Here is how the drill works… Buses by the dozens pull up to the coliseum on a daily basis as one of Rome’s most visited tourist sites. We the sheep (passengers) unload and then wade through the post card vendors & sidewalk ad-hoc gift kiosks, fake gladiators dressed up in plastic cheap armor as these various street merchants descend upon us like opportune vultures awaiting their easy prey. Can you blame them though? Some are disillusioned illegal eastern Europeans just trying to make a living in the new EU economy, or perhaps they are North Africans who were human trafficked over to Europe via Morocco with quotas of merchandise to push onto the tourists. Whatever their motivations this is now the 21st century drama that plays out in the shadow of the Coliseum of where the mighty Gladiator games once took place. A new battle of tourist vs. vendor.
Outside the Arena we met our tour guide, who stayed with us the entire day up through the Vatican. He was very knowledgeable and possibly the best we’ve had to date. We spent about an hour touring the Coliseum, and had a little bit of free time to peep around. One interesting tid-bit I learned is that the Christians were not put to death here. Our guide informed us that that was one major misconception, and that while it was possible a participant in the games might be of the Christian or Jewish faith, that this location was not used to kill them en mass. He gave us the name of some other location during Nero’s reign that escapes me now, but I just thought it was worth pointing out. The Arch is known as Constantine's Arch.
What you see here is the basement of the Arena. There used to be floor boards which have long since rotted away. Down in these passages were ready-rooms used by gladiators. There were also pens for animals, jail cells for prisoners soon to be executed etc. There were hoists and elevators that used to be able to bring these things up from the basement onto the main floor. At one point, the entire Arena was once flooded to create a mock naval battle between 2 ships. Games would often be held from dusk till dawn, and the Romans liked them pretty gory by today’s standards.
After hanging at the Coliseum, we then headed over to the Roman Forum. (One of my favorite ruins in all of Italy). Admit ably, I can see how some of this is lost on the kids simply as a pile of rocks, but to the Historian in me, this is the location where everything in the ancient world went down. The Senate convened here, Julius Caesar was stabbed, Cicero gave his many great orations, Octavian was crowned the first Emperor, etc. To look at it today, you would be hard pressed to see anything that resembled the seat of Paux Romana’s power.
To that end, I made sure to bring a booklet from home that has plastic overlays, so that the kids could see the before and after shots of the rocks before them. While some kids seemed to enjoy that transition effect, it was perhaps lost on others. Stacie and I were pretty glad to have the book though, as it made seeing the place a lot more interesting I think. If I can post a picture of the before and after example of it I will.
Here are some other shots from the Forum.
Hoped back on the bus and went to the Vatican Museum. Just a few years ago, the line to this place would stretch around the entire perimeter of the Vatican, but today we simply walked up to the gate, got a ticket and went inside. This might also have something to do with us going in the afternoon, which was fine by us as we did the outside stuff in the morning.
Another reason numbers and lines might be down might have something to do with the current Economic crisis, we figure less people are taking vacations or traveling, which might explain the reduced crowds we’ve been seeing at the various tourist sites about Italy’s circuit. The Vatican museum defies the ability of my pictures or words to convey in terms of artistic value, money, talent, or extravagance. At one point, Meer turned to me and made the remark, “How can the church justify such wealth?” To which I replied, “Meer, this place has nothing to do with religion, but has everything to do with ‘Power projection’. “ The Vatican’s artistic treasures have never been fully assessed to a dollar amount or value, and never will be. It makes me sick that back in Pittsburgh, the same institution will be closing down my Grandma’s church, when all they would have to do is sell one or two of these (donated) statues to a private museum for millions to help keep those churches open… But I digress…
Our guide took us down various hallways that led to the Sistine Chapel. I said it before in 2006 and stand by my statement, that as impressive as the Sistine Chapel is, the map room hallway (ceiling) that leads into it is equally as impressive if not more so. I know many might not agree with me, but I’m sticking by that statement. The detail and sheer size of that hallway just can’t be put into words. Here is a shot of it.
Once arriving in the Sistine Chapel, that is where the true tragedy unfolds. Despite 10’s of warnings, signs, guards barking, tour guides screaming and repeating themselves for people to turn off their flash photos… tourists continue using flash photography on Michelangelo’s masterpieces which damages these sensitive paintings over time.
Even members of our own EF tour group were warned, yet despite heading this warning, were either too lazy or too stupid to hit the no-flash option on their digital cameras. One of our KC kids went up to the guard and pointed to a person who kept using the flash as if to report the wrong doer, and the guard just gave her back a defeated shrug.
At one point, a tour director jumped in the face of a lawbreaker, but the other people weren’t even fazed by the incident, and went along snapping pics with reckless abandon. I found myself thinking that these idiots would be able to get much better quality pictures by logging onto google.com when they get home and downloading much better quality pictures off the internet, but then I realized screw it, the Vatican is just going to have to go old school & start confiscating people’s cameras or just shut the whole place off to the public because sometimes adult humans (who should know better) tend to act like large dumb herd animals. (Like cows)
After the Vatican museum, we headed next door into St. Peter’s Basilica. The largest church in the world, it could actually contain Notre Dame (in Paris) inside of the Basilica! In fact there are actually marks on the floor to show how small the other churches in the world are in comparison to it. I suppose Freud might have something to say about the size of one’s church in relation to God's power? In any case, the transept and altar of the building was originally drawn up by Michelangelo, but was never finished in his lifetime. Like Florence, there is a massive Dome which can be climbed, but I didn’t have the time or energy to do it. Maybe on my 3rd trip back?
It was actually completed by some rich & powerful families from Sienna, who got their family crest embossed upon the top of the building upon its completion. Note the pyramid like family crest from one of the most powerful banking families in all of Italy? You will find a similar type pyramid on the back of the $1 bill, which was the symbol of the free masons with the eye at the top. This Vatican pyramid however, has a star at the top, and can be found all around the Vatican. I guess when your Sienna family funds the primary building of Vatican City, you get to stamp your family crest all over the place, much like modern day advertising funds sporting events in today's world, (e.g. Budweiser) Whoever pays the piper gets to call the tune. Some things never change.
A lot of my pics just didn’t turn out in the low light, which made me angry at my new Nikkon. At the back of the church is the Pieta’ As it is behind bullet proof glass, I still have yet to be able to take an in-focus pic of it, but it is one of Michelangelo’s more famous works.
Upon exiting St. Pete’s, we had free 2 & ½ hrs of free time and wanted to cut across town (on foot) and see various sites. However our tour director dropped us off in front of the Vatican gift shop. Now while I can understand folks wanting to get religious gifts for friends and family (These can be blessed for a small fee) we were supposed to stop in for 10-15 minutes which our KC kids managed to do, but we ended up losing another 35 minutes waiting outside for various people (who shall go nameless) to complete their Holy shopping sprees. This became very frustrating to some of the kids, who wanted to keep moving and see various sites rather than spend the afternoon shopping. Eventually we got underway, and cut across town going on the following route: (See map)
We pulled an intense forced march which pushed some of the kids to the limits. Theo was a real good sport/trooper taking us across town to wherever we wanted to go. Rentar’s walkie talkies became invaluable for moving 40+ people across one of the busiest street traffic cities on earth. Every now and then a group might lag behind, get split up by traffic lights, but somehow we all made it to the Piazza Navona Fountain without losing anybody. This was recently featured in the Angels & Demons film, where Tom Hanks rescues the 4th cardinal who is dumped in the fountain. Each of the 4 statues is supposed to represent a different major river from the Empire: Nile, Danube, Ganges, & Rio de Plata. Originally this plaza used to contain races and games, but you wouldn’t know it by the looks of things today sidewalk café’s and fountains.
From there we pushed onto the Pantheon, which was also just featured in the recent film Angels & Demons. Built by Augustus’s right hand man, Agrippa (which still bears his name) this magnificent building is a massive supported vaulted dome with an oculus (hole) at the top which allows light in and smoke (from sacrificed animals) out. Of course much like any Roman temple, the Christians tore down any hint of pagan altars and replaced it as a Christian church which it holds today.
Theo decided we didn’t have much time to continue on, and took a group back to the Vatican; however Rentar the fearless took over and led us on to Trevi Fountain. My camera battery died, and my spare was back on the bus, otherwise I’d post a pic or two of this amazing spread. We then hoofed it back to make it in time; however we lost a few of the Louisiana girls and Texas boys who we thought were right behind us. We sort of fell out of contact with Rentar and were sort of on our own for a bit, but we managed to make it back to the Vatican just in time. My feet were blistered, but due to our force march, we were able to cram a lot of Rome’s sights into 1 day, which is NOT an easy thing to do. I was really proud of our kids for hanging in, and everyone ate a hearty dinner after this day.
Got back to the hotel and had to pack up to head to Sorrento the next morning. I had to have a 'come to Jesus meeting' with my explosion of a suitcase, but of course after room checks were done we stopped down to the pool side bar for a night cap. Really fun night where Stacie made the mistake of misplacing her room key, Meer & Yodi dove into the pool to go night swimming in their clothes, and Rentar improvised/foraged a few after-hours drinks on the group's behalf. Eventually the hotel staff were sent out to bark at us to go to bed at 2 AM, which we reluctantly did. Stacie later stole my blanket, so I had to take her shoe and Meer cranked the AC to level 6 out of 5 settings, causing my core body temperature to drop to 86.4 degrees. I prayed for God to take me, but emerged from a hibernative state the following morning after only four hours of sleep. If I keep this up, I’m not going to make it. Rentar, Meer & Stacie are all very bad influences on me! :-)
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