Ancient and Renaissance Frescoes

Catacombs of Priscilla * Vatican Museums with Sistine Chapel

19,569 steps, 8.39 miles

We started our day with a 60 minute commute to the Catacombs of Priscilla in the suburbs of Rome.  We were tired this morning after 10 miles of walking yesterday and loud street noise from the restaurant below our apartment window.  We had a hard time getting out the door by 10:00 and arrived at the Catacombs at 11:10 just in time to catch the last English tour before it closed at 12:00. These Catacombs are not as well known as the Catacombs along the Appian Way, but they are just as fascinating.  Some of the oldest Christian frescoes are found in these catacombs, they are in amazingly good condition.  There are 13 km of tunnels, we saw a very small portion.  It was bit freaky looking at all the open grave sites (the bones have either been stolen or removed to proper graves).  A few niches were still covered with tiles suggesting that bones are in there still.

After the catacombs we headed to the corner bar for a hot chocolate Italian style.  It was raining and just a bit chilly so the hot chocolate hit the spot.  The kids got a kick drinking their hot chocolate right at the bar with all the Italians and their morning coffee.  Charlie bough himself a sucker.  The kids all have 20E in their wallets at any given time to buy the many treats and postcards we run into around town.  It seems to have solved the problem of them asking for everything - if they want it that bad, they use their own money to buy it.  That includes gelato on even days (Mom and Dad's treat on odd days).

After a quick lunch in our apartment we were off to the Vatican Museum by 2:30.  We had a 3:00 appointment and it took the full 30 minutes to walk there.  I was so worried about this museum with the kids.  It is always super crowded, hot, and can be miserable.  They let too many people in and it's like swimming in a sea of fish through a museum.  Although still very crowded, we only felt claustrophobic once and we could actually maneuver on our own rather than being pushed through the museum by others.  The kids were quite amazed with the Sistine Chapel - but that's not difficult, because it is amazing!

We fixed our own pasta dinner and topped off our evening with a gelato and final passeggiata around Piazza Navona.  We're off to Vietri Sul Mare tomorrow, a small town north of Salerno.  I can't remember if we'll have Internet.  We spend 4 nights there.

Pasta Dinner with Bread, Apple and Pomegranate (what we could find)

Last look over the Tiber towards the Vatican

Entrance to our apartment building

Inside hallway of our apartment complex

Long bus ride to the Catacombs Priscilla

Cool Street Art

Hot Chocolate Italian Style

Charlie's Day

Museo Borghese * Bike ride in Villa Borghese * Capuchin Crypt * Changing of the horse guard at Piazza Quirinale * Castel Sant'Angelo

21,665 steps (10 miles)

Today was dedicated to Charlie - with the exception of the Museo Borghese, everything we did and saw was right up his alley.  We rented a surrey built for 6 at the park and had a great time riding around Villa Borghese, my favorite park in Rome when I was a missionary.  We had a picnic, laid on the grass for nap, and played frisbee.  On our way out of the park we saw some military personnel getting on their horses.  They told us there was a special changing of the guard today in front of the President's Palace.  We quickly changed plans and added that to our agenda.  On our way there we stopped at the Capuchin Crypt.  A creepy display of human bones by the Capuchin Monks.  The girls got a bit weirded out - Charlie thought it was AWESOME - and I tried to remember all the bones from my college anatomy class (sorry, no pictures).

We arrived at the President's Palace for the changing of the hourse guard with just enough time to get a gelato. Thank heavens!  We enjoyed the Horse Guard parade and demonstration, but were fascinated by the little dog in a red vest that led the entire thing.  After a quick stop at home to rest and play some cards, we headed to the Castel Sant'Angelo.  Hadrian's Tomb that housed the Emporers of Rome until the late 3rd century AD, after which the Popes took it over as a fortress and hiding place for themselves and their treasure.  Charlie enjoyed using my camera again to take pictures of their weapons, armory, and parapets with slits for shooting for arrows.

As a special treat we went to a restaurant tonight for dinner - up until this point we have cooked in our apartment or grabbed simple picnic meals.  We had a fun time ordering 6 different dishes and then sharing them family style.  With the exception of the egg plant and strange mushroom, the kids ate every last bit.  It was such a pleasant evening we decided to enjoy it with a walk through downtown eating another gelato (It's OK, we walked the equivalent of 10 miles today - my legs are still sore).

My interface on my iPad is bad for blogspot and I can't seem to label my pictures or see beyond the first page when doing this blog.  Agh.  If someone has a good app for blogspot for an iPad, let me know.  Ciao.

Castel Sant'Angelo

Castel Sant'Angelo

Castel Sant' Angelo

View from Castel Sant'Angelo

Add caption

Villa Borghese

Museo Borghese

Ancient Rome, Christian Rome, and the restored Gosple of Jesus Christ

Coloseum * Moses * Roman Forum * Holy Stiars * San Giovani * Rome LDS chapel - 

10 miles, 62 flights of stairs

We started out our day in pagan Rome visiting the Colosseum and Roman Forum.  Both really cool.  We were on a tour of the Colosseum with a darling Italian girl that had such a thick accent and the listening radios were so bad we couldn't understand a thing.  I quickly learned that Charlie needed the camera to be entertained.  All of today's pictures are ones he took.  I had to delete about 100 fuzzy ones as well as the pictures of the Army Jeeps and soldiers with guns - most fascinating for Charlie.  The Roman Forum was amazing. The kids really liked it, but they were getting hungry and tired so we did our "giro" of the forum quickly and went home for our afternoon nap, something we have enjoyed each day now.  In between the Colosseum and Forum we snuck up to Saint Peter's in Chains to see the Moses.  Eric ran into a Priest from Toledo Spain and we had a great chat with him.  At the end he offered a blessing upon us.  We ran into him again later on in the day at San Giovani.

After the nap we took the kids to the Holy Stairs by San Giovani.  It's been very interesting for them to experience Catholicism up close and in personal.  I think they are learning to respect other faiths, even if it's different. After the Holy Stairs (which by the way, is where Pilgrims climb, on their knees a staircase believed to have been where the Savior walked before his crucifixion), we saw San Giovani and had some gelato - our favorite to date - at RivaReno.  To end the evening we traveled some distance before finding the Rome "chapel" where I was a missionary.  Lucky for us, someone was there to open the door and let us walk around.  It's too bad we won't be here for a Sunday, but church will be great wherever we go in Italy.

My daughters think they need to use my keyboard each night for their own blogs (I didn't realize they planned to blog while we were gone) so my posts are going to be short while we share the keyboard.  Perhaps when we leave the city and move to a slower place of living, I'll get more keyboard time.

A note about our apartment.  A small 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom with galley kitchen smaller than my closet on the 3rd floor of an apartment building sandwiched between 2 leather shops on a really cool street 5 minutes from Piazza Navona and 10 minutes from the Pantheon.  It has twisting Roman streets just as you would imagine.  Our windows are open all the time and there's a nice breeze as well as constant sounds from the restaurants below us.  We like it though.  It's prefect and puts us right in the middle of things.

LDS Chapel, Lara's first missionary area

Resting at the Forum

Roman Forum

Michelangelo's Moses

Charlie fascinate with the heavy military presence

Walking Rome - 9 miles, 57 flights of stairs

Campo Dei Fiori*Largo Argentina*Il Gesu*Michelangelo's Stair Case*Piazza Campolino,*Victor Emmanuel*Saint Peter's Dome Climb*Saint Peter's Basilica*The Pantheon - 

9 miles

I've managed to get the keyboard up and working, but I'm still trying to figure out how to get my pictures to download in the right order and how to move them around on the blog. I'm not going o worry about perfection - otherwise, this won't get done.  Today we walked 9 miles according to my fit bit and climbed 57 flights of stairs.  That seems right considering we climbed Michelangelo's staircase to the top of the steepest hill in Rome.  We then climbed to nearly the top of the Victor Emmanuel Monument before taking the elevator to the top.  Finally, we climbed Saint Peter's Dome (not from ground level - we cheated and took the elevator up 1/3 of the way first).  I think the kids really liked being inside the dome with it's twisty staircase and slanted walls.  

Gratefully we arrived later in the day to Saint Peter's and avoided long lines to enter the Basilica. Since it is a special year of Jubilee, the Pope has opened the Bronze door for pilgrims to enter.  Even though we aren't "pilgrims" we decided to take this chance to enter the Basilica through these special doors.  It won't happen again for another 25 years.  Of course the highlight inside was Michelangelo's Pieta.  Such a beautiful, reverent piece.

This evening we joined a free tour of the Pantheon given by a guy from Dublin.  We enjoyed the history lesson of the oldest standing church in Rome.  It's my favorite church in Rome.  As a missionary I loved to go here, wandering through the the labyrinth of old Roman streets to to be suddenly surprised when around the corner the Pantheon would appear.  It's an amazing neighborhood.  Our little apartment is about a 10 minutes walk from here passing Piazza Navona on our way.

We decided the view from the top of Saint Peter's is 10 times better than the view from Victor Emmanuel.  Rome just looks better with the Saint Peter's Piazza and the Tiber River out front.  For a moment we thought we could see the construction of the LDS temple and as we pulled out the camera to get a better look with the telegraphic lens, the sun went behind a could and it disappeared.  Hum?

Pieta

Pantheon

No caption needed!

View from the Dome of Saint Peter's

View from Piazza Campolino

Lunch of bread, cheese, meat, and fruit all purchased from Campo Dei Fiori

Campo dei Fiori

Piazza Campolino

Il Gesu - amazing frescos inside

The longest day ever

Piazza Navona * San Ignazio * Pantheon * Santa Maria Sopra Minerva * San Luigi * Trevi Fountains * Spanish Steps - 4 miles. 

Flight from SLC to LAX

This will be a common theme:  Lara looking at guide book and Eric looking at map

Playing in the water, Trevi Fountains

This was church today, we'll have to catch the Mormons next week

Photo Credit - Maren

Emma, Sydney, Lara

More journaling tomorrow when I have my keyboard and I've figured out how to do this blog on an iPad. After 24+ hours of traveling we walked 4 miles just to stay awake.  Everyone collapsed by 9:00 pm. 

Day 5 - Rome, Naples, Sorrento

            We had a goal to get to the Vatican very early this morning, but our goal was modified when we had to get our tired bodies out of bed and pack up to leave Rome.  Since we hadn’t experience a Roman bus ride yet, I thought this might be the best way to travel.  It probably was longer than necessary, but provided some good entertainment as one bus rider yelled at the bus driver after he neglected to stop at his stop.  The rider complained and yelled that he was going to be late for work because of the negligent driver.

From the Dome of St. Peter's

            I couldn’t believe the line that had already formed to get into St. Peter’s, lucky for us it moved quickly.  Just like everything else in the world, times have changed over the last 20 years.  I remember just walking into St. Peter’s with no security check, now it’s like going through the airport security.  Once inside St. Peter’s the crowds were immense.  We skipped the pieta’ which is right at the entrance in hopes that later we’d be able to get closer.  I had to chuckle at a mass that was being held in one of the side chapel. Despite the constant hum of people talking they wanted reverence and told us to be quiet several times.  We were able to go into the crypt under the church to see some of the burials of the popes, but we didn’t get to see St. Peter’s bones, or at least bones from a 1^st century gravesite that could have been near where St. Peter was buried.

            After 45 minutes or so in the basilica and finally caught a quick glimpse at the Pieta’ and then we headed to the entrance of the cupola so we could climb the dome.  We left Jeff below as we learned he does not do heights.  Gratefully this part of our day was not crowded, I suppose it was not on the old-people tour itinerary -  too strenuous.  First we took the elevator to the level of the base of the interior dome and saw the artwork up close and all the little people down below in the basilica.  Afterwards, we climbed the narrow, curving, claustrophobic steps up to the dome.  The view from the top is amazing.  You can see all of Rome and beyond.  It was fun to sit and identify the neighborhoods and sites.  On our decent we were able to stop at the roof level and see the huge statues of the apostles that look life size when viewed from the piazza, but like giants when viewed up close.

            Our final stop at the Vatican complex was the Vatican Museum and although we had a timed reservation, I couldn’t believe how many people they had squeezed into the museum.  At one point we found ourselves body to body in the long hallway on our way to the Sistine Chapel moving like a school of fish traveling down a very crowded stream.  It was enjoyable to see the culmination of our efforts, Raphael’s School of Athens and Michelangelo’s Last Judgment and Sistine Chapel ceiling.  We laughed at the irony as people asked us to be quiet in the Sistine Chapel – it was their fault in the first place for over booking the museum.

            We took the metro back to our apartment where we had 30 minutes to eat a lunch and wait to get our luggage.  After a short 10 minute walk to Termini train station we were on our way to Sorrento, via Naples.  We arrive in Naples with just enough time to eat dinner and leave.  Gratefully we were directed, albeit after having to ask a bunch people where we were going, to a great, locals only pizza shop.  It was by far one of the best meals we had our entire trip.  The pizza was true Napolitano as were the people, the trashy neighborhood, the smells – everything!  After dinner we got ourselves a pastry, sofgliatelle, which is a Naples favorite. 

Our evening continued on a “locals only” theme as we took the local circumvesuviana train to Sorrento.  It was a local experience as I think we were the only tourists on the train.  In fact, the next day our tour guide chastised me for not taking “my guest” on a more comfortable train.  We arrived late at our hotel, Del Corso Hotel, but not so late we couldn’t walk around a get a gelato.  Lucky for us there was a really good gelateria just outside our hotel door and another one just a bit down the street.  I was impressed that Sorrento had a night life.  Many of the stores were open well past 10:00 p.m.

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! 

Day 3 - Rome

           On our way to church this morning we stopped to get breakfast from the fruit stand on the street corner and detoured into Santa Maria degli Angeli on Piazza Repubblica to see the amazing sundial.

            We took a taxi out to the Nomentano suburb for church.  Lara didn’t fully realize it was the same branch she first served in until we were almost there.  Not much had changed physically about the church, it was still a small converted building in a quiet middle class neighborhood, but instead of the Nomentano and International branches meeting there, there were 2 wards from the Rome Stake that met there. 

Nomentano Branch 20 years later

Lara didn’t recognize a soul, but learned that a member of the bishopric was the son of the Salerno family, a couple she remembers from her first area, they even had hosted her for dinner.  The meeting was nice and meaningful.  The congregation was young and had many more families than were there 20 years ago.  The bishopric was young as was the High Counselor speaker.  We saw pictures of the Rome Temple and were grateful that these faithful saints would soon have the blessings of a temple within close proximity. 

            After several directions from the missionaries and a few people walking on the street, we found the new metro stop in the neighborhood and hurried back to Piazza del Popolo where we found pizza by the slice and a cannoli and raced up to the Museo Borghese to make our 1:00 appointment.  It was a much longer walk than we had anticipated and we were huffing and sweating when we finally arrived.  The Museo Borghese was one of 3 museums we needed advanced reservations for, and despite it’s priceless collection, the temperature control was terrible.  It was muggy and warm inside the museum.  We enjoyed some of the most exquisite statues of anywhere, Bernini’s David, Daphne, and others.We also enjoyed some paintings by Caravaggio and Titian.

Bernini's David

 

            By now the jet lag combined with church and the long walk through the Villa Borghese had caught up with us and we all needed a rest.  Thankfully the park was shaded with many trees and quiet grassy areas to sit.  We found a nice fountain surrounded by stone benches where no one else was and we sat, or laid, down on the stone in our Sunday clothes.  Most of us closed our eyes for several minutes trying to ward off the jet lag headache.  After our nap we knew a good gelato would solve everything.  We meandered through the park retracing our steps to Piazza Del Popolo. 

Overlooking Piazza Del Popolo

We found a nice gelato and took some pictures overlooking the Piazza and all of Rome.  It was a marvelous view of the Eternal City.

            On our way back to the metro we stopped at the Piazza Del Popolo and viewed the giant Egyptian Obelisk, one of many in Rome.  We also went inside Santa Maria Del Popolo and saw more Caravaggio paintings: the Crucifixion of Peter and the Conversion of Paul.

            After a quick wardrobe change out of Sunday clothes, or at least out of ties for the men, we visited a nearby church where the statue Saint Teresa in Ecstasy by Bernini is housed.  John had a friend that did a paper all about this statue and so we learned more than we would have by just looking at it.  The motion and feeling in Bernini’s statues are captivating.  After the statue we headed to a The National Museum of the History of Rome and the Galleria Nazionale D’arte Antica.  It was an enjoyable museum full of busts of ancient rulers and mosaics from Roman homes – that was Lara’s favorite part  It was quiet and not crowded.

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            For dinner tonight we decided to dine in the trendy neighborhood of Trastevere on the other side of the Tiber.  After walking around a bit and going in circles we found a nice little place.  We had no idea that finding a restaurant would be so difficult.  Our first attempt was laughable; we walked into a recommended restaurant and it was completely empty.  I asked for a table for 8 and he told me they were all full.  Not seeing anyone in the restaurant I asked him “if they were all full, where were all the people?”.  He straighted-faced looked at me and told me that every table had a reservation.  In Italy, a table reservation is for the entire evening as restaurants do not try and turn the tables every hour like in America.  Our final night cap after dinner was a stroll with gelato over looking the Tiber river. 

To tame the river the Romans built high retaining walls along the river throughout the city.  You hardly know the river is there until you’ve stumbled upon it.  After a short taxi ride home we collapsed into bed again, only to suffer from a second night a jet lag at 3:00 a.m.