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The Glory That Was Rome
Jul. 9th, 2013 03:06 pm(Before talking about Rome, I must note that, while I was sad to miss the Fireworks, the 4th of July picnic dinner at the vineyard had some of the best food of the trip, including amazing mozzarella that still bled when you cut it, and the set of ex-pats quietly accompanying the amazing soprano on the Star Spangled Banner was moving.)
Rome started with a tour of the Colosseum, Forum, and Pantheon (with side mentions of Emmanuel's monument, city hall, and Loyola's tomb as we wandered past). I think the tour guide was a little too busy telling us about it to let us enjoy it, and just soak in "this is the Colosseum" and "I am standing in front of where Julius Caesar was cremated" and the like. Over all, I think I enjoyed the Arena in Verona more than the Colosseum - it's less famous, but more intact, older, and in constant use since it was built, and I was just looking at it myself, instead of being lectured on it. Or maybe I was just not in the mood, as I enjoyed it more when I just stood around and looked at it Sunday evening.
Saturday was the Vatican, which was more fun. The guide (a different one) was again talking a bit more than I wanted, but it was more ok, as there was less any single thing that seemed important, and more the Sheer Quantity of Stuff. Our guide claimed that Italy has 60% of the "artistic heritage of the Western World" (I wonder a little when "heritage" cuts off there, but it seems plausible), and that Rome by itself has 20%, which must mean the Vatican has 5% or so. There were just halls of "ancient roman busts" and "ancient roman animals" and "Raphael paintings" by the score. It ended with the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's. I was kind of underwhelmed by the Chapel - the ceiling is interesting, but not so much better than a bunch of the other cathedral's we had seen, I thought. And "God creates Adam" is the centerpiece of the ceiling, but not nearly as big or imposing as I expected (it's the center panel of nine panels of approximately equal size, and not even necessarily the one I liked the best). I kind of liked the Judgement Day painting at the end better. St. Peter's, on the other hand, was amazing. It's just like someone took the ideal of "Church" and made it appear in the real world with a wave of their hand.
Sunday was also cool. It was after the official tour, but a bunch of us headed out to Ostia Antica, a ruin of Rome's first Port. It was a lovely quiet morning, wandering around what is basically a large meadow, along original Roman roads, with walls on either side that were ruins of 2000 year old houses/buildings, on which I could sit in the shade when I felt like relaxing. There were several intact mosaics from the floors of the public baths, a practically intact Theater (which seemed to be getting set up for some sort of modern use), and we turned a corner into a little home that still had intact pictures of charioteers on the wall. It was quiet and calm and wonderfully atmospheric, and while there were a few tourists around, they were lost in the 1.2 square miles of the place (and there were also a number of Italians who seemed to be there for picnics or something). Then in the evening went to dinner and a gay bar with fireworksboi, his ex, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ilhander, which was amusing. And thus ended the Italy Trip. It was a lot of fun, but I'm glad to be home, and am unclear that I'm in a hurry to do another long trip.
Rome started with a tour of the Colosseum, Forum, and Pantheon (with side mentions of Emmanuel's monument, city hall, and Loyola's tomb as we wandered past). I think the tour guide was a little too busy telling us about it to let us enjoy it, and just soak in "this is the Colosseum" and "I am standing in front of where Julius Caesar was cremated" and the like. Over all, I think I enjoyed the Arena in Verona more than the Colosseum - it's less famous, but more intact, older, and in constant use since it was built, and I was just looking at it myself, instead of being lectured on it. Or maybe I was just not in the mood, as I enjoyed it more when I just stood around and looked at it Sunday evening.
Saturday was the Vatican, which was more fun. The guide (a different one) was again talking a bit more than I wanted, but it was more ok, as there was less any single thing that seemed important, and more the Sheer Quantity of Stuff. Our guide claimed that Italy has 60% of the "artistic heritage of the Western World" (I wonder a little when "heritage" cuts off there, but it seems plausible), and that Rome by itself has 20%, which must mean the Vatican has 5% or so. There were just halls of "ancient roman busts" and "ancient roman animals" and "Raphael paintings" by the score. It ended with the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's. I was kind of underwhelmed by the Chapel - the ceiling is interesting, but not so much better than a bunch of the other cathedral's we had seen, I thought. And "God creates Adam" is the centerpiece of the ceiling, but not nearly as big or imposing as I expected (it's the center panel of nine panels of approximately equal size, and not even necessarily the one I liked the best). I kind of liked the Judgement Day painting at the end better. St. Peter's, on the other hand, was amazing. It's just like someone took the ideal of "Church" and made it appear in the real world with a wave of their hand.
Sunday was also cool. It was after the official tour, but a bunch of us headed out to Ostia Antica, a ruin of Rome's first Port. It was a lovely quiet morning, wandering around what is basically a large meadow, along original Roman roads, with walls on either side that were ruins of 2000 year old houses/buildings, on which I could sit in the shade when I felt like relaxing. There were several intact mosaics from the floors of the public baths, a practically intact Theater (which seemed to be getting set up for some sort of modern use), and we turned a corner into a little home that still had intact pictures of charioteers on the wall. It was quiet and calm and wonderfully atmospheric, and while there were a few tourists around, they were lost in the 1.2 square miles of the place (and there were also a number of Italians who seemed to be there for picnics or something). Then in the evening went to dinner and a gay bar with fireworksboi, his ex, and
ilhander, which was amusing. And thus ended the Italy Trip. It was a lot of fun, but I'm glad to be home, and am unclear that I'm in a hurry to do another long trip.
