Four Days in Rome

 

On Thursday, we caught a 9:00 am direct train from Torino, and pulled into Rome's Termini station at 12:30 pm. We bought a 7-day bus pass. Our 3-day bus pass in Tornio had expired before we could take the metro to the train station in the morning, so we had to scramble to find a ticket machine so we didn't miss our train. I think in Torino, as in Ferrara, 3 days does not mean 72 hours, but any part of a day. With the bus pass we made it to our hotel, Relais Teatro Argentina, across the street from newly opened archeological site, the Largo di Torre Argentina.

We were pretty hungry, so we stopped around the corner at Alice Pizza, a local chain that sells Roman-style pizza by weight. The place was mobbed, but Kathy was able to grab a table, while I took a number and waited in line. The pizza was great, if not what I'd expect in America. Afterwards, we had some gelato next door.

At 3:00 pm we met our guide, Romina Tomassucci, a lady from Calvary Chapel Roma, outside of our hotel, for an afternoon tour of the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. In 2007 we visited Rome for a day on an excursion from a cruise boat, where we just walked past the Coliseum. This time we got to go inside (skipping the line) and spent almost three hours admiring the architecture and perusing the exhibits. 

When we left the Coliseum, we had to hurry because the Roman Forum closes its gates at 6:00 pm, and herds everyone out the doors by 7:00 pm. Behind us here is the Arch of Titus, commemorating Emperor Titus' conquest of Jerusalem.

We walked through the Forum as the sun was setting. At 7:00 pm, we were among the last visitors the guards were shooing towards the exits. We made arrangements with Romina to meet in the morning for a tour of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.

This is the first hotel we booked without breakfast, and so we visited a Carrefour Express on our way home to pick up some bread, yogurt, salami and cheese for breakfast. Then, we stopped by Alice again for pizza, and finished up with gelato before collapsing in bed.

Friday at the Vatican

We caught the bus to the Vatican Museum and met up with Romina at 9:00 am. Because we had a guide, we got right in, just like the Coliseum. 

The museum is enormous. Most of the collection seemed to be ancient statues. Check out our Google Photos page to see more of them. This is the new spiral staircase with a replica of Peter's fishing boat that Kathy liked.

Here is one of the guides explaining the meaning of one of the statues. There were a lot of tour groups, and a lot of people overall.

This is the same spot as the previous picture, but I've just turned the camera around. 

The architecture, stonework and statues were all inspiring.

We came mainly, though, to see Michelangelo's frescos in the Sistine Chapel. This is the line leading to the Chapel. However, inside, you are not allowed to take pictures, so I don't have any to show you. It was, however, awe inspiring. It would help, though, if there were mirrors in the center of the room, aimed at the ceiling, like those in the Painted Hall in Greenwich England, so everyone didn't leave with a stiff neck. 

We finished the Sistine Chapel a little after noon. When we visited in 2007 we toured St. Peter's, so we decided to skip it this time, and had lunch with Romina instead. It was nice hearing about her family and growing up in Italy.

After lunch, Kathy and I went back to our room, and I had a nap. Around 5:00 pm, we left to explore a little of the city on our own. We used the Rick Steve's Heart of Rome walk as our starting point. In Piazza Fiori, the garbage men were just cleaning up from the vegetable market, and so it wasn't very attractive. Then we walked over to Piazza Navona, built on the site of Emperor Domitian's stadium. 

In the center of the piazza is the monumental sculpture, The Fountain of the Four Rivers, by Bernini. If you're a Dan Brown fan, this is where Ron Howard directed several scenes from his film Angeles and Demons. I haven't seen the film, or read the book, since I'm not a fan. I did wish, however, that we could be here at night to see it lit up.

 

A few blocks away we found the Pantheon, the only continuously inhabited building since Roman times, with its intact and amazing concrete dome. Pictures simply don't do justice to the massive scale of the building. Each pillar is formed out of a single piece of Egyptian granite. 

Unfortunately, we were not able to go in. You cannot buy tickets at the site. You have to buy them online by pointing your phone at a QR code. When I did that, the Web site would not come up. (I tried again on Saturday morning, and could not get logged in. First it said my email address was already registered. So, I reset my password. It told me my password was reset, but still wouldn't let me log in. Finally after a half-hour of this the site told me "no cookies" and I took that as a sign.)

Both of us were really hungry after walking around the Pantheon, so I pulled up Google Maps and looked for some place close with a rating over 4.0. I found Trattoria Antonio, where they gave us a table, even though we didn't have a reservation. (It helped that it was only 7:30 pm, and they had just opened.) Kathy had pasta carbonara with fresh truffle, eggs, bacon, parmesan and pecorino cheese.

I had the saltimbocca veal filet with chicory and potatoes. Both dishes were extraordinary. Perhaps the best food we've had on the trip so far.

On the way back, we walked by the Trevi Fountain, which was absolutely mobbed with people. We decided to skip the Spanish Steps, and headed back to our room. Tomorrow we're on our own, and we're going to the Catacombs and to walk the Appian Way.

In the Footsteps of Paul

Saturday we slept in and didn't get on the road until 10:00 am. Kathy had two items on her must-see list: the catacombs and walking the Appian Way. To get there, Google Maps had us take the #118 bus. It was a short half-hour trip, and we arrived just in time for the 11:00 am English tour. (There were also groups in Spanish, Italian and French.)

The tour took a little less than an hour. The guide explained that the purpose of the catacombs was an underground mausoleum, not a place where the early Christians met. However, seeing the miles and miles of underground passages, you can see how Lloyd C. Douglas got the idea for Peter hiding out in the catacombs at the conclusion of his book The Robe.

When we went down into the tunnels, it was probably twenty degrees cooler than on the surface. I noticed a few of the women pulling on their sweaters. According to Wikipedia, "The area of the catacomb proper is about fifteen hectares, and it goes down for five levels. A rough estimate puts the length of passageways at about twenty kilometers, and the occupancy at about half a million bodies."

These particular catacombs are notable for the Crypt of the Popes, where the Popes from the 2nd through 4th century were buried. We were not allowed to take any pictures, so Kathy bought a postcard, and we took a picture of that.

Finding the Appian Way turned out to be a little more difficult. According to Rick Steves, "Getting here from the center of Rome is easy; it's a short Metro ride and then a quick bus trip." Unfortunately, he neglected to tell us which bus to take. Typing Appia Antica into Google Maps instructed us to get back on the #118, ride for 8 stops and then walk for about a half hour.

When we got back on the bus, the driver asked us where we wanted to go. He told us we should get off on the next stop and start walking. We got off the bus and looked at Google Maps again, which insisted we should get back on the bus and stay on it for another 7 stops. So, we did, and this is where we ended up, at the Villa dei Quintili, with nympheum, theatre, and baths. To go in, we had to buy tickets, but, all we really wanted was to walk through the ruins and get to the Appian Way.

It turns out that the bus driver was right. We had actually been riding on the Appia Antica when we went to the catacombs, but, since it didn't look like the pictures in the guidebook, we didn't realize it. The Appian Way Park is actually the second largest urban park in Europe, and, when we asked Google, it didn't really know which part we wanted.

When we got to the Appian Way, Kathy was still a little disappointed because it was just regular cobblestones, not the old, ancient pavement. Further along, though, we found a stretch of the ancient pavement. There were dirt paths along either side, so people riding bikes didn't have to go over the rough rocks. There were also some cars on the road, but not as many on this part. From time to time, you'd see a gate with a long driveway off to the side, leading to an elegant villa.

The section of the road that we walked was only about two miles, but both of us were really tired by this time. We took every opportunity to rest. When we got back to the bus stop for the catacombs, we had to run to catch the bus back to the center of town.

It was after four when we got dropped off near the Coliseum, so we decided to try and get some food on our way back to the hotel. We used the Google Maps ratings again and found Vinando A Tor Margana where a few people were sitting outside. I had some fried artichokes and Kathy had eggplant parmesan for starters. The food wasn't as good as we had had the night before, unfortunately

Calvary Chapel Roma

On Sunday morning we set out to visit Brent and Hope Harrell's church, Calvary Chapel Roma. The church is in the suburbs, so we had to take a bus to the San Giovanni metro stop and then take metro line C to the church, where Brent was going to pick us up at 10:00 am.

We got a good start, but, while we were waiting for the bus with 20 or 30 other people, a man came out of a nearby restaurant and started yelling. Then, everyone wandered off. We were able to corral an Australian couple who explained what was happening. Apparently, there was some kind of race through downtown this morning, and so all of the busses were cancelled. Someone forgot to tell Google Maps.

Because we got an early start, we had time to walk to the Colosseo metro station and skip the bus part of our trip. When we got in the metro, though, we didn't know how to find line C. (Collosseo only has line B). We asked a a helpful worker who spoke no English, and who only got more confused when I kept asking for "line C". I realized afterwards, that he thought I was slowly and repeatedly saying "yes" in Italian.

We finally found the C line and rode it out to the church, where Brent picked us up. I got a picture of Kathy with the church sign after the service.

During the service, we were able to share a little of our testimony with the congregation, while Brent translated for us. The service is entirely in Italian, so during the sermon, one of the ladies stood in the back and translated for Kathy and I, as well as another English speaker.

After the service, some of the congregation gathered at Brent and Hope's house for an Italian lunch and good fellowship. We got to take a picture with everyone except Ben (who manned the camera). 

Around five we realized we needed to get back to our hotel, so Brent drove us to the metro where we retraced our steps from the morning. This time, though, the busses were running, so we made it back to our room by 7:00 pm. Once back at the hotel, we checked in for our flight tomorrow, and discovered that it had been moved earlier by two and a half hours. I went online and changed our airport train tickets and messaged our hotel to settle our bill. 

Now, with one last entry to my blog, our month in Europe is over. Tomorrow we'll be heading back home.

Tuesday in Milan, Wednesday in Como

We've had a busy two days, so I'm going to take Kathy's advice and keep it moving. Tuesday morning we had reservations to visit Da Vinci's Last Supper at 9:30 am. That meant that we had to be out of the hotel by 8:30 to get to the metro, find the church, (the Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie), and check in a half-hour early. That turned out to be pretty easy.

Tickets are by appointment only, and go on sale (online) every three months. I tracked the website almost every day and as soon as the next block opened, I purchased and printed vouchers for the date we would be in Milan. When we arrived at the church, we traded them in for tickets. Kathy left her passport as surety for a pair of headsets for the tour.

To get into the refectory (communal dining room) where the Last Supper is painted on one wall, you have to pass through several de-humidifying rooms, which are designed to protect it from the elements, like the locks on a space station or a decontamination level.

The opposite wall from the Last Supper is covered by the Crucifixion fresco by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano, who completed it in a year, using the traditional fresco technique of painting on wet plaster. 

The Last Supper, however, though painted on a wall, is not a fresco. Leonardo spent three years working on it. According to our guide, after three years, the Bishop asked him why he wasn't finished yet. Leonardo got upset and used the Bishop's face for the face of Judas. (I'm not sure if that's true, actually.)

Leonardo painted the Last Supper using an experimental technique with tempera or oil paint on two layers of dry preparatory ground. His compromised process meant that the pigments were not permanently attached to the wall, however, and the painting began to flake within a few years.

Our guide was great; very vivacious and animated. She told us who each person was in the painting, and about the history behind the painting, including its modern (scientific) restoration. Later in the day, we saw her in the Duomo, leading a tour there.

We were finished with our tour about 10:00 am and our next ticket (for the Duomo rooftops) wasn't until 2:30 pm. So, we decided to catch a tram at random and just ride it to the end of the line. (Anything where we don't have to walk.) The #16 tram took us out to an industrial area, and dropped us off. We had hoped we'd be able to stay on the tram and just turn around. We had to walk back a few blocks until we found the tram stop going in the opposite direction.

Before our trip, I created a Google Doc with restaurants I wanted to visit for each day of the trip. In addition to recommendations from guidebooks and friends, I typed "cheap eats" into Google Maps and looked at the reviews for each of the spots that showed up. One such surprise was Pasto - Laboratorio di pasta con cucina, which we loved. They have a short menu (four pastas) on a chalkboard. It was delicious.

After lunch we walked back to the Duomo (Cathedral) in the center of town, and took the lift to the roof-top. Actually, the lift only went half-way to the rooftop, to what are called the terraces. To our chagrin, we found that we needed to climb the rest of the way on a steep marble staircase, with no opportunity to just turn around and skip it.

The Duomo is done in a mixture of different Gothic styles, which is unusual for Italy.

 From the terraces and rooftop, you can see that the stone work is varied and extremely detailed, considering that no-one but the artisans themselves could see it close up for over a thousand years. Kathy was especially taken by the fact that all of their work was done for God, not to be seen by man.

Here's a picture of Kathy on one of the lower terraces looking out over the shopping gallery below.

Work didn't actually stop on the Duomo until the 1960s. In the corner of the roof, on the reverse side of the facade, you can find some modern boxing scenes from the 1950s, as well as a portrait of Benito Mussolini holding a hand grenade. Why? I'm not sure, and Google didn't answer my question.

The other thing they don't tell you about the lifts is that they only go up (if only half way). You have to climb all the way down the steep medieval stairs entirely on your own power. Once downstairs we visited the church. This is the third largest church in the world, after St. Peter's in Rome and the Cathedral in Seville. The scale is simply astonishing and the fifty-two pillars are massive. 

We hadn't booked a tour of the church, however, and so we just  wandered around and took it in. I had a guidebook, and we sat in a pew and read through that. I was more impressed with the rooftop, though.

Under the church is an archeological section which contains the original baptistery where Ambrose was baptized and where, thirty years later, he baptized Augustine. I was interested in this because before we left I attended the first meeting of a church history class at Calvary Chapel, where Brian Brodersen talked about both of them.

After leaving the Duomo we walked back to our hotel through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Italy's oldest active shopping gallery, opened in 1887. 

Wednesday at Lake Como

We left our hotel before 9:00 am, caught the Metro to the train station, and purchased some tickets for Varenna-Esino on Lake Como. We had a little problem finding the track, and, when we did, the train was just pulling out at 9:20 am. Fortunately, because this was a regional train, we could use the ticket on the next departure at 10:20 am. When we arrived at Varenna, it was sunny, although a little hazy.

We purchased a mid-lakes ferry ticket, so we could hop-on and hop-off, and set off across the lake for the original Bellagio. It was a quaint, but crowded town.

We walked to the northern end of town, to Punta Spartivento (the point that splits the wind), where the two "legs" of Lake Como diverge.

Then we walked back into town and had some Italian sandwiches at a bar in town. I hate to say it, but I think that Jimmy Johns makes better Italian sandwiches.

North of town, we found this immense fixer-upper, going along the promenade for about a block. I couldn't believe that such a prime piece of real estate was sitting here abandoned. Our guidebook said nothing about it. Finally, I zoomed in on Google Maps and saw that this is the future Ritz Carlton, slated to open in 2026.

For the rest of the afternoon, we got on the ferry and took the big loop from Bellagio to Tremezzo with its faux-castle on the hill ...

... to the lovely church at Lenno ...

... to Villa Carlotta, where you can tour the house and gardens. We, however, were content to sit in our comfortable seats and enjoy them from afar.

We landed back in Varrena about 4:00 pm and walked up to the train station, just to continue our streak of arriving on the platform just as the train was pulling out. No worries; the next one will be along in an hour! We sat in the little café, ate a cream-puff, got on the 5:30 pm train and were back in Milan at 6:30 pm.

We picked up some Falafel and Donner Kebap for dinner in our room. Tomorrow we're catching an early train to Rome.