Italy March 2007 - ROMA ROMA ROMA

Hey guys – Barbara and I arrived safely home last night. It was a long travel day, but with no major challenges. We flew from Rome to London - five hours – changed airports – flight from London to Dallas was ten hours, but plane was not full so it was a comfortable, albeit tiring, trip.



We were in Rome for four days and it rained almost non-stop the first two. BUT, my niece and her daughter met us there and we had a load of fun with them!!!! In spite of the rain, we managed to see quite a bit.



The best part was the SCAVI which is the underground excavation below St. Peters. It is tour that requires connections to get into which we were lucky enough to have compliments of the priest who led our pilgrimage to Israel. (All of the members of that group came to Rome for a few days also). This was an AWESOME tour of the underground crypts (including that of Peter). My 15 year-old great-niece Andrea was particularly thrilled with it as she plans to become an archaeologist.



And the best part about it was that we came up into St. Peter’s cathedral from below rather than thru security at the front door. What an incredible way to see it for the first time!!!! You’re walking along and all of a sudden – there you are – right in the center. This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I don’t even know how to describe it. It is so BIG!!! You just stand there in awe of it.



Now, there is not a lot of art work in the cathedral itself. But, there were two things, art wise, that I wanted to see in Rome – the Pieta and the Sistine Chapel. The Pieta is in the Cathedral – I had studied this in an Art History class many years ago at SMU. Pieta is Italian for compassion and refers to any piece of artwork that depicts Mary holding the crucified body of Christ. The one in St. Peter’s is by Michelangelo and is the most well-known. I was a bit disappointed that is was behind glass – that is because several years ago some maniac took a hammer to it!!!! Still, it was amazing to actually stand there and look at it – it was without a doubt my favorite thing in Rome. (Linda, remember the Venus di Milo statue you brought me from Rome several years ago? Well, I bought a similar sized Pieta to set on the opposite end of the table in the hall).



We were going to go on a day trip to Pompeii, but changed plans ‘cause we were afraid we wouldn’t have time to see enough of Rome. Turned out to be a bad decision. The sisters from Brazil went and had a beautiful day while we fought the rain and cold in Rome.



The four of us – Dena, Andrea, Barbara and I – hopped on a tour bus and tried to see more of the city, but it was raining so hard it was a difficult undertaking. Still, we did get to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish steps. There are many, many fountains in Rome, but the Trevi is without question the most beautiful. If you throw a coin in, you will return to Rome. I did not (more about that later). The Spanish steps are in the Piazza di Spagna which is a beautiful square in the city’s most elegant shopping district. It is a double staircase cascading down the slopes of a hill. We got off the tour bus at the top of the stairs and walked down (not sure how many there are – but I was definitely winded). The views from the top were wonderful. Would love to see it in the spring.



Finally gave up on the tour, but just had a lot of fun hanging out together….grabbing hot chocolates, cappuccinos, and pastries and doing a bit of shopping. Dena has been to Rome before so she kept us from getting hopelessly lost. Andrea is such a beautiful girl – I got several pictures of her around town – she looks like an Italian model!!!!!



We also went to a church that contains the skeletons and loose bones of 4,000 monks. The bones have been used to create chandeliers and other decorative patterns. I thought it was pretty cool, but the others were kind of freaked out by it.



The girls left Sunday morning and took the bad weather with them. It was a beautiful day and Barbara and I spent it in Ancient Rome exploring the Coliseum and the Forum.



On Sunday night, Walter (one of the friends I made on the Pilgrimage) and I went to the Castle Sant’Angelo on the banks of the Tiber right across from St. Peter’s. It dates back to AD 130 when it was a mausoleum. It is circular and we walked all the way to the top, stopping once in a while to revel in the beautiful views of the river, the city, and the Cathedral. There was a street opera going on somewhere and the music drifted up to the castle. I think I told you in an earlier e-mail that Walter is a gifted singer so he sang AVE MARIA along with the music. It was wonderful!!!!



Monday morning Barbara and I went to the Vatican Museums – it was so crowded that it was difficult to really be able to enjoy it. Still, we saw some magnificent art. I guess I had built the Sistine Chapel up too much in my mind and was a bit disappointed. First of all, it is a lot smaller than I thought it would be and we were packed in like sardines so it was difficult to really see. There are benches around the perimeter which were all full and people were elbow to elbow in the center. I finally got a seat at the end with a good vantage point and was able to study the ceiling in more detail. It was just difficult to really get in the right mood with the crowd. My favorite part of the ceiling is THE CREATION OF ADAM. I bought a little painting of the touching fingers. Barbara liked the DELPHIC SIBYL. A sibyl is a pagan prophetess and this one has a really beautiful face. Reminds me of the GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING.



I guess I would like to go back to the chapel sometime – if I could ever go when it wasn’t crowded and I could really enjoy studying the art. That will probably never happen, so I bought a book instead!!!! You know me – my world is books. You can learn everything you could possibly want to know from a book.



Now – why do I say I will probably not go back to Rome? In spite of it being February, it was very crowded – I felt like I was at Disneyworld in August!!! The exchange rate on the EURO is horrible right now (about 1.39) and everything is SO expensive. And the Italians are RUDE, RUDE, RUDE!!!! And you have to constantly be on your guard because they will CHEAT you every chance they get. You have to scrutinize every check and if they make a mistake, all of a sudden their English isn’t as good at it was earlier.



BUT – Florence was a different story all together. More on that later.