Our last day

The Pantheon under construction. It is rather an ordinary structure from the outside. It doesn't even give us a hint as to what lays inside.

We walked by the Pantheon last night, but it was late. So today we woke up early ate our croissant for breakfast and walked to the Pantheon. We got there before it opened. So we started out Rick Steves' audio guide on the steps in front of Pantheon.

When it opened we listened to our tour inside. I have to say I love the audio guides. It was nice to be able to listen to the information while walking around and looking at what he was describing. It was much better than having to read a book a learn about the architecture and history. Without the audio guide I would have never known that the walls at the base of the dome are over 20 feet thick and as the walls rise they get thinner so near the top it is less that 5 feet thick. The Romans used concrete for the construction, mixing in Travertine for the bottom parts of the dome and Pumice was mixed in to the concrete towards the top. I also would have missed the holes in the floor that allows the rain to drain out of the structure, since there is a huge hole at the top.
























Our last stop was the church of Santa Maria della Concezione die Cappuccini. We were not allowed to take pictures inside. The part of interest is the Capuchin Crypt. Construction started in 1631, with monks bringing in 300 cartloads of deceases friars. They were buried in the crypt under soil that was brought from Jerusalem. As new monks are brought to be buried, they dig up the monk that had been buried the longest and add his bones to the decorative motifs. Bodies typically spend 30 years buried in the soil, decomposing before being exhumed and added to the motifs. The crypt was separated into 6 rooms, the Crypt of the Resurrection, the Mass Chapel, Crypt of the Pelvises, Crypt of the Skulls, Crypt of the Leg Bones and Thigh Bones, and the Crypt of the Three Skeletons. I got tired of counting when I got up to 200 skulls. It was a good test of my anatomy. I got stumped on the sternum bone, but it did not have the top part of the bone that gives it its distinguishable "T" shape. And I never knew how artistic vertebrae can be.


I commented to Stewart that I didn't think the crypt was the best choice as our last memory of Rome. He laughed, then as we were sitting at the airport waiting and waiting for our flight, he told me that this was our last memory of Rome. We were herded on to our plane and came back home to happy well cared for kids, who wanted to know when we were leaving again.

Our full day in Rome

We woke up this morning had our rolls and cheese for breakfast, dropped our luggage off at he front desk and were out the door by 8:30. Our first stop was the Colosseum. We were approached by a few people who wanted to be our tour guide and a few gladiators who were willing to pose for pictures with us. Since we had just seen gladiators in Verona, we passed. We loaded Rick Steve's audio tour on to our Ipods for many of the sites in Rome. We started the audio guide wandering around the outside of the Colosseum. Then as we were walking toward the ticket line, we heard some one call out Rick Steves is no good. We didn't think much of it, until we noticed the Rick Steves' Rome book in Stewart's hand.

Stewart, listening to the audio guide. It was cool to walk around as our guide pointed out different parts of the Colosseum. I actually learned quite a bit. I didn't realize the arena floor had trap doors to raise up scenery and props for the spectacle. I also liked the information on the 100 day festival in 80AD. It was the inauguration of the Colosseum and over 2000 men and animals were killed. They had to spray perfume around to cover the smell.

This is the Arch of Titus (I would not have know that without the audio guide) to commemorate the defeat of Judea. Rick Steves did a great job helping me visualize how it looked back in the day. Describing the triumphant parade of conquering heroes.

I remember seeing the Bascilica of Constantine as a teenager. I marveled at its size. But what I didn't realize these arches were just side niches for the Hall of Justice. The large area where we can walk around was actually covered by a large arched ceiling, with more arched niches on the other side. The bronze door is the original door to the Temple of Romulus.

Julius Caesar's temple is now covered by a tin roof to protect is. . His funeral took place here and his body was burned here. Emperor Augustus dedicated this temple in Caesar's name making him the first Roman to become a God.

The Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina was converted and still is used as a Roman Catholic church. Construction on the temple was started in 141 by Emperor Antoninus Pius after he declared his deceased wife, Faustina, a goddess. I didn't realize Romans had so many gods, over 30,000. The columns are the remains of the temple of Saturn, the forum's oldest temple.

There was some excavation underway, so we were not able to see inside the Curia (Senate House). Which is not the senate building where Julius Caesar's was killed. The oval sloped field was the site of the chariot races.

I thought since I had already been to the Forum, I wouldn't necessarily need to come back. Well I am glad I did and I am glad we had our tour guide. It made the forum come to life and really visualize life in Rome and it brought Roman history to life.

I thought the building below was pretty incredible. It was so large, white and stood so high it could be spotted from almost everywhere in Rome. I didn't realize it was a monument. It is the Monument of Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of unified Italy. Construction started in 1911 and completed in 1935.

Trevi Fountain was so crowded. We walked by here a few times and it was always the piazza was always filled with people.

We lucked out and found ourselves on the top of the Spanish steps. So we were able to walk down instead up up the steps.

I was very worried about entering into Vatican City. I remembered in high school that the girls had to wear skirts to enter into the cathedral. So I did a little research on the internet and found out that in July new dress codes were being enforced and extended to the city as well. So we went prepared, I wore a skirt and Stewart wore pants. But when we got there I saw no sign of rules being enforced anywhere, even in the cathedral.

Rick Steves has an audio guide of St. Peter's Basilica, it started in the square. With out Rick, we would have never stood in the exact spot to see all the columns line up, you can't tell there are three rows of columns. I also wouldn't know that the statues over the columns are 10 feet tall, nor would I have known the obelisk in the center of the square was brought from Egypt.

The mosaic floor was amazing. Stewart is listening to the audio guide.

We learned that the pictures and words around the cathedral are not paintings, but tile mosaics. Michelangelo's Pietà, is behind bullet proof glass.

These letters are 7 feet high. We took the elevator up towards the copula and still had to walk up 200+ steps to get to the top.

Our view from the top.

Walking on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica.

Stewart reserved tickets for us online to enter into the Vatican museum. It then gave us direct access to the inside of the Basilica. Thank goodness for his efforts and planning, or we would have been waiting in line for days. We saw the Sistine Chapel and was again thankful for our audio guide. The chapel was crowded, but we finally found a seat to sit down and learn about paintings. If it wasn't for the audio guide, I could have just walked through the chapel with out noticing its meaning or significance (like I did in high school).

Stewart planned another night on the town for us. We attended another Opera concert. This time the setting was perfect and the performers were wonderful, well the tenor had some problems. The soloists were accompanied by a small orchestra. The performance was in the All Saints Church, a Gothic cathedral of all things. I am posing with the fountain in the Piazza di Spagna.

The Mezzosoprano singing a part of Brindisi. I think I heard this song more in the last two days than I had my entire life. The performers sang it last night three times and we heard it here three times. Well it sure seemed like more that that. But they had the audience clap and sing along, so it was fun.

Another night with out kids. We found ourselves eating dinner at 11pm in the Piazza Navona. We saw the Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, and walked around the Neptune Fountain.

We ate dinner outside between the Fountain of the Four Rivers and the Moor Fountain.

The courtyard of our B&B for tonight. Since our reservations were mixed up, the manager of the Bed and Breakfast went to our hotel earlier and picked up our luggage. He brought it here and had someone waiting for us when we arrived in the evening. It was fine, except we did not have internet access, which we were told we would have. It is a good thing I got my homework turned in early.