Laughing Under Winter Sky: rome

Today was one of the more interesting ones. For some reason, this
morning we were both snappy and inclined to sulk, but after an hour or
two, I called both of us out on it and we made an effort to improve,
and mostly did. We finally found an adaptor for the laptops- yay for
real Internet again!- and bought food for the orphaned kittens at the
hostel. From there, we decided to find a tea room, which proved a bit
of a challenge.
We had tea at the foot of the Spanish steps, the Piazza di Spagna at a
shop called Babingtons. It's an Anglo-Saxon style shop, which isn't
technically right in Rome but we decided to do it anyway.
The shop is lovely, furnished in the simple dark woods common in the
UK and beautiful jars full of teas. Our tablemates were Scottish and
we compared notes on restaurants, gelaterias, and our impressions of
monuments we'd seen so far.
The tea was amazing- Babington Royal Blend, a gift to Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth on her visit to Rome. We drank a tea that Her Majesty
owns. This whole trip boggles my mind. Chris is developing quite the
tea palate, and pronounced this tea similar to Golden Monkey- not
quite so earthy, very robust, with flowery notes. He particularly
noted a hint of rose and jasmine, and maybe a little vanilla. Yes, my
boyfriend is more of a tea conniousser than I am!
I wanted to buy a teacup, but at €30, I decided that I will get one
for each country, not city!

Navigating Rome is by turns fun and frustrating. We tried to go to the
Capuchin Monastery, and after a half dozen wrong turns and the
directions of a very kind nun, we finally found out that it's closed
in the midday, like much of Rome.
However, while looking for it, we found the Piazza Barberini, with the
Palazzo Barberini and the Fontana di Triton by Bernini.
So another series of fun and frustrating directions later, we took 2
buses to the Catacombs.
Outside of the main city, Roman roads are narrow, meandering, and
surrounded by high walls. There were several times when I wasn't sure
our bus would make it past another car or around a turn.
On arriving, we were both hungry so we stopped at a food stand and
bought gelato. Please note- 'Due gelato, per favore, cream e
chioccalate,' means 'two custard and chocolate ice creams, please'.
NOT 'two gelatos, please, chocolate and custard.' Oops LOL
But we picnicked in a gorgeous sunny field, making messes of our
gelato like children and enjoying the shade.
The catacombs, apparently, are guided tours only, and your ticket
allows you to wait for a guide in your language. The order for this is
apparently random, and motivated by whim- like much of Roman behavior,
it seems to me.
The catacombs themselves were amazing. No pictures were allowed for
fear of light damage to the 1000 year old frescoes, but the images
will be burned into my mind forever. There are 3 kinds of crypts-
single niches, larger niches for couples, and 'cubicles' for families.
Yes, cubicle is a word for a family crypt- tell that to your boss.
They weren't hiding places like people think- the Roman gov't knew
about them- but they were cemeteries. After 300AD when Christianity
was decriminalized, they were decorated and the martyrs celebrated.
The Catacombs at San Callisto cover 13 hectares and held nearly a half
a million bodies, wrapped in linen shrouds and preserved in quicklime.
There was a statue in the Crypt of St Cecelia, dedicated to Emily
Cecilia McBride of New York, whom I intend to look up.
It was a beautiful, humbling experience-even my favorite Goth was
quiet and respectful- mostly, anyway. The gravity of the place was
astonishing- half a million lives, half a million people, with hopes
and dreams and lives and wishes and fears and needs. So beautiful...
We ended up deciding to just walk for a while, passing stands of shoes
and shops of electronics and clothes. We learned that a pastacceri
isn't a pasta shop, but a bakery. My favorite Italian phrase is
becoming, 'Costa mi consiglia?' which means, ''What do you recommend?'
Today it got us an amazing little sweet glazed biscuit with custard.
Another few blocks foun me the teacup Ive been looking for- grey Roman
monuments behind bright scarlet roses. And, it was €5, not €30!
Finally, though, our feet were hurting so we headed back to the Metro
and Chris's idea of dinner overlooking the Fontana de Trevi. When we
reached it, we both just stopped in awe. Neither of us expected it to
be so grand- so large and beautiful! We climbed all over one side of
it, taking pictures and laughing like children when we climbed up and
over the rail. Dinner turned out to be more of a snack at a nearby
cafe, but it was the only place with tables that overlooked the Fontana.
I've discovered that while Chris loves real Italian mozzerella, Im
still not fond of olives, or sun-dried tomatoes that have been packed
in olive oil.
Finally, as the evening got cooler, we walked back to the hostel
together, holding hands.
Tomorrow morning, we leave for Florence.

The only real blasphemy is the refusal of joy. -"Jeffrey"

Day 2, Rome

Our second day in Rome started early. My alarm went off at 7 after
barely 5 hours of sleep. After informing Chris that that night, HE got
to do laundry!, we grabbed a quick breakfast of complimentary
cornflakes, croissant, and tea (hey, it's a hostel, not a 5-star
resort), we took off to see more of Rome.
The first stop was the Vatican, where we were accosted by independent
tour guides all through the walk from the stazione. Chris's Russian
came in handy, though- none of them spoke it, so when we answered it,
they left us alone.
As we entered St Peters Square, we saw a gigantic crowd around it.
Heartwarmingly, a black priest was asking to take a picture with two
Buddhist monks.
Wondering what was going on, we kept looking around and realized that
the Papal Pavilion had been set up- yes, we are some of the only
people in the world who can say that they accidentally saw the Pope.
We left his address early, using the crowd's interest in it to assure
a quieter crowd in the Museu Vaticani. It was... beyond words. The
Egyptian collection, which we saw first, make even Rome feel young.
The sarcophogi, nebti, amulets, tools, and even mummies defy
description. The colors are brilliant after 5000 years, and every
piece has it's own power, enough to stop the throat.
We wandered most of the Museum, seeing tapestries, maps, sculpture,
paintings, and every imaginable form of art. I was stunned after the
first half hour, walking around blind and dumb with wonder. It was the
Sistine Chapel that killed me, though. It was the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel that made my head explode. I was IN the Sistine Chapel,
I SAW the most famous piece of religious art in the world.
When I wandered out, it was 30 minutes before I registered another
piece of art, before my numbed mind responded again.
I left the Vatican profoundly moved... and with a deep desire to sneak
into the Secret Archives. They have letters there from Galileo,
Lincoln, and Luxretia Borggia!

After we left the Vatican, another cup of gelato was called for, then
we went to the Pantheon. It was a religious kind of a day.
First, though, lunch at the spot my stepmom rexommended- DiRenzio's,
right off the piazza, and the best pasta carbonara I'm likely ever to
have. The paper shop across the street tempted me more than it should
have but that's not unusual.

I hadn't know the Pantheon had been converted to a church, and had
half-expected it to still have dedications to the Gods. I suppose I
should have known better. Still, though, it was hard to feel
disappointed a I stared at the sun through the oculus, the hole in the
center of the Pantheon. We spent over an hour there, just walking
around and looking. Utterly gorgeous.

Finally, though, we were tired and returned to the hostel early, where
I worked a bit and Chris lay down before we wandered our neighborhood
a bit. We ended up having dinner at a lovely little trattoria and
pizzeria around the corner from the hostel. Easily the best prices and
largest portions- and some of the best food- we've had in Rome.

The only real blasphemy is the refusal of joy. -"Jeffrey"

Day 1, Rome

We arrived in Rome in the morning, and managed to get to the hostel
with minimal difficulty. Checking in, we were asked to wait while the
room was finished. This gave us time to meet the building's true
owners- two cats and a couple of orphaned kittens who had been adopted.
Like all Roman homes, from what Ive seen, the hostel utilizes every
spare inch of space for plants and flowers. Before long, we were
settled into a comfortable little room with 2 twin mattresses pushed
together to make a king bed, a second set of bunk beds, a wardrobe and
a desk. The desk sits under a big window overlooking the next door
alley. But unlike an American alley, this is yet another greenspace,
full of grass and the poppies that grow wild here.
A nap beckoned, but we headed out anyway. Following the directions
that the hostel operator gave us, we headed to the Colosseum,
intending to see part of it and the Templo di Diana.
There is a Metro station right by the Colosseum, and when you walk out
you're immediately greeted by the Circus Maximus. It is a fallen giant
now, overgrown with greenery, but it's bones remain and they are awe-
inspiring. We walked past it, under pines older than my nation, and up
to the Palatino. It was our first real taste of Old Rome- the tiny
rooms we can only assume were cells, the foundations of what's
believed to be Augustus' birthplace. Cobbled path trod by Senators and
slaves, fallen pillars like the bones of giants. When we came out into
the sunlight again, we were greeted by a cat atop a ruin- soon to be a
familiar sight, as Rome is apparently owned by cats. I took pictures
of the view before we turned a corner and stood beneath the Arch of
Titus. It was amazing. They are called Triumphal Arches, built to
commemorate great victories- Titus's was over the Northern (Germanic?)
tribes- and around the corner was the greatest of them. The Arch of
Augustus, the very first and largest of the Triumphal Arches,
commemorates Augustus Octavian's victory over Marc Antony and Queen
Cleopatra. His general for that campaign, Marcus Agrippa, is also who
oversaw the construction of the Pantheon.
In the same square is the Colosseum, a truly massive feat of human
engineering- and brutality. We walked through it, marveling at the
steps trod by hundreds of thousands of Roman sandals as they watched
day after day of Festival celebrations, gladiator battles, and
executions. The bloodthirstiness of it appeals on one level and repels
on another- the games sometimes lasted weeks on end, sponsored by the
Emperor, and the Colosseum itself held thousands. The main level,
where the sands once were, gave me the chills at the thought of all
the men and women who had stepped onto those sands to fight and die.
Chris loved it, grinning like a kid and climbing on the pillars (there
are places it's allowed).
On leaving the Colosseum, we paused a moment for me to fuss over the
carriage horses, but €120 for a ride is a little out of our budget-
so I settled for fussing and enjoying the warm scent of horse on my
hands.
We wandered the Palatino grounds a little longer, enjoying the

We tried to walk to the Templo di Diana, but when we finally found it,
it turned out to be the VIA de Templo di Diana. In other words, the
temple was long gone, and an apartment building stood in it's place.
The lintel is still there, though. Wide and low and dark. I wanted to
go in, but settled for touching it.
So we headed back toward the Metro, and after an amusingly
unsuccessful attempt at finding a place I'd read about for dinner, had
dinner just outside Statzioni Termini- an amazing pasta amatriciana,
with bacon and sheeps milk cheese. A not amazing gelato and an hour
later and we stumbled, exhausted, home to our hostel and Chris fell
asleep while I uploaded pictures and washed clothes in the sink.

Our room in Peter Pan Hostel