Chapter 3: Rome

Ah, Rome. A city with effectively infinite history. A city filed with gorgeous baroque architecture. A city of art. A city of substance. A city of swarms of humanity. A city of exhaust fumes. We returned our car before entering Rome, which was a wise decision. I wasn’t too hot on the idea of driving through Rome, even less so when I actually saw Roman traffic. But the city has a decent infrastructure, complete with a Metro, so getting around was not so much of a challenge (with one exception, which I’ll expand on). Everywhere we went, there were impossible swarms of humanity. Y’know those exquisite shots of the Trevi Fountain, or the Spanish steps? They must have been taken very early in the morning, as I’ve never experienced such a crush of people except at the Taste of Chicago. It’s got some lovely aspects to it, but it really just feels like any other city, with window dressing. Window dressing that attracts people like flies to poo.

Our excursions were a little limited in Rome, primarily because we were both exhausted from the trip so far. We went to the Vatican, which is incredibly intense. St. Peter’s Basilica is something that must be seen in person to comprehend. The artwork is so intense, and there’s so much of it, that pictures don’t do anything near justice. The place was impossibly gorgeous, but we both felt it was a little misplaced. We’re not Catholic, so we don’t have the understanding of Sainthood, but we found it a bit much that all these people were venerated far more than they themselves would have wanted. We also went through the Vatican museums, the end of which is the Sistine Chapel. There was so much intense artwork in the museum that it was kind of overwhelming. I think the Vatican really needs to be done in two days, simply because it’s difficult to absorb all the art that you see in one day. That day we also visited the Pantheon, which is one of the few pagan buildings that still stands (primarily because it was converted into a Christian church). That evening, we went to a fixed-price full Italian dinner, which was very much like going to your Italian grandmother’s house for dinner. It was the one place we got preferential treatment for being on our honeymoon, as we got to sit at a table reserved for four, with just the two of us. The owner of the place, the Italian grandma, also came by and cupped both of our faces in her hands, saying “La luna de miele” (honeymoon) with a big smile on her face.

We also went to the Christian catacombs. It was a very interesting place, but unless you’ve secured transportation prior to going, I don’t recommend it. Heidi and I spent the bulk of our morning walking up Via Appia Antica, one of Rome’s busy streets, with a sidewalk that consisted of a white line six inches from the wall. If it hadn’t been for the friendly guy who picked us up and took us into town, we’d have been walking until about 2 in the afternoon, and pretty much been dead for the rest of the day. After the catacombs, we thought about going to the Colosseum, but when we figured it would be a 45 minute wait and 11 euros each, we just decided to see Gladiator when we got home.