When we left Venice for Rome, we knew that it was going to be hot in Rome, but we would realize soon that we really had no idea how hot!
The coach ride to Rome seemed shorter to me than I had expected and we arrived at our hotel in the mid-afternoon. The hotel was a nice one located on top of a hill in the suburbs - in fact the roads leading to it were not too well suited to coaches! Once again, Dave amazed me with his ability to put the coach into spots I wouldn't think a Honda would fit!
We checked into our room and were glad to see that we had a nice balcony and good air conditioning! Jamie and I immediately did some laundry in the sink and our terrace became the dryer. We had a few hours to kill before we were going on our orientation tour of Rome and we used that time as we usually did - to check out the hotel bar! This hotel had a great little bar with a big outside terrace area with tables. We spent alot of time outside at these tables running into the bar for those great Italian Heinekens! Actually the bar had dutch Heineken on tap!
The first night we went into Rome was real nice. The weather was comfortable and we walked around with Daren who oriented us to Rome. Many of us attended the "first supper" at this restaurant run by the monks. Jamie and I even managed to get one of them to bless our drinks (see below!) After dinner we took the coach back to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening on the terrace with our new contiki friends!
The next day we woke up early and headed into Rome for our day of sightseeing. We spent most of the morning with our Roman Guide who took us to many interesting places. We started out at the Church of St. Peter in Chains. This is the church that actually houses the chains that bound St. Peter. There is also a statue of Michelangelo's Moses in this church. This piece looked so real that it was almost eerie (see below - the picture does not due it justice).
I should point out that in most of Europe you must wear long pants and have your shoulders covered when entering a church out of respect. This seemed fine until we put on these clothes in the 110 degree roman heat. I have never sweat so much in my life! We quickly learned that we needed to wear shorts and put long pants on over them for the churches, just to remove them again when we exited the church!
We did just this when we went to our second stop - The Colusseum. This was one of the most facinating places that we saw on this trip. The sheer size of this place is amazing. I found the passages in the bottom most interesting as this was here people used to be held before they were eaten by the Lions! We did manage to find an american tourist who took the group photo of us in the Colusseum that is posted below.
When we left the colusseum we headed for the Forum and managed to buy frozen water for the trip. The street vendors were selling frozen bottles of water that would melt into drinkable water in half an hour. My decision to buy two would be a good one as the 110 degree daytime heat in the forum was tough without agua!
We had lunch time free to explore Rome and several of us headed over to Piazza Navonna and the Pantheon. We had a great lunch at a little pasta place just off of the Piazza Navonna. We were on the lookout for gypsies, which Rome is famous for but sadly I must admit that we only saw one and she was over a block away from us. I guess that although we definitely were tourists the "prep talk" from Daren tought us how to be "gypsy proof". We would later discover in Florence that this was not true! After some more walking around, and several gelottis it was time to head for the Vatican and St. Peters Square.
Jamie and I spent some time going through the Vatican Museum as we both wanted to see the Sistene Chapel. After what seemed like hours of following one hallway we finally arrived in the chapel. I was in total awe of this place! It had just been restored and I could not believe the detail in the artwork.
After spending some time here Jamie and I headed for the Cathederal of St. Peter. Once again donning our "church dress" we went into the cathederal. With the summer heat outside, the Cathederal was dark and surprisingly cool. The sheer size of this place was amazing. I have to say that St. Peters was easilly my favorite place in all of Europe. The Cathederal was beautiful. Michaelangelo's Pieta is housed here and it is much more beautiful in person than anything I have ever seen before. This may seem like gushing, but I was truely moved in this place!
We spent the remainder of our time in Rome at the hotel and on the terrace sharing our experiences with our fellow travelers and one message seemed to shine through about Rome - Even with the heat, gypsies and the pollution the sights of Rome make it quite a place! We all were looking forward to the next day though, as we were about to discover Florence and the Tuscan Hills!
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© 1998-2000 Geoffrey S. Cable
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