Zim’s

Sorry it’s been so long since the last update; we were really busy in Rome and our hotel in Naples only had dial-up so I’ve been procrastinating, we’re now in Athens where they have high speed so hopefully I’ll get caught up again before we leave… Now brace yourselves, ’cause this is going to be a long one.

Over four days starting Sunday the 25th we covered a lot of ground in Rome. And we had to move quick to even get a taste of this great city, founded on my birthday (April 21) in 753 B.C. by Romulus (the craftier of the two kids under the wolf in our pictures from Siena).

Our first full day in Rome was spent mainly with the relics of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. First stop the Colosseum. The Colosseum was started by Emperor Vespasian in AD 72 on the grounds of his predecessor Nero’s private lake which Vespasian had filled in as perhaps just a touch too ostentatious. Vespasian didn’t make it for the opening in AD 80, his son Titus did the honours which lasted for 100 days and nights and consumed 5,000 animals and around 6,000 gladiators in front of about 50,000 screaming fans. The building is in remarkable shape considering it’s age and the fact that it was used as a quarry for marble and travertine to be used in other buildings. And it’s a good thing to as Bede said “while the Colosseum stands, Rome shall stand, but when the Colosseum falls, Rome shall fall - and when Rome falls, the world will end”. George was right at home though he cheered for the lions rather than the gladiators.

Our next stop was the Roman Forum. The Forum was the heart of Rome; religious centre, parliament, and stock exchange all rolled into one… I haven’t had a chance to sort these into which buildings are which but I think you’ll enjoy them anyway…

From the forum we walked up the Palatine Hill, home of Rome’s aristocrats during the Republic and Empire.

Next stop was the famous Trevi Fountain where legend has it you must throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain if you want to return to Rome. Sounds like a legend invented specially for the tourists but we did it anyway…

We devoted Tuesday to the Vatican.

On our way there we were serenaded by these guys on the subway.

We started with St. Peter’s Square. The line up here looked horrific but only took about 20 minutes or so. Note to other visitors to the Vatican: once you’re through security the line splits into two queues, one for St. Peter’s Basilica and one to climb to the Cupola of the Basilica. We took the Basilica line and once we’d seen the Basilica we had to line up all over again to view the Cupola. If you do it the other way around (start with the Cupola) the stairs back down let you out in the Basilica without lining up again.

We’ve seen a lot of churches in our travels so far but in terms of splendour and gilt this one is head and shoulders above the rest.

This statue of St. Peter is worn down from having his feet kissed and rubbed by pilgrims over the last few centuries.

This sculpture by our old friend Michelangelo is the only signed piece of art in St. Peters. He didn’t sign it before delivery but snuck in after it had been installed to add his name as various other sculptors were claiming it as their own.

After that we climbed to the top of the basilica for the great views, inside and out.

Of course no visit to the Vatican would be complete without seeing our buddy Mike’s masterwork the frescos and roof of the Sistine Chapel. You aren’t supposed to take photos in here so I’ve risked fire and brimstone to bring you these…

The rest of the Pope’s art collection isn’t too shabby either…

Wednesday we started the day hanging out on the Spanish Steps before spending the day wandering around the city just soaking it in. We saw the original Jesuit Church, the Victor Emmanuel II Monument, the Piazza del Popola, The Pantheon and the area known as Testevere. The amazing thing is the sheer number of monuments and ruins that you stumble across just walking around the city, there’s a pleasant surprise around every second corner…

Thursday we took the day off to just eat gelati in honour of Kohl’s birthday.
Kohl, gelati is Italian ice cream and they make it a lot better than we do and in an amazing number of flavours, last night I had tangerine and green apple. Well not quite the whole day off, while we did of course have gelati (in fact I don’t think we’ve missed a day since our second day in Venice), we also visited the San Callisto catacombs. No pictures inside the catacombs but a few from the walk there along the ancient Via Appia Antica. The catacombs are where early Christians held their religious ceremonies and buried their dead before Christianity was legally tolerated and then adopted by the Roman Empire. In San Callisto alone (it’s the largest of a half dozen catacombs) they’ve found more than 500,000 bodies, including a dozen saints and early popes. Our fantastic guide was a retired American priest.

Late in the day Thursday we hopped the train for Naples, er Neaoplis er Napoli.

As I mentioned above we’re in Athens now and I owe you all updates on Naples, Pompeii and Capri but they’ll have to wait as we’ve lost an hour coming here and it’s getting late.

Cheers,

Mark & Ali

P.S. Mike we got your recommendation on the Giolotti’s gelateria after we’d left Rome, but as you can see above we’ve been indulging in it frequently. So far we’d say Venice would win the gelati crown if we were the judges…