Italy Part 1: Roma!

So, this took place a little while ago, but as I’m only getting round to uploading the photos now, I’m only getting round to writing about it now, too. Being so long ago, December2012 to be exact, I have had to resort to googling a few things as I didn’t bother writing anything down and my memory ain’t what it used to be!

So here goes, a trip down memory lane…

Day 1: 28 December 2012

After a 6am flight from Stansted, we (myself, my husband, his mom and stepfather) arrive at Ciampino airport not really knowing how to get to our hotel/B&B, which was not in tourist central. The taxi fares seemed very expensive, with people quoting us €75. So I called the B&B owner who told us not to pay more than €45. I relayed this to the taxi company and they relented. Win!

The B&B, Alba Romana was lovely, and so was the owner, Roberto, and his daughter, Tiziana. Full review here.

Having refreshed ourselves, we were off to the Vatican for our first stop! Here are a few highlights:

Laocoon & sons: Two versions of the myth (Wikipedia): Laocoön was a Trojan priest of Poseidon who was killed with both his sons after attempting to expose the ruse of the Trojan Horse by striking it with a spear. Alternatively he was killed for having had sex with his wife in the temple of Poseidon, or simply making a sacrifice in the temple with his wife present.

The Emperor Nero’s bath tub, rescued from the Golden Palace.

One of the frescoes in the Raphael Rooms.

The Sistine Chapel ceiling. The famous panel of “The creation of Adam” can be seen on the left hand side.

No, you’re not supposed to take photos of the ceiling, and no, I wasn’t the only one doing it. To be quite honest I don’t even think they cared that much. They were too busy trying to usher people through the chapel so that nobody died in the mad crush inside. (Come to think of it surely that many people (barely) breathing in a small space like that does more harm to the paint than the (more than) occasional sneaky photo?)

In any event, we ended the evening at a lovely restaurant near our B&B, called Momo Republic, where the Christmas lighting was still up. J

Day 2: 29 December 2012

Today was the day of the Colosseum and surrounds. One of the most iconic and recognisable structures in Europe, you are simply in awe when you first lay your eyes upon this relic of ancient history. It is big, beautiful and imposing, and it has a gruesome history as an arena of death.

The Colosseum: first view.

Inside the Colosseum. Three levels are visible. The seating area, the arena floor and the underground structure, where prisoners and animals were kept before being transported into the performance area. This photo also shows the “Life Gate”, through which combatants entered the arena. The “Death Gate” is situated on the other side of the arena, through which the losers leave.

The Colosseum allegedly held 50,000 spectators, with seating carefully assigned according the class, gender, profession and marital status. The arena was where the fighting took place – sometimes it was man versus man, sometimes man versus beast. There is even a theory that water based battles were fought, where the substructures were flooded to enable ships to be floated in the arena. The word `arena’ itself means `sand’ in Latin – derived because sand used to be thrown onto the ground to soak up blood from the combatants.

On that cheery note, let’s move on to the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. I think this is where I paid the least attention on our trip as I had no recollection of what each of these ancient buildings were (for the most part) and had to resort to piecing together information from photos and googling. (Or it might be that we didn’t have a guide during our amble around the area so I might not have known in the first place!)

It is humbling to be standing in the midst of such ancient buildings that had to have been magnificent to behold. These buildings included the residences of emperors and their wives, public buildings and a number of temples to the gods.

Basilica Nova

Temple of Antoninus & Faustina

 Day 3: 30 December 2012

This was the day we nearly lost John (my husband’s stepfather). By that I mean the driver of the bus we took to Tivoli started driving off with him still on it, while the rest of us were already off it. We did get John back before the bus got too far, although I’m not sure that he wouldn’t have enjoyed a snooze in the back of the bus!

So what were we doing in Tivoli?

Visiting two beautiful sites. The first being Villa d’Este – a villa built by the Cardinal d’Este in the 16^th century. The palace is nice enough, with artwork adorning almost every available space, but the real masterpiece is the garden, complete with fountains, statues and little grottoes. Apparently this is a UNESCO world heritage site, which I did not know until today writing this piece. The entire estate is well kept and has undergone a number of restorations through the years.

View of the fish ponds and surrounds from the Organ terrace

The Hundred Fountains

The Organ Fountain

The second villa was Villa Adriana (or Hadrian’s Villa). Like our earlier stop, this is also a UNESCO heritage site. However, unlike Villa d’Este, all that was left here were ruins. One can only imagine the splendour of the buildings that once stood here, and we are only given mere glimpses of what it would have been like in Hadrian’s day. Much of the complex remains unexcavated, but what has been uncovered already is a testament to the architectural genius of the time.

Marble floor visible under the dirt

The Maritime Theatre

I only wish we had more time to spend as we were hurrying around the complex with the late afternoon sun sinking lower and lower over the horizon. We still had to catch a bus back to Rome and had to walk briskly to catch it. Or so we thought.

It turned out that buses don’t really run on time at all in Italy and we ended up waiting over an hour in the cold, only to cram onto an already full bus for the drive back to Rome. It seems that Italian bus services don’t really agree with us.

Day 4: 31 December 2012

Our last day in Rome, and our last day with the parentals before they flew home and we continued our journey north towards Florence.

We started our day with a visit to the Pantheon. The current version of this building was apparently built by the Emperor Hadrian (it had various incarnations beforehand, twice being destroyed by fire).  A domed building with an oculus (or skylight, to bring it into line with contemporary lingo) and impressive Corinthian columns fronting the building, it was truly a beautiful building. Unfortunately my photos do not do this landmark any justice. L A little trivia – the artist Raphael is buried here!

The Corinthian columns of the Pantheon

The Oculus

Onto the Trevi Fountain, or Fontana di Trevi. It is described by Trevifountain.net as “the most beautiful (fountain) in the world”, of course without any prejudice colouring its claim! It certainly is a reasonable claim, though. The sea god Oceanus stands almost 6 metres high in the central niche, with winged horses and Tritons emerging from the stone landscape beneath him, all sculpted in white stone. There is a legend that if a visitor throws a coin into the fountain, they are destined to return to Rome. Now I’m not sure if I did throw a coin into that fountain (probably not, as I can think of much better things to do with my Euros – another gelato maybe), but judging by the number of tourists crawling around that fountain I’m sure many people have.

The Trevi Fountain

A short walk away from the Trevi Fountain are the Spanish steps. Of all the sights in Rome I found this one the most underwhelming. It is a set of steps. Nothing special. Even the view from the top was obscured by a monstrous, conical “Christmas tree”. I remember horse drawn carriage rides were offered around here, but they cost a ridiculous amount, I think about 200 Euros.

View from the bottom

View from the top

This was our last planned sight for the day. The rest of the day was taken up by a rip off lunch in the middle of tourist central, a nice walk in the sunshine of the Roman winter and a quick stop back at the Vatican for a final look, where preparations were underway for a New Year’s eve service.

Thus ended our year MMXII, and it is also probably an appropriate end to Part 1 of our Italian trip. J

I'm back! (kinda)

After almost two years of not producing anything I have decided that I should try and continue this not-very-well-put-together blog. 

So I'm back. 

A lot has happened since I stopped writing. Robin and I bought a house, we renovated said house, I became a parent to mammals (not just plants). Still not sure that's a good idea, because remember Jimmy and Brian? Well, they're dead. 

Since Jimmy and Brian, two more orchids joined the family - Wendyl and Joann. 

They're still alive. 

For now. 

Luckily, so are my furry children, Thor and Loki, although things could have been so different.... (More on that perhaps another time.)

Hopefully I will have the time and commitment to continue this, because I actually do like it.

Anyway, here are some pics of my fur babies to make you smile.

Thor with his miniature Loki toy (he was busy biting off its paw).

Loki with his mini-me.