Team Wackhaus in Rome!

Blair and Caleb came to visit for a week in March, and we had an absolute blast together! they actually arrived while we were still in Croatia, so they stayed in a hotel in the north of Rome (near the Borghese Gardens) for a few days, toured the Catacombs of St. Priscilla, saw a lifetime's worth of pottery at the National Etruscan Museum at Villa Giulia, and then joined the craziness in our apartment. and they came bearing gifts, namely a gigantic bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch (i requested the Ranch, but said that a store brand was fine... you know it's love when they went all out for the Hidden Valley!).

we wasted no time in sightseeing the next day. i had a very specific itinerary for introducing them to the churches of Rome, including San Giovanni dei Fiorentini just across the river from us. when we walked inside, their jaws practically hit the floor, and i took great pleasure in announcing that this is one of Rome's more "homely" churches as not every square inch of wall is covered in marble, mosaic, gilding or painting. even though they aren't Catholic, i thought they would appreciate seeing the foot of Mary Magdalene encased in bronze in a side chapel near the front of the church, and i was right!

cutest little UPS truck in Piazza Navona

the next stop on our journey was the French national church, San Luigi dei Francesi, which i had never once managed to visit because every time i'd gone past it previously, it was closed. this time we walked in with 15 minutes to spare and were able to feast our eyes on Caravaggio's famous triptych of the life of St. Matthew. and i think they immediately understood my point about the less-ornate San Giovanni dei Fiorentini.

hard to get a good angle, but you can still see the chiaroscuro effect

next stop, the Pantheon! walking into the square and seeing those ancient columns rising up from the piazza still makes my heart skip a beat.

inside the Pantheon, a statue of St. Joseph and Jesus, which i feel is an under-represented theme
in religious art

the elephant obelisk near the Pantheon

at this point, it was high time for lunch. we ended up at the Lost Food Factory, one of our favourite haunts, for delicious sandwiches and beer. the adventure continued at the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, to see Bernini's famous sculpture of St. Teresa in Ecstasy. the entire church is a stunning testament to the master artists who helped build and adorn it.

another depiction of St. Joseph, being reassured in a dream by an angel

oh, you know, just a casual ceiling

no photographs are allowed, but we did also visit the Capuchin crypt where 3,700 skeletons are preserved. it's undoubtedly a strange place, but manages to be moving without being macabre.

we were too tired for many night-time exploits, but we did go down to La Botticella, our local Steelers bar (which has been officially proclaimed part of Steeler Nation by the Pittsburgh City Council -- and Giovanni, the owner, has the certificate to prove it). Giovanni has a rotation of delicious beers on tap, but my favourite remains the Trappist beer brewed just outside the city at the Tre Fontane monastery.

on the last day of their visit, we really outdid ourselves. in the morning, we climbed the dome of St. Peter's all the way to the top for epic views of the city.  you can pay an extra €2 to take an elevator halfway up, but we decided to climb the whole thing. thankfully, there's a built-in break at the halfway point where you can walk around the inside of the base of the dome and look down into the cathedral. on the way back down, we stopped at the lovely little gift shop where you can buy art, rosaries, jewelry and statues that have all been blessed by Pope Francis.

up on the first level of the roof

definitely got our steps in for the day!

the statues along the colonnade are huge when you get up close to them! 

looking down into St. Peter's from inside the base of the dome

it's astonishing that every inch is so beautifully decorated, even up here where not many people
can see it close up

next stop, the pinnacle of the dome

Bernini's famous dove window, seen from above

no chance of falling through that grate, but it still made my stomach
flip-flop a little to see her so close to the edge! 

the second part of the climb is not for the faint of heart -- the stairs spiral upwards and at one point the wall starts to slope inwards so it almost feels like you're in a fun house that messes with your sense of spatial orientation. but oh, my goodness, the view!!

looking back down the stairs...

ta-da! worth it!! 

looking out over the Vatican Gardens and the Vatican Museums

thank goodness she couldn't fit her head through these railings

looking out in the other direction -- you can see the college to the left of center, up on the hill

 then it was time to climb back down and peruse the gift shop for a little while. they also have a cafe selling ice cream and beer, but we needed to get some actual lunch before meeting our tour group at the Colosseum!

on our quest for a quick lunch, we ended up back at the Lost Food Factory. well, you can't count on any meal being truly quick in Rome -- everything seemed to take longer than usual, from the sandwich preparation to us receiving our bill to us actually completing the act of paying for the bill. thankfully, we caught a bus without too much trouble, but when we got off the bus, i realized that we were going to practically have to run in order to make it to the meeting spot on time.

i had to stop and take a photo of this ape truck bearing fresh flowers (even though
it turned out strangely blurred!)

all of this was giving me major flashbacks to when Rebecca and i actually did miss our tour of the Colosseum, and i was determined not to let it happen again! we alternated speed-walking and jogging for a while (all the more exciting because i was carrying Cece on my back -- she kept saying, "Mommy, you're bouncing me!"). finally, Blair asked Caleb if he could just run the whole way to the meeting spot at the base of the Arch of Constantine to tell them we were coming, and within a few minutes he had disappeared out of sight down the road. i was feeling much better about things until we were walking past the Colosseum itself and we spotted him, not at the Arch of Constantine, but standing in line at the desk for group tickets sales. "Caleb!" we screeched. "it's over here! we don't need that line!" now we were literally sprinting across the huge basalt stones to make it to the arch. i just prayed that Blair wouldn't twist an ankle on the uneven stones in her Doc Martens boots. Cece was cackling with excitement and squawking every time i jostled her. once we reached the arch, i looked around like a wild woman until i spotted the representative from the tour company, told her our names, and she pointed down the road and said to check in with the people over there.

just as we ran up to them, a guide was rounding up a group of people. the tour representative called, "aspetta!" ("wait!") and then had a lightning-speed conversation in Italian with her. in a flash, we were given our headsets, checked off the list, and officially made the cut-off to join the tour. just as we probably could have collapsed in a heap from all the running and adrenaline, we were instead set to join the three-hour walking tour!

the whole time, i just kept thinking back to the tragedy of the missed tour with Rebecca and how easily that could have happened again this time... except that i now know my way around the Colosseum well enough to head straight to the meeting point. the whole tour felt like redemption (again, sorry Becca...) the tour was really quite good. even though this was my third time in the Colosseum, i had never experienced it with a guide. she gave us plenty of opportunities for snapping photos along the way, and i especially appreciated her commentary on the Palatine Hill (where the emperors built their palaces) and the Forum.

an old photograph showing the stations of the cross being placed around the floor of the arena

the stadium in the Palatine Hill

a relief dating to the 3rd century AD

 

looking across to the Circus Maximus

the scale is hard to comprehend! 

Cece grabbed a stick to hold up in imitation of our tour guide

walking through the Farnese Garden, created by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in 1550

looking down into the Roman Forum -- a city unto itself

the gigantic Basilica of Maxentius on the left, the Basilica of Santa Francesca Romana to the right of center,
and the Colosseum on the far right

Nero's Cryptoporticus, an underground tunnel that connected various buildings
of the imperial palace so the emperor could travel secretly and safely.
originally these walls were covered with gleaming white stucco with decorative motifs. 

 

detail of the Arch of Titus showing the Roman soldiers returning with treasures
from the Jewish people (see the menorah?)

the reddish-purple marble is Egyptian porphyry, a color that came to be known
as Imperial Porphyry because it was exclusively used by the emperors

Blair and Caleb, thanks again for a marvelous week! we loved having you!