Our first week in Rome

February 1st, 2017

I have to say, this is the most amazing travel opportunity. About 2 years ago, my daughter Rachel invited me on a lengthy trip to Italy & Greece. We've been preparing for it ever since.

At this point, we've been in Rome for a week. We flew from Washington, DC to Rome on January 24th, arriving at 9 AM on Wednesday January 25th. We took a train to Termini Station and arrived at our apartment by noon. We've rented an airbnb apt for our first month that is a 2 minute walk from the Roman Forum. We can see the Forum of Augustus from our apartment. Too cool.

We napped for a couple of hours after our arrival and just strolled the streets of Rome our first day, looking, breathing, and thinking except for a mandatory stop for gelato. Rome has thousands of gelato shops and we're determined to try as many as we can. We walked to the colosseum, the arch of Constantine, around the Forum, and back home to prepare for our first full day in Rome.

Thursday January 26th 

It was Rachel's birthday, and we devoted the day to her favorite sites in Rome. This is her third visit here. We went to the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Ara Pacis, Augustus' tomb, the Column of Marcus Aurelius, the Piazza Navona, and a very cool archaic temple complex that predates the Roman Empire. We finished the day with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, a stroll back to the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Trajan's Column, and Trajan's Forum before finding gelato and heading home. It was a grand day.

Friday January 27th

Adjacent to our apartment is Trajan's Market. It's an early version of a shopping mall and built into one of Rome's seven hills with many floors, shops, nooks, and crannies. We toured it on the 27th with great appreciation for Roman engineering and city planning. 

It's not as widely known as many other archaeological sites here but is one of my favorite places. Along with the Forums and colosseum, it was built to provide a place for all Romans to congregate and conduct the business of Roman society on all levels. Afterward we found dinner and gelato, enjoying the end of another wonderful day in Rome.

Saturday January 28th

Today we toured the Capitoline Museum. It features hundreds of Roman sculptures, epigraphs, funerary inscriptions & monuments, the famed bronze sculpture of Romulus, Remus, & wolf, huge bronze sculptures of Constantine & Marcus Aurelius, a vast collection of Roman coins, the temple of Jupiter, the tabularium adjacent to the Roman Forum, and a nice group of early tapestries. 

It's an incredible collection of ancient art and cultural history. There are hundreds of ancient tablets with funerary inscriptions gathered from along the appian way. We again finished the day with dinner and gelato. Except for Rachel's birthday dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, we've sampled pizza, calzone, & pasta. We're trying to eat out once a day with breakfast and lunch from the supermercato.

Sunday January 29th

Amazing day at the Roman Forum. It makes me want to become a stone carver. The Romans were amazing artisans. We toured the Forum before heading to Palatine hill where the emperors had their palaces. So much has been removed from the forum and palace sites to build other places in Rome but so much remains. 

They must have had many thousands of workers laboring for decades to build their dream homes. The views of the forum and colosseum are astounding. The carvings are superb, the floor tile work beyond impressive, and their use of water awe-inspiring. How they engineered the massive structures that framed their city is beyond comprehension. 

Decades ago I skied with my brother Phil on trails called Castor and Pollux. Today I saw the remains of their temples in the Forum. I especially loved the temple of Vesta where the vestal virgins tended the sacred fire that symbolized the life of Rome, and their adjacent dwelling. There's no fire now but the life of Rome still burns hot. We finished the day listening to street musicians, dining on Pizza at Maxentios at the Forum, and yet another gelato shop. Superb day all around.

Monday January 30th

Today we toured the Colosseum. What an amazing place! The stadium provided that senators had front row seats with their names carved in marble, space for perhaps 70,000 screaming fans, an underground backstage area, marble statuary beyond belief, a canopy to shield spectators from the elements, and demonstrated the incredible engineering that the Romans developed long before the technology of the 21st century. 

Much of the marble and other building materials was removed over the millennia to build new structures in Rome, including the Vatican and other churches, basilicas, fountains, palazzos, etc, but enough remains to provide a vision of what it once was. The statuary made its way to palazzos, the Vatican, the louvre, the British museum, many private collections, etc, but it's clear that the Colosseum was a temple to the arts meant to instill an appreciation for Roman society in all Roman citizens. 

The games were free to all with seating assigned by social standing. I'd love to have been there in it's heyday but fear I'd be in the wooden bleacher seats at the top, a servant bringing food and drink to the elite, or on the floor of the arena as a snack for whatever animals were in fashion that week. It's a very cool place with great meaning. I'm honored to have been there. We finished the day with yet another pizza place and gelato. I hope the ancient Romans fared as well.

Tuesday January 31st

Today we wandered the streets of Rome. We headed in the direction of the street market of the Campo Fiori, but found the theater of Marcellus, the portico of Octavia, the Tiber river, the Jewish ghetto, Tiber island, the ancient Tiber river bridges, some cool bookshops, the location of pompey's theater where Julius Caesar was assassinated, the temple of Hercules in victory, and the temple of Portunus, in addition to the Campo Fiori. 

The theater of Marcellus resembles the colosseum, but has had dwellings built on top of its ruins. The portico of Octavia is being restored but shows signs of its original glory. It is close to the river and became a fish market over the centuries. The Tiber and its bridges are very cool and we sat and enjoyed the sound of the water while entertained by a cormerant diving for fish and a dog hunting for treats. There are many homeless living along the river but it seems a pretty good place to camp. 

The Jewish ghetto features a museum we'll find our way back to, but has many Jewish shops & kosher restaurants and food stands. We crossed the Tiber over two different ancient bridges and one modern one, crossing over at Tiber island before returning over by the two most complete Roman temples we've seen, the temple of Hercules in victory and the temple of Portunus. Both are open two days a month and we've now booked a slot later in February. 

Earlier in the day we strolled the produce market at the campo fiori but found the bookshops to be the most fun, including a place called Fahrenheit 451 where they have dozens of editions of my favorite Ray Bradbury novel. We dined again on Pizza but it was our first poor choice so far. All prosciutto is not created equal.

Wednesday February 1st

Today we returned to the colosseum for a tour of the underground area and left incredibly impressed. The foundations of the colosseum extend 45 feet below the surface and took some 5000 workers 6 months to excavate. The emperor had his own underground tunnel so he could enter and leave unnoticed. The elevator system used to raise animals into the arena was brilliant. 

After our tour we headed to St. John Lateran, the official papal Basilica. It's immense with magnificent statues of the apostles and areas dating to emperor Constantine. In an adjacent structure are the sacred steps climbed by Jesus during his trial by Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem, moved there by St. Helena. You can't walk in Rome without encountering historic marvels with great meaning. We saw our first aqueduct and section of the ancient city wall. Modern buildings were constructed around the aqueduct, a cool sight in itself. We strolled around the wall and through a gate, dining on cheeseburgers in a busy place by the gate. That was very cool.

Thursday February 2nd

Today we visited the baths of Diocletian, one of a group of four museums we'll visit over 3 days. The baths themselves are immense but just a shadow of what they once were. Over the centuries, the popes placed churches and basilicas over major Roman sites and the baths were no different. 

The church and cloister that was built over the baths was partly designed by Michelangelo and is a beautiful example of his work. His courtyard is now a sculpture garden that includes the busts of animals once located at the Forum of Trajan. 

The museum is Rome's epigraphic museum that houses some 20,000 inscriptions carved into tablets, funerary items, blocks, architectural items, etc. Epigraphy is one of Rachel's passions and the museum didn't disappoint. We may well return for more photos. 

The baths themselves are one thing that was central to the lives of most Romans, with baths built by various emperors all over the city. They were fed by the aqueducts and Rome is fortunate to have such an ample supply of water. Fountains are everywhere and water made Roman life luxurious. We toured the museum till its 7:30 closing and Rachel came away with a 1000 page book on the epigraphic collection. 

Many pieces came from along the appian way, with others recovered from buildings & official sites throughout Rome. There is a large collection of tablets created by a fraternity dedicated to recording Rome's history as it unfolded. 

Though much remains, much more of the marble used in sculptures, decorations, and inscriptions was burned during the last 1000 years to create lime for new construction. The walls and floors of the baths were once lined with marble and statuary that was reused in that way. It wasn't just there but all over Rome, with limekilns from the middle ages a common sight in archaeological digs. We finished the day with pasta and dreams of millions of carvings. Cool day.

Friday February 3rd

Today was our first bus ride, as we've walked almost everywhere we've gone so far. We went to two museums today, the Palazzo Altemps and the Crypta Balbi. 

The palazzo altemps is a 16th century palazzo near the piazza Navona that houses a fine collection of statuary owned at one time by an influential cardinal, a collection of ancient Egyptian statuary, some mosaics, and a huge collection of small items recovered from all over the city used in every day life. 

The palazzo itself is an amalgam of structures dating to Roman times, with incredible artwork from all eras. The frescoes and decorated ceilings are incredible, with one room where the artist died after falling from scaffolding. 

My favorite piece in the museum is an immense marble sarcophagus with an imperial era battle scene featuring the victorious Romans at the top and the vanquished Goths at the bottom. The depth of the carving was about 6 inches. It's an amazing work of art. 

On  the way to the crypta Balbi, we passed the largo Argentina, an early Roman temple complex that also features the Senate house where Julius Caesar was assassinated. We spent a long time there, including the city's cat sanctuary. We've seen hundreds of cats here, who seem to ignore the signs to stay off the archaeological sites. 

The crypta Balbi is nearby which features the remains of one of the city's early theaters and the remains of the buildings constructed on its ruins, including a convent. It's a great interpretive site with pottery, glass, metalwork, and coins from all eras that we're recovered from the site. A large complex including a temple of the nymphs is adjacent, where grain was distributed to Romans. Another very cool day that ended with pasta and gelato.