Only one day left in Rome and so much left to see!  We were able to secure a private tour guide to the Vatican, but the tour wasn’t until later in the afternoon.   Since we had the morning to kill, and it had been HOURS since we’d seen any ruins, LouAnn dragged us to the Baths of Caracalla.  The scale of this ancient Roman bath house was stunning…. the most amazing spa I’ve ever imagined.   Just to give you an idea, the underground furnaces used to heat the pools burned through 10 tons of wood a day!  They also had room underground to store a 6-month supply of wood.   That’s 3.6 million pounds!  The baths had been incredibly immaculate – with many intricate mosaics still existing.

 

Part of the incredible mosaic floors in the baths.

Time for the Vatican tour, with FABIO.  Ah, Fabio, our tall, slender, tanned, handsome, 80-YEAR-OLD tour guide, who had been giving tours for 40 years.   Every tour guide we passed greeted him with hugs and told us that he had trained them all, that he was “the best in Rome.”  He may have been the best, but he wasn’t the FASTEST.  We quickly realized our 2 hr. tour would turn into four (ended up being 4 ½.)  He couldn’t hear very well either.  As we were discussing the Sistine Chapel’s Last Judgment fresco, I tried to sound insightful by commenting that Michelangelo’s exaggerated figures looked almost grotesque.  Fabio simply nodded and said, “…Yes, very sarcastic.”

He tended to dwell on the things that he thought were significant or interesting and brushed off everything else.  For instance, when in St. Peter’s Basilica, LouAnn had to ask who the corpse in the glass coffin was?   He made a face and said, dismissively, “Oh, that’s Pope Such-and-Such… He’s buried with a silver mask on his face.  I don’t like it!  No man should be buried with a mask hiding his face!  Pffftt!”   O-k-a-y then, moving on.   We did learn a lot about the differences between Greek and Roman sculpture.  At the highest level, the Romans tended to show things at their very best.   Their sculpture was more like portraiture.  The Greeks were more realistic – theirs were more like snapshots of real life – the good, the bad – it had movement and meaning.

The Sistine Chapel was fascinating.  What Michelangelo accomplished was staggering.  Fabio made an interesting point that Michelangelo’s paintings were essentially done just like his sculptures; he did such an amazing job showing the human form.  They look almost 3-D.  During his time, NO ONE even came close to replicating his mastery of painting muscles, features, contours, shading.

He was in his 30’s when he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and his figures were softer and innocent.   When he painted “The Final Judgment”, he was in his 60’s and his attitude had changed.  He was more cynical – his innocence was lost – therefore his figures were more grotesque (not sarcastic!) in their form and features – more hardened.   At that age, he had seen more of the sin that was in the world and in himself, and it was reflected in his painting.    Actually being in the Sistine Chapel was surreal.  Really crowded, darker than expected, and relatively quiet… except for the guard with the bullhorn telling everyone, “Silencio!”  (At this, Fabio rolled his eyes and kept whispering to us.)  While it was incredible, it was almost TOO much; almost gaudy.  Every square inch of the chapel was painted.  But learning so much about the paintings before we went in made it much more meaningful as we stood and gazed upon this masterpiece.

Fabio then took us over to St. Peter’s, which we didn’t think we’d see, as it had been closed that morning.  (Did I mention that he skipped right past the 2-hour lines everywhere he took us?)   As we entered, two rays of light were shining down into the central nave.  Beautiful!  We saw incredible paintings, mosaics, and sculptures, including Michelangelo’s “La Pieta.”  Fabio pointed out that the enormous 15 ft. paintings were actually mosaics!   You would never know unless you looked at it a certain way, with the light reflecting on it.   Mind-blowing detail!

As we meandered through the church, loud bells began ringing, calling for afternoon mass.   At this, Fabio hurried us toward the exit, not wanting to be caught up in it.   “What time is mass? “ I asked.  “5:00,” he replied and looked at his watch.  It was only 4:45.   Wait!  Where’s Ellis!?   We looked back through the crowd to see Ellis standing in the corner, his hands grasping the rope that was attached to the bell that calls everyone to mass.   Deep breaths….

We finished our tour and had dinner & ice cream with Fabio at a nearby restaurant.   By the time we got back to our hotel, we realized we’d been walking for 12+ hours.  No wonder our feet were tired!

Fabio, talking about the Sistine Chapel before we went in.

Michelangelo was said to have modeled his “David” after this bust.  It was enormous – 15-20 feet tall.

 

Pope John Palm Frond III

“Laocoon and His Sons”, outside the Vatican Museum.  A very famous Greek sculpture that’s a brilliant example of the life and ACTION that Greek sculptors created.  Here, Laocoon – a Trojan priest of Poseidon – and his two sons are being attacked by sea serpents.

 

Depiction of “The Last Judgment” on a sign outside the Sistine Chapel.  No photos allowed inside!  And no TALKING, por favore!

 

Brilliant late-afternoon sunlight in St. Peter’s Basilica

 

Michelangelo’s “La Pieta”

 

 

 

These are the same mosaic; the second one shows the detailed tiles.

Pope Silver-Mask!  Fabio does not approve!

Swiss Guard – personal bodyguards to the Pope.

 

The fabulous Fabio!

 

After a post-Pompeii-pizza, we boarded the little yellow bus again for the short trip to the Mt. Vesuvius kick-off point; we would hike from there up to the crater.  It was about 25 minutes to the first vantage point – hey, a gift shop!  Just in case you wanted an “I Survived Mt. Vesuvius” t-shirt or obscene Naples postcards featuring other local “peaks”.  (just keep walking, kids!)

Mt. Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, completely covering Pompeii and the neighboring areas in burning ash.  Scientists now believe it was the intense heat that killed the Pompeiians; temperatures were estimated to immediately surge to over 400 degrees fahrenheit.  Its last eruption was in 1944, and it remains active today.

Starting the climb….

 

The crater!

Selfie into the blazing sun!

See the steam coming out of the crater?

 

Naples

Here we are sampling the local wine, “Tears of Jesus”.  Um……….I know why he was crying.  Blech.

 

Headed back down.

 

 

Mt. Veselfius.

Thursday, June 5th.  Up at the crack of dawn to hop on the subway and meet up with our Pompeii tour group at Piazza del Popolo.  Antonella was our tour guide and she was great.  We had about 25 in our group, which was somewhat manageable.  We loaded up in our yellow bus for the 3 hour ride to Pompeii.

We were completely blown away by Pompeii.  In our minds, Pompeii consisted of a few ruins and a bunch of plaster casts of its inhabitants, frozen in their final, horrifying poses.   But it was so much MORE.  It’s an entire city, incredibly preserved.  The main street is a mile long.  We walked its streets, looked in its shops, its houses, its BROTHELS.  It was so much to take in.  Pompeii was built in the 7th or 6th century BC, and when it was buried by the Mt. Vesuvius explosion in AD 79, the ash that fell became an incredible preservative.  It was discovered by a man digging to divert a river in 1599, but an extensive excavation didn’t occur until the 1738.  Gorgeous paintings and elaborate artwork on the walls still impress after 2500 years.  The brothels consisted of individual rooms with stone beds, each with a painted depiction above the door of the particular service performed in that room!  Gracious! We dragged the kids through THAT one pretty fast!

Ellis, our little history buff, was right up in Enrico’s grill the whole time, asking many, many questions, and telling him lots of facts he knew.  Enrico (our guide) kept calling him, “my little assistant.”   Proud!!    This city has been Ellis’ and Loubie’s favorite by far!   However, if I could go back and tell the Pompeiians three things , here they be:   1. Lead pipes are poisonous.  2.  Here’s how to build a sewer.   3. MOVE!!!

 

 

This cast captures the horror this poor victim must have felt during the eruption.  They died instantly from a surge of 482 degree heat, even if they were in buildings.

 

Pompeii had two amphitheaters.  This was the larger of the two, used for theatrical productions.  The smaller was used for music.

An original Pompeii street.  The street was below the sidewalks because the streets doubled as open sewers.  The raised stones were used as a crosswalk!  And they were spaced so that a wagon could straddle the middle stone – the wheel ruts are still visible.

The ancient forum – public square – of Pompeii.

 

 

Stone bed at the brothel.

 

 

The kids giggling about it afterwards!

Pompeii was fed by multiple natural springs – which still flow today.  Cold and clean….

This is one of the lead water pipes used all over the city.   No one told them about lead poisoning…

Partial city view from top of the amphitheater.  The white building in the top left corner sits atop the 30% of Pompeii that is still buried under the modern-day ground level.

Pompeii forum with still-active Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background.

Our guide Enrico said that this is the only dog to have survived the eruption!

2,500 year old artistic detail inside the public bath.

Our guide Enrico showing us Pompeii’s version of McDonald’s, a takeaway restaurant.  The holes in the stone counter hold terra-cotta pots from which food was served.

Pompeii was a sea port; this was a marina building.  The eruption established a new shoreline – Pompeii is now two miles inland.

 

Wednesday morning, June 4th.  Happy 12th Birthday, Ellis!  The birthday boy was surprisingly hard to rouse out of bed – actually, we all were.  First breakfast in our hotel…..um, the coffee was good?  We made our 10-minute walk back to the main train station, where our Green Line Tours bus was supposed to be waiting….in a SEA of other buses.  We serpentined like lost toddlers in a mall until someone finally pointed us in the right direction.  But wait – some flag-waving demonstration was blocking the square!  So here, “follow that guy in the red hat, he will take you to bus!!”  So we took off trying to keep up with a supposed-GLT-employee who seemed like he was running from his own crime scene.  But at least we got to walk under a canopy of orange trees, which were beautiful.  And it was another perfect day, so we were happy.  First stop on the Green Line – the Colosseum!  By way of the Circus Maximus….site of 1st century chariot races!

  the ominous warning card on our breakfast table.  We were careful not to be “abounding in portions.”

  racing to keep up with the man in the red hat.

  Circus Maximus

The Colosseum is simply stunning.  I know that ain’t profound or nothin’.  I’ve been struck by ancient marvels before; struck by what could be accomplished by sheer will and an ENDLESS supply of “willing” human capital.  I felt it standing on the Great Wall, and I felt it here at the Colosseum.  But added to it here was amazement at the ENGINEERING dreamed up and accomplished by the Romans.  And the VISION that fueled it.  It’s an architectural masterpiece.  It had a retractable COVER, for heaven’s sake – long before Jerryworld.  The vast areas under the arena floor held all types of wonders, and provided for multiple trap doors, vertical platforms, appearing and disappearing set pieces, all types of wild animals, the ability to flood the arena floor for sea battle reenactments – then DRAIN the water quickly…… it just boggles the mind.  In one production, to commemorate the occasion when a whale washed up on the shore near Rome, they built a movable whale that came up out of the arena floor….THEN THE MOUTH OPENED, AND 50 BEARS CAME ROMPING OUT.  Man, what a show THAT must have been.  Of course, the shows usually ended with a few condemned getting eaten by lions or burned alive.  But STILL.  You have to give them engineering and theatrical credit…  Romans.  Conquered the world AND could put on a great show.

After the Colosseum, it was another near-fruitless search for the elusive Green Line Tours bus – like stalking a rare beast.  Ellis finally figured it out, and we hopped on for a much needed rest and open-air ride around town.

We got off near the Trevi Fountain and Yelp-ed our way to a wonderful lunch spot….

 

After our late lunch, every tourist in Rome graciously agreed to meet at the Trevi Fountain right before we arrived.  Good GRIEF.  But we nonetheless made our way to the edge and tossed the proverbial coins.  I think I was wishing that Ellis would stop trying to climb up the side of the fountain.

 

The Pantheon was MUCH more impressive.  The dome is jaw-dropping.  2,000 years after it was built, it is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.  Just poured concrete over a wood frame.  The diameter of the dome is 142 feet, dwarfing the US Capitol’s dome-ameter of 96 feet.  Amazing architectural feats ensure the staggering weight of the dome is supported.  The only natural light comes front the 30-foot oculus in the top.  Funny, I used to be in a band called Oculus…..

 

On to the Spanish Steps – daylight is fading!  Hey Spain – not your greatest point of pride!  They are, in fact, just a set of STEPS.  With lots of tourists sitting on them.  And funny guys selling beer illegally out of plastic bags and occasionally scampering away from the one poor policeman assigned to stop this blight.  Here are the kids enjoying the Spanish Steps:

We closed the day with Ellis’s birthday dinner, and aimless strolls through the Rome streets.  Here’s E blowing out his invisible birthday candle:

Other select scenes from today……

 

A wonderful first day in Rome!  Although Ellis missed the first hour of it….. after not sleeping AT ALL on the flight over, he suddenly CRASHED as soon as we landed.  Ooh, bad choice of words.  Here’s a glimpse of his first 60 minutes in Italy…….

       

The transfer into town was easy enough, via a train to the Rome Termini station, then about a 10 minute walk to our hotel.  PERFECT weather – sunny and 72 degrees.  So far the kids are holding to the edict – YOU PULL AND CARRY YOUR OWN BAGS!

 

The beds were inviting, the rooms were dark and cool, so we all collapsed to sleep off the jet lag.  After naps, we walked through our neighborhood and settled on a place for a late lunch.  Most of the restaurants close between 3 and 7 so it was actually a challenge to find a place that was open.  But it was an idyllic sidewalk setting, the food was good, and the drinks were cold.  I tried to get the kids engaged in a discussion of the Roman Empire, but it proved a bit much for the first day; our sleep-deprived minds were suspended in a happy fog.

  

After our lazy lunch, we rode the subway down to the Colosseum.  Stepping out of the station into the imposing presence of the Colosseum was impressive.  We were all struck, though in different ways.  LouAnn and I were continually amazed at the sheer AGE of everything around us, that you could actually walk up and touch something that was built at the time of Christ.  The kids, no less profoundly, were struck with the head-shaking reality that they were walking around ROME, ITALY.  We walked past the Forum, up the hill to Trajan’s Column, where we rested for a while.  The evening sun made for some great photos.