23/11 Station to station

Wednesday 23 November Rome III

In passing, if anyone should be able to master Roman numerals, you would expect it to be the Romans. It isn’t THAT hard. I II III IV V VI etc. But the inscriptions you see chiselled into rock here go I II III IIII V etc. Now the only place you should see XXXX is on beer from Queensland – the Roman form of 40 is XL (10 short of 50) NOT XXXX.

Franco delivered his excellent brekky at about 8.30 and we headed off by 9.30. We took the all-day train option for E4 each rather than paying E1 for each leg. First stop Piazza del Poppolo (people’s square). The Romans seem to have followed a policy that everything needs to be balanced and symmetrical, so you tend to get a triumphal arch with a matching church on either side. If that seems top-heavy on churches . . . well . . . just pop another pair of churches on the opposite side of the square. Such is the case here. They also demand a centrepiece for every square or circular space – a fountain or obelisk will do nicely. It is a wonder there are any left in Egypt. Quite seriously, we have seen more in Rome in 2 days than we did in 2 weeks in Egypt last year.

It certainly made for a fine square and there was a steady stream of very well-dressed Stylish people passing through. We wanted to get into one of the front churches to see a pair of fine paintings by Caravaggio , but there was a Mass in progress. J felt squeamish about going in, although a succession of school groups of teenagers was passing through. We wandered off into the square. By the time we returned, a hearse had pulled up with a hugely polished and heavily adorned coffin and the upper steps of the entry were occupied by a meet n greet squad who looked like they had come straight from the Autumn Collection show at Yves St Laurent. We were in our usual mugger-repellant Cheap n Scruffy outfits so we thought we would come back later.

One stop back towards Termini station was the Spanish Steps. J wanted to see them again by daylight. The steps are very grandiose and impressive with a fountain by Bernini at the bottom. As we stood there, we had Babbington’s (home of the $21 cup of tea) to the left, two museums dedicated to Keats and Shelley and Byron respectively on the right. (Famous English poets) who used to live here and drink tea at Babbington’s? While behind us were Dior, Gucci and Prado. Yeah Baby.

You will snigger if I add that there was a very fancy McDonalds 100m to the right, but honestly you should see it. It was SOOOOOO Ritzy. Words fail me but just take my word it was swish. We had a $1 cappucino there in china cup and saucer. The croissants etc in the McCafe looked VERY impressive. I have never seen so much artwork in a McDonalds all under some very nice arches, with stylish furniture.  Probably the first McDonalds to appear as a destination in a guide book.

Next stop Barberini station, where the Fontana del Tritone dominated another small square. An ambulance arrived with much siren-squealing and the ambos charged down the steps to the nearby subway. Shortly after they re-appeared, steering a well-dressed 60-ish lady by the elbow. She no more needed an ambulance than a racing bicycle, although one of the ambos looked a bit frail himself.

J paid E1 to go into the crypt for 15 minutes at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, where the skulls and skeletons of centuries of Capuchin brothers had been collected (4000+).
 No photos allowed inside so I have borrowed this from Wikipedia. Never knew you could be so artistic with bones.

This was when we realised that the churches tended to close at noon. If we hadn’t already been to the Vatican I would be tempted to drop in and make my views heard about this inconsiderate and inconvenient practice. Regardless, we headed back to the P del P, hoping that the Caravaggios would be on display. Negative.

Getting the most out of our tickets, we pressed on to Repubblica, another circular square with large ornate fountain, fringed by a curved hotel belonging to one of the 6 star chains. And so it came to pass that we enjoyed our lunch al fresco on the edge of the Piazza, in the best Continental tradition, watching the rich and famous saunter past. Lucky to find a Maccas right next to the swish hotel hey?

Spot the Maccas?

For those who do, or have worked at Maccas, aren't you lucky you don't have to wear this hat as part of your uniform!

Yet another fountain.

We then made the short walk across open ground to Termini, the main station, where we bought train tickets to Florence for Friday. Thence we headed off on the Blue Metro line to Circus Maximus, scene of the Ben Hur chariot races, but which is now just a long rectangular grassy space.

Circus Maximus with Palentine Hill behind.

Thus began The Great Walk. We passed Santa Maria in Cosmedin, where people queued to poke their arms into a hole in the wall, where apparently a monster bites your arm off if you are lying.

Complete with yet another fountain.

We then shot a few pictures (yes planks and lotus) in front of another ancient monument and headed on towards the River Tiber.

 This was where it started to rain. We could tell it was raining because large numbers of Indians immediately appeared with umbrellas and ponchos for sale. The weather forecast had predicted dry weather so we were lightly clad in windcheater and fleece respectively. Not really waterproof. Undeterred we pressed on, crossing the Tiber and returning via the island of Isola. This was where we got lost.

So just to recap, Great Walk, Rain, Light Clothes, Lost. Yep that’s about it. But were we dismayed . . . Hell no. J loves walking in the rain and I found a fridge magnet with three brightly but scantily clad girls with huge personalities charging past the Colosseum in a chariot. So we were both delighted with our afternoons. We recovered our bearings (yes men DO stop and ask for directions) and, after passing several excavations of ancient ruins, with lots of cats, found our way to the Victor Emmanuel II monument.

Note the layers of buildings, some quite modern on top of ancient.

VE II was the first king of Italy and is revered as the Father of the Nation. VE III was king from 1900-1946, leading them through two world wars. He eventually abdicated and was exiled and died soon afterwards in Alexandria. They have been kingless ever since.

Some people unkindly say it is like a typewriter or a wedding cake.

Tomb of unknown soldier

Winged lion of St Mark

We had been noticing this monument for the past two days. It is huge, glaring white marble and topped by two gigantic statues. It dominates the skyline. As a general comment, Rome is surely due to subside into the earth under the sheer weight of marble in its buildings. This single structure probably contains more white marble than everything else in Rome put together and I doubt there could be any or many others of similar size elsewhere in the world. Furthermore, it is glaringly obvious that every time they scratch the surface anywhere in the city with a view to building anything new or even changing a water pipe or planting a turnip, they discover a major new temple. We walked past any number of sites where they are excavating in amongst large modern buildings or even ancient ruins and there is a whole level of huge columns underneath.

By now it was raining quite freely and the flights of stairs leading up the front of the monument were extremely dangerous. We both had joggers with pretty good soles but the marble was very highly polished and covered by a layer of water. It was like a skid pan. And no handrails. We eventually reached a place where we entered the building (still solid white marble walls and floors) and ascended ever higher. There were chambers full of busts and exhibits celebrating the heroism of Italian soldiers during the wars to unify Italy and then the two World Wars. Yes there must have been acts of individual heroism but I had to suppress the urge to discount the lot on the basis of Italy’s pretty dismal military record.

We were very lucky to be on the spot at the moment when the private lift appeared on the 5^th floor, which enabled us to descend to street level without tackling The Stairs Of Deeeeath. We climbed the stairs designed by Michelangelo up the back of the Capitoline hill , where this statue by Michelangelo of Marcus Aurelias is situated,

and strolled down past the Roman Forum (which we walked on Day I) to the Colosseum and thence to the church of S Pietro in Vincoli (Peter in Chains).

The (apparently) original chains are kept under glass under the altar as a holy relic. But the BIG drawcard here is the tomb of Pope Julius II, which features a huge white marble composition of about 20metres wide and 12 metres tall, featuring a 3 or 4 metre high statue of Moses by Michelangelo himself. His students are credited with the lesser figures scattered around the composition and the backdrop, although some sources attribute Rachel and Leah to the maestro himself. Much like the Pieta we saw yesterday – simply stunning.

Moses complete with horns as mentioned in the bible

St Peter being rescued from prison by the angels.  Just one of the amazing artworks we have seen in the past few days.

Back to the Colosseum to catch the train back Termini. J had waxed hot and cold about just ONE more Piazza/Church but eventually decided it didn’t have any major features to warrant a visit. So back home to get somewhat damp clothes off and catch up the blog.

PARKING:

We have seen many cars that must think they are motorbikes as they park like this when everyone else is parked the opposite way.......

This car however seems to think it is one of the tiny ones and it just didn't fit in the space.