Roman Holiday
Hallo!
I'm back from my trip to Roma. Rome is really amazing. For being a city full of old ruins, it's still extremely alive, even a bit overwhelming after a while. Though I'm sure the unbelievable number of tourists who are always around when you're trying to be a tourist doesn't help. Anyho! Here is my adventure...
I arrived Friday early evening. It was too late at this point to do much, so I just wondered around the area near my hostel. For a good half hour or so I sat next to a fountain in the middle of a roundabout and watched the Italian traffic. At first it seemed completely chaotic. There were no real lanes to speak of and definitely no clean lane changes with signalling like you see in the US or Germany. But then I started to realize that the system, whatever that maybe, seems to work, because I never once saw an accident.
Saturday was Vatican City day. When I arrived at the Pope's house in the morning there was already a really long line to get into the Vatican Museum, which includes the Sistine Chapel. After waiting in line for two hours, I finally made it in and rode the wave of tourists towards the Sistine Chapel. I quickly learned that to get the Sistine Chapel you have to go through a series of at least ten or so other chapels and rooms, all of which were actually very interesting, but sadly 90% of the tourists simply looked for the sign that pointed to the Sistine Chapel and kept on going. Finally I arrived in THE chapel and was slightly disappointed. There I was in a mob of hundreds of people taking photographs and talking even though there are signs everywhere saying photography is vorbidden and to maintain silence. The mood of the chapel was completely destroyed. Plus the light wasn't very good. It was just a dark, rectangular room. Ok, so the painting on the celing is one of the most famous paintings in the world, and it was neat, just a little hard to appreciate.
Afternoonish I headed to St. Peter's Cathedral. Here's a photo of it from the outside.
The cathedral is amazing of course. The walls are covered in marble of various colors. The size of the inner room is astounding. Many of the side wings had little cupolas with holes in the middle through which beams of light shined. After walking around the inside I entered the Tomb of the Popes. The most popular of the tombs was of course from John Paul II. Next I got in line to accend to the top of the Cupola. From there you have an amazing view of Rome. Here's one of the photos:
Directly in front is St. Peter's Square. To the left is part of the Vatican complex. The Pantheon is in the middle of the concentration of city off to the right, and the Roman Forum and Coloseum are off the right edge of the photo. The green patch on the left is a big park that I went to after getting my fill of the Pope's city. I then went back to the hostel and rested my feet.
Sunday was ruin day. I headed to the Coloseum first thing in the morning. The Coloseum is as impressive as people make it out to be. First you marvel at the size of it and wonder how in the world did they build it without modern luxuries like cranes. Then you start to ponder the details. Where did the people sit? How did they get into the stands? Where did the people fight and how did they get onto the stage? It's interesting that the basic form is the same as today's sport stadiums. Here's a photo from the inside:
After leaving the Coloseum I headed to the Roman Forum, which at one point was the center of the city. Today there's largely just the foundations of temples, buildings, and churches.
In the background is the coloseum, and off on the right hand side on the hill is the Palatine. It was midday, and as you can probably tell, rather hot. What saves you from the heat are the water spouts placed around the touristy areas. There's a decent chance that you're not actually supposed to drink this water, but I figured if it wasn't drinkable, there'd be a sign.
At this point I headed to the Pantheon. The Pantheon's fame is also well deserved. From the outside it doesn't seem too spectacular, but inside it's amazing. It was originally a pagan temple that was converted to a church. The walls are again convered with marble, paintings, and statues. But what makes the Pantheon truely astounding is the Cupola. It's as wide as it is tall. Where as most Cupolas are decorated with paintings, this one has only a relatively simple geometric relief, and of course a hole in the middle through which a wide beam of light shines.
Now I headed back over to the Roman Forum and entered the Palatine. From what I gathered the Palatine was once the residency for some very important romans. I only wish that I'd had a better travel guide, so I had a better idea of what everything was.
At this point I was tired, sunburned, and dirty and decided to return to the hostel.
Monday I only had a half-day and decided to see a couple smaller churches. First was Santa Maria del Popolo and then San Clemente. Though they were smaller, the mood was much better because they were not completely full of tourists. After buying one last ice cream cone, it was time to head to the airport and return to Germany.
Now I'm starting to get into "going home" mode. I fly back in exactly one week (and a couple hours). Things will be a little tight as far as work goes. My circuit board isn't coming until Thursday, so that doesn't give me much time to get it soldered and tested. And on that note, I'm going to get back to work.
I'm back from my trip to Roma. Rome is really amazing. For being a city full of old ruins, it's still extremely alive, even a bit overwhelming after a while. Though I'm sure the unbelievable number of tourists who are always around when you're trying to be a tourist doesn't help. Anyho! Here is my adventure...
I arrived Friday early evening. It was too late at this point to do much, so I just wondered around the area near my hostel. For a good half hour or so I sat next to a fountain in the middle of a roundabout and watched the Italian traffic. At first it seemed completely chaotic. There were no real lanes to speak of and definitely no clean lane changes with signalling like you see in the US or Germany. But then I started to realize that the system, whatever that maybe, seems to work, because I never once saw an accident.
Saturday was Vatican City day. When I arrived at the Pope's house in the morning there was already a really long line to get into the Vatican Museum, which includes the Sistine Chapel. After waiting in line for two hours, I finally made it in and rode the wave of tourists towards the Sistine Chapel. I quickly learned that to get the Sistine Chapel you have to go through a series of at least ten or so other chapels and rooms, all of which were actually very interesting, but sadly 90% of the tourists simply looked for the sign that pointed to the Sistine Chapel and kept on going. Finally I arrived in THE chapel and was slightly disappointed. There I was in a mob of hundreds of people taking photographs and talking even though there are signs everywhere saying photography is vorbidden and to maintain silence. The mood of the chapel was completely destroyed. Plus the light wasn't very good. It was just a dark, rectangular room. Ok, so the painting on the celing is one of the most famous paintings in the world, and it was neat, just a little hard to appreciate.
Afternoonish I headed to St. Peter's Cathedral. Here's a photo of it from the outside.
The cathedral is amazing of course. The walls are covered in marble of various colors. The size of the inner room is astounding. Many of the side wings had little cupolas with holes in the middle through which beams of light shined. After walking around the inside I entered the Tomb of the Popes. The most popular of the tombs was of course from John Paul II. Next I got in line to accend to the top of the Cupola. From there you have an amazing view of Rome. Here's one of the photos:
Directly in front is St. Peter's Square. To the left is part of the Vatican complex. The Pantheon is in the middle of the concentration of city off to the right, and the Roman Forum and Coloseum are off the right edge of the photo. The green patch on the left is a big park that I went to after getting my fill of the Pope's city. I then went back to the hostel and rested my feet.
Sunday was ruin day. I headed to the Coloseum first thing in the morning. The Coloseum is as impressive as people make it out to be. First you marvel at the size of it and wonder how in the world did they build it without modern luxuries like cranes. Then you start to ponder the details. Where did the people sit? How did they get into the stands? Where did the people fight and how did they get onto the stage? It's interesting that the basic form is the same as today's sport stadiums. Here's a photo from the inside:
After leaving the Coloseum I headed to the Roman Forum, which at one point was the center of the city. Today there's largely just the foundations of temples, buildings, and churches.
In the background is the coloseum, and off on the right hand side on the hill is the Palatine. It was midday, and as you can probably tell, rather hot. What saves you from the heat are the water spouts placed around the touristy areas. There's a decent chance that you're not actually supposed to drink this water, but I figured if it wasn't drinkable, there'd be a sign.
At this point I headed to the Pantheon. The Pantheon's fame is also well deserved. From the outside it doesn't seem too spectacular, but inside it's amazing. It was originally a pagan temple that was converted to a church. The walls are again convered with marble, paintings, and statues. But what makes the Pantheon truely astounding is the Cupola. It's as wide as it is tall. Where as most Cupolas are decorated with paintings, this one has only a relatively simple geometric relief, and of course a hole in the middle through which a wide beam of light shines.
Now I headed back over to the Roman Forum and entered the Palatine. From what I gathered the Palatine was once the residency for some very important romans. I only wish that I'd had a better travel guide, so I had a better idea of what everything was.
At this point I was tired, sunburned, and dirty and decided to return to the hostel.
Monday I only had a half-day and decided to see a couple smaller churches. First was Santa Maria del Popolo and then San Clemente. Though they were smaller, the mood was much better because they were not completely full of tourists. After buying one last ice cream cone, it was time to head to the airport and return to Germany.
Now I'm starting to get into "going home" mode. I fly back in exactly one week (and a couple hours). Things will be a little tight as far as work goes. My circuit board isn't coming until Thursday, so that doesn't give me much time to get it soldered and tested. And on that note, I'm going to get back to work.
posted by laura s at 4:30 PM
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