The Communist Underground!

Actually, today was the communists AND underground. After writing our earlier blog, we set out to visit the Zoo, or Bioparco as it's called here. Visiting the zoo in every city we've vacationed in has become a little tradition for us. But upon stepping out of the hotel, we learned that the CGIL parade was over, and now thousands of red clothed Communisti were heading back home across the city. They choked up the entrance to the Metro and clogged every sidewalk. And more disturbingly, they all emanated a sort of anti-American attitude towards us. We were careful not to get surrounded by too many of them at once. Not that we had much reason to worry, but with G20 going on, several groups of drunk teenagers moshing, and a group of Spaniards nearby that were harassing random passersby, we were on guard. The only thing anyone said to us was "Mr. Obama! Where's Obama?" We weren't quite sure how to react to that, so we just kept moving.

Ultimately the masses of people had pushed us so off course that we no longer stood a chance of getting anywhere by foot or public transportation. Also time was becoming a factor, as the sites we wanted to see were all due to close at 6:00 pm. So we got in a cab and prioritized: the bone crypt at Santa Maria della Concezione was #1 on our list. The taxi dropped us off down the street and overcharged us, probably by about 5-10 Euros. But our resolve was weak, so we just paid and hurried away, glad to finally be in a quiet and clean part of town.

Now, for the Underground.

First of all let's backtrack a little and tell you about a site that the four of us visited after the Forum. Although it was free and in plain view of the masses of tourists, the Mamertine prison was nearly empty when we visited. It's the site where St. Peter was incarcerated until his execution. It's said that a well sprung up at the foot of the column he was chained to, so that he might baptize the other prisoners. Now there is a marble altar on the site with an upside down cross on it to signify how Peter met his death. It was subterranean, and had a cold, eerie feel to its darkness. It definitely looked very much the part of a holy site.

Now, the bone crypt doesn't allow photography, not that it stopped many tourists, but it did stop us. It is far more strange and morbid than we can properly put into words, so I'll post a picture of theirs:

Anyways, what we saw here was the bones of roughly 4000 deceased monks from the Santa Maria della Concezione monastery arranged to create macabre chapels in the crypt under their church. Some of the walls had hundreds of femurs stacked on top of each other, chandeliers were made of finger bones, pelvises were placed behind skulls to created winged angels, rib bones provided a canopy under which mummified bodies of monks still in their robes stood, heads bowed. And on the floor, mounds of soil imported from Jerusalem covered even more corpses. Out of all the church basements adorned in bones, this was probably the best we've ever seen!

By now Bioparco was out of the question. It was getting cold and rainy and our feet were killing us. Back to the hotel for dinner and packing suitcases. There was one other site I chose to see but Emily remained behind to rest.

When I was young, I remember our priest telling us of a church on top of a church on top of a church. I've always wondered about it, and today I finally got to see it. The Basilica San Clemente itself was built roughly 1000 years ago, then updated with beautiful mosaics, renaissance portraits, and now modern fixtures. But in the 1860s, an excavation into the foundation revealed that the church was actually built on top of the original church dedicated to Pope Saint Clement, dating from about the year 400. As I walked down the staircase under the church, I had my own breath-taking moment. There it was, an ancient church with frescoes telling of the miracles of Saint Clement and his followers. I was face to face with some of the oldest Christian art on the planet. And the site was preserved and restored so tastefully, everyone couldn't help but speak in hushed, reverent voices as they wandered around in the low light. In the left nave there was an alter to St. Cyril, whose bones were discovered during the excavation and moved to a chapel in the Basilica above. Then, just beyond that, a narrow staircase led down.

Under the church were two ancient Roman buildings, probably dating from the first century A.D. Right about the time the Emperors took over and the Colosseum was built. The first building was the home of consul Titus Flavius Clemens - likely the same person as Pope St. Clement. After his execution, the home was turned into a place of worship of the Pagan god Mithras, and that is how it was upon discovery. There was a Roman triclinium or formal dining room that was fitted with an altar and a statue of Mithras. There were some interesting square columns with Corinthian capitals. The vaulted ceiling showed the faintest memory of the decoration once etched into them. And there was even the preserved alleyway between this building and the next. The next building is thought to have possibly been the Roman mint, or perhaps just housing apartments. In one room there was a natural spring, with cold water gushing out into a modern canal. I ran my hands along the diagonally-arranged brick walls that have stood for 2000 years and tried to commit it all to memory since here also, no photos allowed.

It was hard to say goodbye to the place, and Emily and I may even return together tomorrow after Palm Sunday mass (which we'll be attending at the Basilica). But we'll see. Our time in Rome is just about done, and while it has been wonderful, it's had some downsides as well. Our hotel's restaurant fits all those criteria we listed yesterday for a "Tourist Trap." The food and service are surprisingly poor. Tonight we ate there again simply because we were too worn out to venture out, but as we dined, a young man began playing guitar by our table and singing in Italian. Awkward. When he finished, we said "bravo" and simply tried to ignore him as we resumed our conversation. As we were waiting for our check, the place seemed to empty out, so the young man returned to our table and asked us for a request. After some hassling on his part, he finally got us to say ok to some Beatles. But he left for a moment to talk with the servers, so we dropped two Euros on his CDs and ran out the back door to go buy some pistacchio gelato.

Now we're packing up and heading to bed. Before we go, here are those pictures of the Forum we promised!

Emily in front of some the Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum:


Chris in front of the temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina:


Visiting in spring was a great idea:


Emily and Mike in front of the temple of Vesta


Aah! Commies!


Arrevederci, Roma

Rome by Night

Last night the four of us took the Metro up to Piazza Popolo, and began our moonlit stroll. We walked down narrow cobblestone roads lined with storefronts and window displays for Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Bulova, Prada, Fendi, etc. We stopped at the Spanish Steps for some photos, then back along the winding path to Trevi Fountain.

The Fountain was probably the first thing on our vacation that truly took Emily's breath away. The sights and sounds were fantastic. We stayed for a while, taking pictures and tossing coins in the fountain, then we were off to find a restaurant.

Unfortunately, we now know how to spot a tourist trap. Alluring decor, "Combo Meals" on a menu in English, a room full of Americans, and scowling waitresses. And terrible food, it turns out too. Well, now we know, right? We had been warned several times to avoid these places, but nobody really told us how to spot them. We think now that we've experienced it, we're set.

Afterwards, we considered stopping at a tavern or somewhere to wash out the bad taste the restaurant had left in our mouths - literally and figuratively. But it was obvious we were all too tired to go on, so we said goodnight. Emily and I enjoyed a chocolate cake at our hotel restaurant's terrace, then went to sleep.

This morning we met up again, bright and early, to tour the Forum. There were several beautiful places for photographs, as you'll see in tonight's update. While there, we saw the spot where Julius Caesar's body was burned, and the inside of the Curia, or Senate house. On the way back to our hotel, we ran into a parade of CGIL protesters. We're not sure what CGIL stands for, but from the flags they were carrying, it was pretty obvious they were communists. We had lunch on the terrace, watching them march by, waving their red flags, as well as flags of Cuba, USSR, and Che Guevara.

We said goodbye to Emily and Mike, who are now on their way to Venice, and we are going to visit the zoo and the bone crypt. Ciao!

Pictures, part II

Chris drinking from a Nasona:


Looking up at the Dome of St. Peter's:


At lunch on the sidewalk:


Near the Forum:


The Spanish Steps:


Lovers by the Trevi Fountain:


Emily was in awe:

Ancient Rome and the Vatican

We've covered alot of ground in our first 24 hours! Yesterday, as you can see from the pictures, we met up with Emily and Mike and went straight for the Colosseum. Planning ahead has paid off for us well so far, as we were able to skip the long line for tickets by buying a Roma Pass. The pass gives us three days of unlimited public transportation, plus free admission to any two of several sites around Rome.

The odd thing about the Colosseum is that it is exactly what you would expect. It was very cool inside, but after about 10-15 minutes of roaming about, you really feel as though you've seen it all. That's not to say we didn't enjoy it, but it certainly didn't impress us the way the Pantheon did.

We arrived at the Pantheon at dusk, just as the interior lights were beginning to come on. What a beautiful place it is! From the outside (besides the colonnade at the entrance) it is very boring - just a boxy old brick building. But inside, every inch is covered in beautiful black, white, and red marble. We spent about an hour inside, marveling at the sights (including Raphael's tomb), then got some dinner from a ristorante in a nearby alley.

The food was a good as we had imagined it would be. The wine was also, unfortunately! Emily and I tried to avoid drinking it, but couldn't help ourselves, and soon our jetlag overcame us. We were back in our room and asleep by 9:00 pm!

We're still not quite adjusted to our new time zone yet, but we were able to get up and out on the town by 9:00 this morning, after a tasty breakfast in the hotel's cafe. We met Emily and Mike at their hotel, then went to the Vatican Museum. Our guided tour took us through roughly half of the galleries and we saw some very famous works of art, including Raphael's frescoes of Constantine and the philosophers of ancient Greece. The tour finished with the Sistine Chapel, which fully deserves all the praise it receives!

We took a short walk under the Basilica to see the tombs of past popes, including John Paul II, St. Gregory the Great, and St. Peter. Then we went into the Basilica itself. Wow! The building truly is large enough that you could fit our entire neighborhood inside of it. And everything is built on a scale to accommodate it, like the three times life size marble statues. So you didn't really feel as though you were in a huge church, but instead that you had been miniaturized.

We've now returned to our hotel room for a siesta. This evening we plan on strolling from the Spanish Steps to Trevi Fountain. I'll load more pictures tonight!

Pictures, part I

Here's the first round of photos!

Here we are on the plane, with no idea what we're in for:


This picture was taken while sitting on our bed:


Thumbs up for the Colosseum:


Emily Bogus, Flavia Domitilla Major, and Emily Bogus:


There's a hole in my Flavian Amphitheatre and it goes right through:


The Pantheon was beautiful:


Chris by the fountain in front of the Pantheon:


Emily in a cool alleyway:


And the four of us at dinner:

Take-offs and Landings, Ups and Downs.

Whew! We just made it to Rome and are blogging from our hotel room. Getting here was not easy. Our flight from Salt Lake was delayed by about an hour, so we pulled into Atlanta ten minutes before our international flight was due to leave. Unfortunately, that plane was on the opposite side of the airport. And, oh yeah, the Atlanta airport is the largest in the world.

We were running down the corridors, booking it up escalators, and lugging our backpacks from concourse to concourse. We ran up to the boarding desk just as they closed the door. They absolutely refused to let us board. 30 seconds earlier and we would have been on our way.

You'd better believe there was a fight.

Anyways, when all was said and done, we were put on an AirFrance flight to Paris with a connection to Rome that was leaving immediately. Isn't it interesting how blessings come in disguise? It turned out that the AirFrance flight was only half-booked, so we had the opportunity to stretch out a bit. And not only was the food exceedingly good (for an airplane, of course), but all the little extras were complimentary (not at all the case on the Delta flight). So we each had a glass of champagne and watched the movie of our choice (Emily = Sex and the City, Christopher = La Dolce Vida). Sleep was hard to come by after the stressful time in Atlanta, so our short time in Paris was not an eventful one. But soon enough we were back on our last plane to Rome.

Rome is beautiful beyond description. The people, the buildings, the language... Our heads were spinning as we climbed the steps up from the subway to see the Colosseum. A short walk and we were at our hotel - Royal House, directly across the street from the Colosseum. There will be some pics posted soon - we have a completely unobstructed view of it from our bed.

The room is fantastic. A huge tiled bathroom, hardwood floors, wooden-beam ceiling, and the friendliest staff we've ever dealt with in any of our travels. Now it's just time to wash up, clear our heads of the jet lag, and we're off to see the Eternal City!

Anticipation!

Emily and I could barely stand to wait today. We did all our last minute things, cleaned up the house and unplugged everything. Although we packed our bags days in advance, tonight we unpacked and re-packed just to double check everything. And, of course, we were sure to spend every last minute playing with Madeleine. She's sleeping in our bed between us now.

In an effort to reduce jet lag, we kept ourselves awake as late as possible. I'm writing this at 12:30... shows you what kind of night owls we are! Our alarm is set for 5:30, we want to be at the airport at 7:30, and the plane leaves at 9:30. We probably won't post again until we've checked in to the hotel, but I just had to get down in writing how unbearable the excitement was today!