Italia: Roma

I made it to Italy!! My parents and I spent Monday in Rome, waiting for our flight to Sardinia. We left our bags at the Train Station (Roma Termini Stazione) and went to all the sights (except The Vatican/Sistine Chapel, we'll go there on the way home!)

I took this photo for my future sister-in-law, Becca. This old woman told me she could get us a good price on sunflowers, for your wedding!(The photo was blurry, so I made it look like a watercolor, hiding my bad photography skills!!)

Our first stop was the Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi), the largest fountain in Rome. It is about 250 years old and built on the site of two great Roman aqueducts. Legend has it, whoever drinks the water or throws a coin into the fountain will return to Rome.

I did both, so I could come back with my sweetheart, Damian. We all tossed coins, but then noticed everyone doing it backwards so mom and I shared a last penny and did once more. Apparently, backwards is the NEW way to toss a Trevi Coin, all the cool tourists are doing it. (In fact, if you toss three, you'll meet someone new and marry them, so thank goodness I only tossed 1.5 cents !!)

Damian noticed I left my wedding band in my jewelry box and he's been wondering about that. My friend Kristi was robbed in Rome and I didn't want to look like a rich American, with my fancy ring, so I am wearing a plain gold band, like the Italians do. He thinks I may have photoshopped it into the photo, though! Don't worry honey, there is no one better than you in this whole world!

Approximately 3,000 Euros (about $5,000) are thrown into the fountain each day and are collected at night. The money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy. Unfortunatley, we only threw in $.04 !!

Here is my very mature father, filling his water bottle with Trevi Fountain Water.

My very mature mother asked me to take the photo of him showing off for other tourists.

And I'm so mature, I captured the moment forever. And then posted it on my blog!

Dad and Mom posed for me on the Spanish Steps (Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti), the longest and widest staircase in all of Europe. Then, my Senior Citizen parents sat down and I ran to the top. I was winded, I'll tell you that! The fountain at the bottom was built in 1627 by the father of the famous painter, Bernini. John Keats, an English Poet, lived and died in a flat to the right of my parents.

We then continued on our 10 mile hike around Italy. The street we chose was like Saks 5th Ave. in NYC. It had every designer store you could think of. It was fun looking in at all the fancy stuff. I never saw one person shopping in any of the stores though! I turned around to see the recedeing Spanish Steps and saw a designer store that reminded me of Damian!

Next stop, the Pantheon. It is the best preserved of all Roman buildings, and perhaps the best preserved building of its age in the world, it is 1883 years old!! It has been in continuous use throughout its history, first by those that worshiped the Roman Gods, then by the Catholics. The artist Raphael is buried there and many famous building are patterned after it, including the CA State Capitol in Sacramento!

This is an artist's rendition of how the original Pantheon looked, before it was turned it into a Catholic Cathedral. It's really a cool building, with the "Eye in the Sky" feature! There are drains in the floor for when it rains.

We traveled to the Roman Forum next. We found a little treasure next to that, not in our guide book. The Mamertine Prison is a sacred Catholic site (that's not saying much, pretty much all of Rome is sacred to Catholics!). The basement of this Roman building was a Roman Prison that only held the WORST criminals. Now, it has been renovated into another Catholic Church. The prison was built in 386 BC, and is older than the Pantheon! A legend that began 500 years after Christ's death claims the Apostles Peter and Paul were imprisoned here.

The Mamertine Prison had two underground floors, the top being a jail, the bottom having a natural spring that was used as a cistern. Later, the cistern was drained and a trapdoor was cut in the upper floor so really bad prisoners could be kept in the drained cistern. This nasty little cell was convienint for Romans, because if prisoners died, they were just pushed down the cistern drain, to meet up with Rome's sewer system.

So, this is the trap door from the top basement floor, to the bottom, that Peter and Paul were lowered though. You must understand, Romans didn't consider imprisonment punishment. Prisoners were incarcerated until they were paraded and strangled in public, or died in jail of natural causes. Nasty people, those Romans.

This is the drained cistern and the cell that held Peter and Paul (alter added by Catholics). There is hardly enough room to stand in this stinking, wet, cold little cell. I don't know if Peter really was housed here, but I know he was jailed for his faith and I'm sure his accomodations weren't any better, wherever he was.

The hole on the floor to the left is supposedly where Peter created a fresh spring of water. That really would have been a miracle, considering the drain to the sewer system was close-by. And the whole place still smells like the sewer. It was rank and I got out of there ASAP. But not without being grateful to Peter and Paul for their willingness to stand boldly and testify of Jesus Christ. They were great missionaries and I love them very much.

We then clocked our millionth Catholic Church. I could compare the amount of Catholic Churches I saw on my walking tour to Rome as the amount of LDS Chapels I see on a drive from Provo to Draper, UT

This small Catholic church carried the names of Cosmo and Damian, the patron saints of physicians, surgeons, pharmacists and veterinarians everywhere. They were two Arabian brothers that practiced medicine for free and were martyred in 283 AD. Less than a mile away, an old pagan temple dedicated to twins Castor and Pollux was renovated to carry the same name! So Damian, there are two Catholic Churches in Rome with your name. (Damian is named for a Catholic Priest, Father Damian, who served Lepers. I'm guessing Father Damian was named after Saint Damian!)

Next, we moved onto the Colosseum (Colosseo). This is an elliptical amphitheatre in the center of Rome and the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering. It could seat 80,000 spectators (4x the LDS Conference Center!) and was built from 70-80 AD by Jewish slaves. It could be partial covered in the rain and could be partially filled with water so marine "battles" could be staged. The Colosseum held big dramatic productions based on Classical Mythologies and those MIGHT have been lovely.

I have to admit, I was feeling less than friendly to the Romans after seeing Peter's prison and opted NOT to tour the site where gladiators and wild beasts fought to the death. (plus it was about $35 for a tour!) The Colosseum was a place humans were executed with an audience cheering their tormentors on. Also, major battles were re-inacted for sport. I sure wouldn't want to be on that acting crew, at least, not the loosing team!

I'm glad Rome fell. Those Romans were a nasty, evil people. Good Riddance!! And take your creepy buildings with you. I'm not paying one cent to tour your disgusting buildings!! (I did get a photo, to prove I saw it from the outside.)

On our hike back to get our bags before our flight, we saw a jillion of these 2 seater SMART cars. They will be available in the US next year. They cost about $12,000 and get 62 mpg on the highway, 45 mpg around town. They hold almost 6 gallons of gas (that would cost about $20 bucks to fill up and drive about 375 miles!!) You can parallel park them facing the street, as shown in this photo, they are the length of a moped, basically!

We also saw lots of these little tiny delivery trucks. I asked my dad to try picking one up and moving it with his bare hands. He declined, but I'm sure he could. He's really strong. Gas costs $8 a gallon, basically, so it's no wonder everyone drives tiny clown cars!

After following my dad on a 10 mile hike all over the city, I realized we could have used the local subway for $6 a day and seen everything. When we go together, I'll lead you THAT way, Damian. And you can go on a tour of the Colosseum. I won't judge you, Mr. History Buff.

Tomorow, I'll show you my photos of Briana's family at the beach!