"Rome If You Want To"

“Rome will exist as long as the Coliseum does; when the Coliseum falls, so will Rome; when Rome falls, so will the world."  -Venerable Bede, Saint

After the cramped and congested tourist streets of Florence, coming into Rome was emerging into the air and light. The transfer wasn't without its hiccups. My biggest stress leading into the last weeks before the trip was just making sure we made all the right connections between cities at airports, train stations, etc. So far, the trip has gone miraculously smoothly. So I guess we were due some trouble. First, we couldn't get taxis to the train station. We called the City Taxi Service 3 times. They hung up on us 3 times. Finally, we dragged all our luggage about 1/4 mile to the nearest "taxi stand." There were no taxis there. Finally we flagged one for 2 of the group and Noah and I waved goodbye to the rest hoping they'd track another one down eventually. They told us to have a good time without them in Rome. Eventually we all met up again at the train station where we boarded easily. We came to Rome and hurried to get all our stuff off when the train stopped. We dragged everything and everyone off just in time to watch our train pull away and realize we'd gotten off one stop early! It was stressful, but after finding a map, realized we were still only about 8 miles from our next apartment, so it could have been worse. And there are plenty of taxis in Rome.

Our apartment was spacious and beautiful and AIR-CONDITIONED! We got settled, found arancine for dinner (fried, stuffed, risotto-balls), and went for a gorgeous walk/run along the Tiber. Bars, restaurants, and discos operate all along the river at night -- quite a party scene and excellent for people-watching.

In the morning we took the Metro to the Colosseum. As you exit the station, there it is in all its massive, ancient glory! It was as grandiose and iconic (and crowded) as we expected. Isaac decided it's his calling to one day return and dress up as a gladiator for tourists' pictures.  We toured the Ancient Forum next. I didn't know much of what to expect before this tour and was blown away by the fascinating ancient ruins. Some highlights included the Temple of Vestal Virgins, the towering, ancient arches and pillars left standing, Julius Caesar's burial place and the views from above in the Palatine Hill ruins. We continued our walk from here to the Ancient Pantheon and discovered it was closed early. We have crashed another Patron Saint's Day Holiday, this time St. Peter and Paul. Our evening gelato stroll brought us in view of the holiday's military parade, and we finished the day on the bridge outside Castel St. Angelo.

The next morning we headed to St. Peter's Square and the center of Catholicism, St. Peter's Basilica. It's by far the largest cathedral in the world, but those Italian Masters of proportion and perspective have made it seem much smaller inside than it truly is. Regardless, it's spectacular, and Michelangelo's most famous Pieta is just one stunning highlight of the interior. Cory and the kids took a minute to touch St. Peter's toe, and we traveled below to take a look at the crypt said to contain Peter's remains. We took an elevator to the base of the dome and climbed the last 300+ claustrophobic and sweaty steps from there. Looking down from above it's staggering how high above the ant-like people on the square you have come.

We came back to Vatican City in the evening to tour the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. We did a quick run-through of the museums to save our energy and enthusiasm for the main event. We had a quick intro to early Greek and Roman statues that helped inspire Renaissance sculptors, followed by a long march through halls of tapestries, maps, and frescoes. We spent some time in the "Raphael Rooms." These are rooms that Raphael decorated as a commission for the Pope while the older Michelangelo was down the hall working out that Sistine ceiling business. Raphael's frescoes are masterpieces in their own right and show the artistic transition moving from Renaissance into Baroque. Their genius is a perfect segue into the breathtaking walk into the Sistine Chapel. That one human being was able to both conceive of and implement the majority of a work on this massive scale is almost more than can be imagined. That Michelangelo did almost all of the art himself, not relying on other assistants to "fill in" or do the grunt work, makes you wonder how he physically survived. That besides being "big" the frescoes are such works of genius, makes you believe that Michelangelo was inspired by deity. Then to cap it off, the later work at the end of the chapel of "The Final Judgment" is staggering both as art and as religious censure and symbolism. I will never forget the experience of craning  my neck and gazing  up at the creative expression of such a brilliant, artistic mind.

The following day, we wore everyone's feet out. We walked through the heart of Rome, hitting the iconic spots like Campo d'Fiori, Piazza Navvone, obelisks, ruins, government centers, statues, minor fountains, the ancient Pantheon which was happily now open, and finally the Trevi Fountain. We hurried from there to see the Borghese Gallery. Borghese was a Baroque-era Cardinal who built a palace and gardens and commissioned artworks by his era's most famous artists. Maybe not a great use of religious funds or time, but it resulted in some splendid artwork. In particular, the several Bernini sculptures are so refined and delicate and strong at the same time. He has become my favorite artistic discovery of this trip. We ate an picnic lunch on the garden grounds afterwards and enjoyed a quiet, cool, green respite from city life. It was a long hike back, so we took a break at home before hiking out to the Capitoline Museums. Rome is a pretty walkable place, and doesn't have a very expansive Metro system. As a result, we were all pretty fatigued before what I promised Anna was our "last museum" in Rome. We finished the night with pasta in Camp d'Fiori that we watched being rolled right behind our table.

Church the following morning was a welcome rest for all of our achy feet, although it was still nearly a mile of walking to get there and back. The members shared messages of hope for the Rome Temple to be completed in the testimony meeting. Noah and Isaac were asked to help pass the Sacrament. They were a little uncomfortable, but did just fine. Rome sees many tourists in the summer, so a Sister Missionary translated the meeting for visitors into headsets that we could wear.

After church, we dropped the younger 2 at the apartment while Cory, Noah, and I hurried back to the Vatican just in time to join thousands of others to see Pope Francis give his Sunday blessing. My Italian isn't good enough to translate everything, but I understood some of it and especially his expressions of love and concern for the people in Venezuela. It was a pretty cool once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience. We went for a walk in the evening to toss coins into the Trevi fountain insuring a return to the city, and to walk up and down the famous "Spanish Steps."

Our last day in Rome was spent mostly quietly cleaning up and getting ready for an EARLY morning flight, but we took the time to tour the Jewish Ghetto, and Trastevere (the other side of the Tiber River, kind of old Rome that's now an up-and-coming, hipster community full of shopping and dining. We ate our last Italian gelato and our last Italian pasta before heading to bed early. Arrivaderci, Rome! Viva, Italia!