church that is built upon 2 other churches, the first being a Roman House that could have also been a pagan worship site, then an early Christen church from the 4^th century, followed by the current worship site of the 12^th century. We made our way to the huge San Giovanni church that preceded St. Peter’s in importance for the Popes.  It’s impressive, huge interior has statues of each of the apostles. 

San Giovanni in Laterano

But as we would see on Tuesday, in no way compares to St. Peter’s. After San Giovanni we went across the street to the Santa Scala.  It is said that Helana, Constantine’s mother, brought back these stairs that belonged to Pilate from the Jerusalem.  Today in reverence, people climb the stairs on their knees while they prayer.  It’s quite the site. We were able to climb the stairs on our feet, on the outside staircase.

            At this point we couldn’t believe that we had gone this long without a gelato.  John quickly found out that a premier Gelato shop was just outside the walls only a short walk away.  The gelato was the best we’d had yet.  So good in fact, that some went back for seconds while others where still finishing up their first scoops.  Lucky for us the metro stop was just across the street and we were able to jump on and head back to the center of town and the Pantheon.

            The Pantheon neighborhood is one of my favorite; there’s a surprise around every corner and the Pantheon is no exception, it just appears as you curve around what looks like another ordinary Roman street.  The piazza out front is always humming and has a great water fountain.  The Pantheon is amazing, really the best preserved Roman structure and still in very active use today.  The dome and oculus are incredible to look at and study.  It’s amazing the engineering talent that could  have built this 2000 years ago.  After the Pantheon we wandered into a church with a couple Caravaggio paintings and then tried to find a place to eat. 

In front of the Pantheon (Jeff, Sara, Katie, John, Jodi, Rich, Eric, Lara)

The weather was so pleasant we were able to eat outside in a small, nearby piazza where a couple of restaurants were entertained by a musician and people trying to sell roses.  Of course no meal would be complete without dessert and nearby we found a bakery which professed to be gluten free, but who knows.  We walked back to our apartment to crash.  Who knows how many miles we must have walked today!