Rome

Rome – the End or the Beginning?

mhoustonfl2 Comments

I’m writing this in December 2025, and am only just now finishing up the events of our 2023 sabbatical. I never dreamed it would take two years to write up six months of travel…and I promise that FromSwamptoSummit will become more timely. Transporting us back to November 2023….

We had two days left in Rome and much more than two days worth of things to see and do.

Of course, a trip to the Vatican Museum was essential. We woke up very early to arrive for an 8 a.m. tour, which was the only slot available. We took a taxi – Rome is the only city in which we used taxis. We arrived way too early, only to be totally ripped off by buying double coffees at the cafe across the street, but I needed the caffeine.

The Vatican Museum is a trip. The building itself is comprised of room after room of frescos, topped off, of course, by the Sistine Chapel. The ceiling depicts Michelangelo’s universe – a sea of writhing bodies, with his worldly enemies and friends inserted as characters. It is a sea of movement. No photography permitted…hence, no images here.

Other rooms house ancient statutes and the spoils of the papacy. There’s a dearth of depictions of women, except for the idealized Virgin and sometimes Mary Magdalene or a few other saints. After the tour ended, we stayed longer to look at the first and second century artifacts.

Finally we walked to the Piazza Risorgimento and waited to meet up with C. We managed to locate her charming turquoise mini and she gave us a tour through the lovely residential area by Vatican City. We found parking not far from Via Corso, and had a great lunch at a hole in the wall place with a 10 euro menu, then walked by the Spanish Steps, high end shopping, into the new Bulgari hotel and several ancient coffee houses. Especially notable was one of C’s favorites – the doll repair shop.

We said our farewells to C, and took our time walking back to the Airbnb. After resting, we enjoyed aperitivo across the street where they served pistachios and peanuts, and dinner at an Argentinian restaurant recommended by our Airbnb host.

Our final day in Rome – and of our six weeks in Europe – not only involved packing, but also a trip back in time to the coliseum, which we’d only briefly perused from the outside. We arrived early for our tour, only to find that I’d booked one that was conducted in Italian! But my dear friend Rick Steves once again came to the rescue and we were able to depart from our group and instead follow his guided audio tour. They are very strict about entry times and we had just enough time to buy gelato before going in.

All I can say about the Coliseum is that the bloodthirstiness of human beings is highly concerning. As Caligula said in Robert Graves’ I Claudius on Masterpiece Theater, after engaging a particularly gory murder, “Aren’t people awful?”

Random facts: Prisoners were forced to dress as historical figures who had been killed and reenact their deaths in real time. The first theatrical sets were designed at the Coliseum – sets were raised up from a basement below the floor using a pulley system. Rome originally held one million people, but in the Dark Ages, its population shrank to less than 10,000, at which point the Coliseum became used for housing, workshops, and stables, among other things.

It’s still clearly the model for current arenas, at least with regard to the layout, although hopefully not the contents. Different tiers according to social class, reserved seatings, and you could even contribute mementos for your favorite gladiator.

Afterwards we talked to the Forum and Palatine Hill, also included in our admission. I wished we’d had more time. We saw the tomb of Julius Caesar, the Curia, the temple of the Vestal Virgins, the massive three arches from Constantine (Maximum). and the palace itself – labyrinthine, dark, high arched ceilings and a road that traveled through the middle of all of it. East to imagine royal intrigue.

After, back to our Airbnb for a late lunch, a final aperol spritz, and dinner at a neighborhood spot that turned out to be very good. Roast beef, potatoes, spinach, pasta amatriciana, panne cotta.

Somehow this photo of the Baths of Neptune, 3rd Century AD at the airport sums up Rome

On November 15 we walked up to the train station, and took an express train to the airport where I successfully smuggled C’s marmalade on board in my carryon. When I wrote this in my travel journal over two years ago, we had six more hours of flying left.

Roaming in Rome with the Romans

mhoustonfl1 Comment

We started our trip to Rome from Orvieto early the morning of November 11. From the Duomo we took the shuttle bus to the funicular, and then had quite a lengthy wait at the train station, but it was sunny and nice, so not too bad.

The train was fine, with only one stop, although we didn’t get seats together. We ate our sandwiches, arrived at the Roma Terminii, and walked to the Airbnb without issue. Very sunny and lots of people, a real contrast to Orvieto.

After we got settled, we ventured out to the Coliseum, which was only two blocks away. It was a total mob scene. Souvenir hawkers, etc. You walk along a very unprepossessing graffiti-embellished street and suddenly there it is. We didn’t stay long – on the way back to our Airbnb we saw police in riot gear barricading the street and could hear the 50,000 person opposition march about Gaza approaching. We retreated to the Monti area – our Airbnb was on Via del Boschetto – lots of cafes, restaurants, small shops and the St. Louis College of Music. And a furniture upholsterer.

We had an aperitif at a nearby spot and then managed to find a taxi at a taxi rank to visit my old high school friend and partner in crime, C, and her husband. They live right by the Vatican on the other side of the Tiber. The taxi driver had absolutely no idea where he was going and ultimately consulted a paper book of maps. Not sure when I last saw one of those. Finally we just got out and walked.

We arrived a little early – their apartment has a beautiful view of St. Peter’s. We enjoyed lovely Sicilian style pasta, courtesy of C’s husband, and I later managed to smuggle the marmalade made at their country property onto the plane.

Sunday was our “free” day. We slept in and then started to wander toward Vatican City. On the way we stopped at the Trevi Fountain – it was mobbed but you could still see the beautiful sea sculptures – then along the Via Argentina where multiple Roman ruins line the roads. Every time you dig, you find something.

We walked past the Bank of Italy – with lots of large green parrots in palm trees. And passed by the gaudy and over the top huge Vitore Emmanuel monument. I can only describe it as baroque gone bad.

We finally found a lunch place where we had a nice conversation with a young Canadian couple, possibly on their honeymoon. Their rings looked very new. We bought Italian ties as gifts from a small men’s clothing store.

And I almost forgot to mention the incredible Pantheon and the accompanying Rick Steves audio tour. (No, I am not receiving kickbacks for my continuous references to my friend Rick.) The Pantheon is still definitely not Christian, despite all the efforts to make it so. I loved the open oculus at the top of the dome, and kept wondering it would be like if it rained.

We finally made our way across the Tiber to St. Peter’s Square, by mid afternoon, where we did another Rick Steves audio tour. The basilica itself is enormous. Lots of priests, monks and nuns. Michelangelo’s Pieta (behind bullet proof glass), in contrast to most of the paintings and statues that you can almost touch. We stayed around for 5 p.m. Vespers. Priests in white and purple in the choir, Monsignors with pom pom hats, bishops in purple, officiants in green, and a sole cardinal in red. A sermon in Italian where an elderly bishop (who had to be helped out in and out of the stalls) definitely nodded off. I wonder if after they all retired to happy hour and dinner afterwards? Incense, green vestments spread wide like giant wings at the altar – we were at least all given a book of the service to follow. It’s interesting to put the Reformation in the context of all this.

A very brisk walk back. That night we ate at a simple restaurant near us that had already put up its Christmas decorations. Classic Roman pasta – Amatriciana sauce (J) and carbonara (me).

Much more to see and do, and only two days left.