The intent to take off 1 month was in the back of our minds for 40 years. The opportunity was presented to us 4 months ago. Excitement brewed about 4 weeks ago and panic struck us 4 days ago when we realized that we had several things to do before we left Charlotte to Rome, Florence, Venice, London, Rotherham, Bangalore, Connoor & Paris. With temps ranging from -27 degree C(hometown Charlotte, NC) to +27 deg C in Conoor in February we were struggling with what to pack when only 1 carryon and 1 checked baggage was allowed.
So we get on the plane at Philadelpha, PA to Rome, Italy and the inside is what I saw more than 35 years ago when I first started flying. This was appalling. Wooden panels with peeling paint and gouges. One large TV 80's style on the bulkhead middle. Ashtrays on each seat!! Stations where small paper cups can be filled with drinking water. And the food of course does not keep pace with what was available 35 years ago. Such is the travel experience these days. Trays pull up out of the rest handles. Overhead lights illumiate the back of the passenger;s head very nicely, Helps if you have a small flash light. The flight was very smooth however.
But the plane uneventfully landed at Fiumcino airport, moderately sleek construction nothing to match what Asian airports have. Our tour guide from Monogram was dutifully waiting for us and whisked us away on the Mercedes Benz SUV. His english was limited to a few words and a well placed whistle; our Italian was limited to Buno Serra or Bonjourno. But the countryside was very pretty and Rome far away.
As we arrived at the hotel N. H. Giustiniano which looked very pleasant with wonderful Italian girls greeting us ("Carolotta", "Margherita") we were asked politely to wait 30 minutes or 1 hour for a room. That space was occupied by our main tour guide-- yes there were several more we would encounter-- Mariesa ("Ma-Ray-Sa") who asked us to call her "my mother". She was 72 -- just a little but older-- but was grandmotherly in every respect. But in a motherly way she was so welcoming, walked us out on the street and showed where we can get food, money and gifts. The 30 minutes turned out to be nearly 3 hours but we did get a room overlooking the street. Reminded us of Paris where we stayed in Hotel Powers near the Champs d'Elysses with street noises, dogs and the occasional Cabarineri wailing his police siren. The weather was a bracing -7 deg C but not windy. We slept a few hours and were ready for our evening tour.
Pallazzo Guistanioni Umberto 1 Bridge & Saint Angelo Castille
The first named is enormous edifice constructed in the late 1800's and is now the Supreme Court.It has statues of famous figures from the late 19th century including Cicerone after whom the
town of Cicero was named in Illinois, home of Al Capone. Rome has several short connecting bridges over the tributary of Tiber and makes getting around quite easy. The most touristy spot is the scene at night of St. Peter's Basilica from Umberto Bridge 1. We just had a gorgeous day to capture that pic. The dome of the Basilica-- literally means that it is a church which has an embalmed body(ies) of Saints or other important figures-- which we were to visit the next day, is one of the important landmarks in Rome. The temperature was very bracing. Off to the left of pic was the castle of St. Angelo. There were several tourists from all over the world and we coaxed a young Chinese couple to take pics of us together
The Sistine Chapel and Coliseum
The next day was the guided tour part of the stay. And we had a wonderful guide. Francesco. A tall History major who studied in Rome and was very well informed and educated on the work of Michaelangelo and the Sistine Chapel. We got off early in the morning and the Vatican being just a few blocks away already had long long line. Francesco whisked us ahead to the exclusive line and lo and behold we were in. The tour started at the poster where the entire chapel layout was situated. And we spent more than 1 hour as Francesco went through the details. MA was a 15th century sculptor and was both talented and politically skilled. He had among his very good friends the Pope, the Medici family (more on these blokes, later) and several sycophants. Not only did he live to a ripe old age but with his clout he could with one slice of his chisel or one stroke of his paint brush deliver a stern message to ones who annoy him. Witness the Secretary to the Pope's likeness confined to purgatory in the bottom right corner of his Salvation painting on the Sistine chapel and in the same murall he has the Pope's likeness to God smack bang in the middle. And so when the Secretary wanted to lodge a complaint to the Pope, it was calmly dismissed. MA knew which side of the bread was buttered and by whom.
The collisseum looms over the surrounding areas and is testament to people's continued interest in sporting events especially when blood is involved. Seating over 55,000 in those days, with seating areas reserved for the masses (that will be the nose-bleed section), middle class and the elite in ways that remind us how it is still done today. Gladiators, slaves, animals provided the entertainment and of course the emperor involved people in the decisions. Should the losing gladiator die? A shout of ugga!, ugga! (from the Latin "jugular") would seal his fate. If he were to survive then mitte! mitte! would be music to his ears. Since good gladiators were hard to find and they were marquee items the Emperor would always ask for people's suggestions or suggest i.
The ruins of the Roman forum are close by and depicts what can happen to a beautiful thing. Julius Caesar was NOT killed there, nor was his assassin Mark Anthony. But the emperor's home, the Senate and vestial virgin were all within shouting distance. And so the tour went. One set of wonderful paintings followed by many. One set of sculptures another.
The next day we crossed the Umberto bridge and made our way across to Piazza Navona, Rome's unofficial living room. This elliptical square was built by the Romans as a chariot-racing stadium. Site of the city market for centuries, it is decorated with three fountains. By far the most famous is the central fountain: Bernini's 17th-century Fountain of the Four Rivers, considered a baroque masterpiece. An allegory, the fountain represents the four great rivers of the four continents known at that time: the Danube in Europe, the Nile in Africa, the Rio de la Plata in South America, and the Ganges in Asia. Keep an eye out for identifying details, such as racial features, animals, and plants.
The two flanking fountains are both by 16th-century sculptor Giacomo della Porta, though one, the Fountain of the Moor, was modified by Bernini; he added the central figure, which is riding a porpoise. The other notable landmark here, facing the central fountain, is the 17th-century.
The Pantheon was commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD) and rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian about 126 AD.
The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres (142 ft).
It is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings. It has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a church dedicated to "St. Mary and the Martyrs" but informally known as "Santa Maria Rotonda".
The square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda. We were tired puppies when we got back to the hotel. It had also started raining and the damp, cold environment added to the charm of Rome. All I could think of was CHUTZPAH. The rulers were democratic to an extent. They were dictatorial when needed. The Emperors knew how to please the constituents. Let them watch gore and let them decide how the rules are played. Meanwhile the empire advanced methodically to the Middle East subjugating Egyptians, the Greeks. The seat of Christianity was right there and they elevated it to provide legitimacy to the then-Western world. The Pope was their guy. Art flourished, albeit under the tutelage of powerful patrons. Life was good. But like most empires its downfall was sybaritism. That was to come after nearly a millenium. But in the interim, the various cities constituting modern Italy had stitched together the Union, transformed an agrarian society to an industrial society. But Rome provided the right balance between ruling and the arts, although it was sometimes brutal and cruel.
Pallazzo Guistanioni Umberto 1 Bridge & Saint Angelo Castille
The first named is enormous edifice constructed in the late 1800's and is now the Supreme Court.It has statues of famous figures from the late 19th century including Cicerone after whom the
town of Cicero was named in Illinois, home of Al Capone. Rome has several short connecting bridges over the tributary of Tiber and makes getting around quite easy. The most touristy spot is the scene at night of St. Peter's Basilica from Umberto Bridge 1. We just had a gorgeous day to capture that pic. The dome of the Basilica-- literally means that it is a church which has an embalmed body(ies) of Saints or other important figures-- which we were to visit the next day, is one of the important landmarks in Rome. The temperature was very bracing. Off to the left of pic was the castle of St. Angelo. There were several tourists from all over the world and we coaxed a young Chinese couple to take pics of us together
The Sistine Chapel and Coliseum
The next day was the guided tour part of the stay. And we had a wonderful guide. Francesco. A tall History major who studied in Rome and was very well informed and educated on the work of Michaelangelo and the Sistine Chapel. We got off early in the morning and the Vatican being just a few blocks away already had long long line. Francesco whisked us ahead to the exclusive line and lo and behold we were in. The tour started at the poster where the entire chapel layout was situated. And we spent more than 1 hour as Francesco went through the details. MA was a 15th century sculptor and was both talented and politically skilled. He had among his very good friends the Pope, the Medici family (more on these blokes, later) and several sycophants. Not only did he live to a ripe old age but with his clout he could with one slice of his chisel or one stroke of his paint brush deliver a stern message to ones who annoy him. Witness the Secretary to the Pope's likeness confined to purgatory in the bottom right corner of his Salvation painting on the Sistine chapel and in the same murall he has the Pope's likeness to God smack bang in the middle. And so when the Secretary wanted to lodge a complaint to the Pope, it was calmly dismissed. MA knew which side of the bread was buttered and by whom.The collisseum looms over the surrounding areas and is testament to people's continued interest in sporting events especially when blood is involved. Seating over 55,000 in those days, with seating areas reserved for the masses (that will be the nose-bleed section), middle class and the elite in ways that remind us how it is still done today. Gladiators, slaves, animals provided the entertainment and of course the emperor involved people in the decisions. Should the losing gladiator die? A shout of ugga!, ugga! (from the Latin "jugular") would seal his fate. If he were to survive then mitte! mitte! would be music to his ears. Since good gladiators were hard to find and they were marquee items the Emperor would always ask for people's suggestions or suggest i.The ruins of the Roman forum are close by and depicts what can happen to a beautiful thing. Julius Caesar was NOT killed there, nor was his assassin Mark Anthony. But the emperor's home, the Senate and vestial virgin were all within shouting distance. And so the tour went. One set of wonderful paintings followed by many. One set of sculptures another.
The two flanking fountains are both by 16th-century sculptor Giacomo della Porta, though one, the Fountain of the Moor, was modified by Bernini; he added the central figure, which is riding a porpoise. The other notable landmark here, facing the central fountain, is the 17th-century.
The Pantheon was commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD) and rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian about 126 AD.
The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres (142 ft).It is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings. It has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a church dedicated to "St. Mary and the Martyrs" but informally known as "Santa Maria Rotonda".
The square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda. We were tired puppies when we got back to the hotel. It had also started raining and the damp, cold environment added to the charm of Rome. All I could think of was CHUTZPAH. The rulers were democratic to an extent. They were dictatorial when needed. The Emperors knew how to please the constituents. Let them watch gore and let them decide how the rules are played. Meanwhile the empire advanced methodically to the Middle East subjugating Egyptians, the Greeks. The seat of Christianity was right there and they elevated it to provide legitimacy to the then-Western world. The Pope was their guy. Art flourished, albeit under the tutelage of powerful patrons. Life was good. But like most empires its downfall was sybaritism. That was to come after nearly a millenium. But in the interim, the various cities constituting modern Italy had stitched together the Union, transformed an agrarian society to an industrial society. But Rome provided the right balance between ruling and the arts, although it was sometimes brutal and cruel.