Roma Roma Roma

Last weekend, Nicole and I went on a class trip for our architecture class to the Italian Capitol of Rome. Rome is a much bigger city than Florence is, so there was a lot to see and do while we were there. Carlo, our architecture teacher who also owns a firm here in Italy, with offices in Florence and Orvieto, had us meet at the train station for the 2:30 train into Rome. By 4:30 we had dropped our bags off at the hotel and set off to "discover Rome" as Carlo put it.

While Florence is mostly in the Renaissance style of architecture, Rome is in the Baroque style, so the buildings are very different than what we are used to at our home base. First stop was the Piazza della Repubblica to visit the chiesa Santa Maria degli Angeli, which was designed by Michelangelo. This was a former Roman Bath turned into a church, so all the windows are very high, for privacy. We then took the subway further into the heart of Rome, where we spent the evening walking through the city, admiring all of its famous landmarks and sites. We went to the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and several beautiful piazzas, all with fountains and obelisks in their centers. The obelisks make Rome fairly easy to navigate, as they serve as pretty excellent landmarks.

For dinner, Carlo took us to a little pizzeria which was a favorite of his when he was an architecture student in Rome. We dined on brushetta and pizza, very delicious! Next, we headed over to the Piazza del Campidoglio, which was also designed by Michelangelo. We toured that, the Roman Forum, and eventually ended up at the Colosseum. By now, it had gotten very late so it was about time to end our day. However, after learning that there was an ice bar walking distance from us, we decided we couldn't pass that up.

The Ice Bar was very fun. When we got there, we were outfitted with capes and gloves for warmth. After passing through an airtight door, we were in the bar which was completely made out of ice- the bar, the walls, the seats, everything. A drink was included with the cover, so we all had various delicious and fruity martinis- served in glasses made out of ice of course. After taking a few pictures, we couldn't stand the cold anymore, so we called it a night.

The next morning started bright and early with breakfast included with our rooms (yesss saving money!). We then walked to the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Vittoria, which was very cool because it was one of the churches in the movie "Angels and Demons" (the church where the cardinal was lit on fire, for those of you who have seen the movie). We then took the subway to Vatican City. Realizing that the lines to get into the museums were way too long, we walked into St. Peter's Square to visit St. Peter's Basilica. Nicole and weren't let in the church because we were wearing shorts (our bad) so we had time to walk through Vatican City a little bit and visit some of the shops. We were taking an extra day to visit the Vatican, so I really didn't mind. It was our fault for wearing shorts, and I really respect the fact that you need to be dressed appropriately to visit the largest catholic church in the world.

After the Vatican, we went to a modern museum designed by an American architect which housed a 2000 year old Roman Alter. It also had an exhibit dedicated to an interior designer, which was very cool. This concluded the scheduled events with our Architecture class, so Nicole and I said bye to our classmates and headed off to finish the rest of our trip. We had previously decided to take an extra day in Rome, in order to really see the city. We headed back to our hotel, checked into our new room and took some much needed showers. For dinner, we couldn't pass up the Hard Rock Cafe, and enjoyed southwest spring rolls (a favorite of mine), fajitas and a brownie sundae.

After dinner, we found a park nearby, and had a lovely time sitting and talking, just enjoying being in Rome. A little later, after deciding to skip the pub crawl we had planned on doing, we stumbled upon a little bar with tables set up outside. We enjoyed a bottle of wine while listening to live music, and had a very lovely evening.

Bright and early the next morning, Nicole and I woke up and headed back to Vatican City. We only had to wait in line for an hour, mostly for the museum to open, so I was very proud of our promtness. The Vatican Museum is one of the largest museums in the world, and holds many many wonderful peices of artwork. We saw several apartments of popes from hundreds of years ago, the Raphael Rooms, old tapestries, old maps and the library in the Vatican which housed mostly very old artifacts which were used to hold mass- bibles, tabernacles and so on. The tour of the museums ended with the Sistine Chapel, which words cannot really describe how amazing it is. It took Michelangelo about 13 years to complete the ceiling and front wall with his frescos. We learned that a "fresco" is made by painting on wet plaster, so the paint is really absorbed and becomes a part of the room, instead of just something on top of the walls. The front wall of the Sistine Chapel depicts the Last Judgement, with Jesus and Mary in the center, and people moving into either heaven or hell. The ceiling is basically panels of the story of creation in pictures. Michelangelo decided to do this so that everyone, including those who could not read, could understand how man came to be. The most amazing thing about the ceiling is the optical illusion that Michelangelo included- it appears that there are columns separating the panels, when really the ceiling is smooth. One could easily spend hours just admiring this amazing chapel.

Once we finished our tour of the Vatican Museums, Nicole and I had our chance to go into St. Peters. St. Peters is huge, and completely filled with statues, frescos, decorations and side chapels. There was a mass going on in one side chapel, held in Italian, which was very cool to see. Another chapel was reserved for private prayer, so I spent a little bit of time in there reflecting and praying.

We concluded our day in Rome by walking around and visiting the sites. We found several cute shops and another park to sit and relax in. Before the train ride home, Nicole and I finally found canolis, and shared one with a cappucino. Very delicious! It was good to get back to Florence Saturday evening, but we had a truly fantastic weekend in Rome!