Friday, September 07, 2007
First Half of Rome
We traveled from Naples to Rome by train. We arrived about mid
-afternoon and spent the rest of the day getting settled into our room. We stayed in a real nice Bed and Breakfast owned by a brother and sister. They were probably in their late 20’s or early 30’s. They had a couple of other kids who worke
d with them who were cousins I think. They only had five ro
oms and they were on the second floor above some kind of business offices. The family lived on the third floor. It had a little fenced in patio off the kitchen 
where they served breakfast outdoors. It was kind of a neat place.
Our plan was to take a city tour on Wednesday, and then go back to the places we wanted to visit in more detail. We were planning to do the follow up on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and we had reservations on a train early Sunday which would get us to London in time for our flight on Monday afternoon. “The best laid plans”, right?? We got our tour in on Wednesday. We did part of our follow-up visits on Thursday and Friday. Just after noon on Friday it rained hard and long. It rained all night and was still raining when we got up on Saturday, so we changed our plans and got a train earlier than our reservation. This would get us into London mid-day Sunday and give us some time to rest before we flew home on Monday. Good Plan!! Now let’s go back to Wednesday and talk a little about what we saw in Rome.
I want to keep this summary brief, but it will be hard to do. We saw all the stuff we studied about in World History, read about in a lot of novels, and even some things which we studied about in Sunday School. I think the prettiest monument we saw was the Vitorio Emanuele II Monument which was designed to commemorate Italian unification. The work was started in1885 and in
1921 with the addition of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the center at the top of the steps. It is constructed of white marble and the statue and the chariots are dark bronze. It is o
n Capitol Hill and is visible from a distance. It kind of separates the modern from the ancient city. MY VOTE FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL STRUCTURE WE SAW!!!
Going down the hill behind the Monument we passed the ruins of the
Forums of variou
s Emperors and the Roman Forum. We saw the Coliseum, the Arch o
f Constantine, Circus Maximus and the Imperial Palace ruins. It is hard to get my mind around the chariot races and the fights staged just for the entertainment of the people of the city. The Circus Maximus held 150,000 until it was expanded by the Emperor Trajan to seat 250,000.
Rome is noted for its fountains. There are so many that it is kinda hard to keep them straight. We have a lot of pictures of fountains, many of them we have no idea of the name or purpose of the fountains. Most of them do have religious and/or political significance. The one fountain which Mary and I enj
oyed seeing the most was Fantana de Trevi. This is the fountain which was the basis for the song and movie THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN. We got several pictures of it, but it was so crow
ded that it was hard to get to.
We saw the old city wall and the gate which opened to the Appian Way which
was the first of the big Roman Roads. The stops along the road, usually te
mples and way stops, are still identifiable even though they
are ruins. This is the road on which Saul was traveling w
hen he was struck blind and saved. Also in that area just outside the city we saw a long section of the aquaduct system which is high tech stuff for its tim
e. As we traveled along the crest of the hill outside Rome we passed several 
Catacombs and we went down into the Catacombs of St Sebastian. We actually walked in the same tunnels where the Christians hid from the Roman soldiers to worship and where they were entombed when they died. A church was built over the entrance to the catacombs after Christianity was accepted. We got pictures of the church and St. Sebastians crypt, but no pictures were allowed in the catacombs.
We traveled from Naples to Rome by train. We arrived about mid
-afternoon and spent the rest of the day getting settled into our room. We stayed in a real nice Bed and Breakfast owned by a brother and sister. They were probably in their late 20’s or early 30’s. They had a couple of other kids who worked with them who were cousins I think. They only had five rooms and they were on the second floor above some kind of business offices. The family lived on the third floor. It had a little fenced in patio off the kitchen where they served breakfast outdoors. It was kind of a neat place.Our plan was to take a city tour on Wednesday, and then go back to the places we wanted to visit in more detail. We were planning to do the follow up on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and we had reservations on a train early Sunday which would get us to London in time for our flight on Monday afternoon. “The best laid plans”, right?? We got our tour in on Wednesday. We did part of our follow-up visits on Thursday and Friday. Just after noon on Friday it rained hard and long. It rained all night and was still raining when we got up on Saturday, so we changed our plans and got a train earlier than our reservation. This would get us into London mid-day Sunday and give us some time to rest before we flew home on Monday. Good Plan!! Now let’s go back to Wednesday and talk a little about what we saw in Rome.
I want to keep this summary brief, but it will be hard to do. We saw all the stuff we studied about in World History, read about in a lot of novels, and even some things which we studied about in Sunday School. I think the prettiest monument we saw was the Vitorio Emanuele II Monument which was designed to commemorate Italian unification. The work was started in1885 and in
1921 with the addition of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the center at the top of the steps. It is constructed of white marble and the statue and the chariots are dark bronze. It is on Capitol Hill and is visible from a distance. It kind of separates the modern from the ancient city. MY VOTE FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL STRUCTURE WE SAW!!!Going down the hill behind the Monument we passed the ruins of the
Forums of various Emperors and the Roman Forum. We saw the Coliseum, the Arch of Constantine, Circus Maximus and the Imperial Palace ruins. It is hard to get my mind around the chariot races and the fights staged just for the entertainment of the people of the city. The Circus Maximus held 150,000 until it was expanded by the Emperor Trajan to seat 250,000.Rome is noted for its fountains. There are so many that it is kinda hard to keep them straight. We have a lot of pictures of fountains, many of them we have no idea of the name or purpose of the fountains. Most of them do have religious and/or political significance. The one fountain which Mary and I enj
oyed seeing the most was Fantana de Trevi. This is the fountain which was the basis for the song and movie THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN. We got several pictures of it, but it was so crowded that it was hard to get to.We saw the old city wall and the gate which opened to the Appian Way which
was the first of the big Roman Roads. The stops along the road, usually temples and way stops, are still identifiable even though they are ruins. This is the road on which Saul was traveling when he was struck blind and saved. Also in that area just outside the city we saw a long section of the aquaduct system which is high tech stuff for its time. As we traveled along the crest of the hill outside Rome we passed several Catacombs and we went down into the Catacombs of St Sebastian. We actually walked in the same tunnels where the Christians hid from the Roman soldiers to worship and where they were entombed when they died. A church was built over the entrance to the catacombs after Christianity was accepted. We got pictures of the church and St. Sebastians crypt, but no pictures were allowed in the catacombs.
