When in Rome....Walk Everywhere

Wow, what a last few days. I think my legs are ready to fall off because I've been walking everywhere in Rome. I've been here for the last 3 days, doing a lot of crusing around by foot because I don't really understand the bus system here. The Train Metro system is great and I used it to get to the Vatcian the other day....

The day I got to Rome, it was very hot! I also learned that the hostel was very close to the station, but the area around the station is not such a nice part of town. But I'm still in one piece so thats pretty good! I got to cruise around Rome and sorta got lost as I made my way around, but everything is cool now. The architecture in this place is amazing, I remember numerous times that I had to push up my jaw because I was pretty gobsmacked by the scenery and buildings. Its pretty much like stepping back in time...



I got to check out some pretty cool sites as I cruzed around that arvo, including the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain, which are amazing! I'd pass by some massive buildings which I didn't even know what they were but were very cool to look at. The Piazzas (Squares) are much prettier here than Florence. However, its much busier and dirtier here than it is at Florence as well. The Pantheon was pretty amazing due to its sheer size and unique architecture and the inside was massive. I think it use to be used as a meeting hall and church so it had various Catholic artworks and altars. I spent a bit of time hanging out at Trevi Fountain. Its pretty much a massive fountain with these awesome statues that spit out water. There were tonns of people hanging out there and the vibe was very cool.



The next day, I got a metro train to Vatcian City. I arrived there at 10am and waited in line for 1hr and a half to get into the museum. The Vatican was pretty much the only museum I could visit on the Monday because all museums are closed on Monday....weird huh. Monday is like our Sunday in Sydney. The museum was phenomenal. Awesome Italian sculptures, awesome paintings by Raphael and Carravaggio and of course...the Sistene Chapel! I must've spent a good 30mins to an hour in the chapel checking out the Michaelangelo's artwork on the ceiling and back wall. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share because they wouldn't allow photography in the chapel (as well as talking!), though I'm sure you can find a picture of it on the net, just google it. The ceiling contained a painting of Creation, and has the famous picture of 'The Creation of Adam'. The back wall contains the masterpiece 'The Last Judgement'. This was apparently taken out of the Bible, particularly from Revelation about how Jesus will judge the world. The side walls of the chapel contained paintings of different prophets and people from the Bible, and also paintings of different events from the Bible, including events from Moses' life, the Crucifixion and Ressurection of Jesus, the last supper etc. I had a lot of fun trying to guess which stories corresponded to what paintings.

Throughout travelling in Italy and in Paris, I've seen heaps of Christological/Catholic paintings. No doubt, they are very awesome in terms of art and would've taken ages to paint, and I can imagine how some of these images would've been so vivid in the minds of the painters and the artwork in the Sistene Chapel was a very good example of that. However, I found it disheartening while I was in the Chapel to find the Mother Mary at the right hand of Jesus during the Last Judgement. It was quite common for the painters in this time to exalt Mary to the same level as Jesus, if not higher. In several paintings I've seen, there's been images of Jesus even 'crowning' the Mother Mary. I found it difficult to appreciate the art sometimes when they were depicting something that was so unbiblical. It made me so thankful of the Reformer's of the 18th century who set it straight!



After the Vatican Museum, I got to check out the rest of Vatican city and wandered through St Peter's square, the Vatican Church and the Tombs of the Popes. Again, it was amazing to see the size and design of these buildings, but a major focus on Mary was disheartening. I also noticed a major focus on the Pope, where I was wandering through the Tombs of the Popes and saw people praying in front of the recent pope's tomb. And there is a statue of the pope in the Vatican Church and it was some ritual to touch the foot of the staute and people were having their photo taken whilst doing it. It was sad and disheartening to see all this happenning....The Vatican building was amazing however, with high ceilings and awesome artwork on the ceilings and walls.



Yesterday, I managed to check out the Colosseum and Palantine sites. I caught wind that a few mates from Sydney were going to be there, but after much toil and phone calls, I wasn't able to meet them until later that night. The Palantine was first up, and its where Ancient Rome use to be, before it got smashed.....somehow. The place is in ruins and contained many Temples dedicated to different god's, and a temple dedicated to Caesar. The place was amazing (despite it being so hot) and it felt like I stepped back in time. I ended up in the part that was Palantine, which is the residential area of Ancient Rome. The place was destroyed obviously, and there were Roman Huts, gardens, an arena and old stables. They were still excavating the place and doing work to it to try and better preserve the site. Again, very cool place and you could imagine what it was like to live there as you looked at the remnant brick work and old school architecture.



After grabbing a panini (sandwich) to eat, I checked out the Colesseum. It was recommended by a few dudes from the hostel that I take an audio tour, and so I did and it was great, I learned heaps about the Colesseum! It was a shame to see so much of it destroyed, as it was pulled apart and bits were ripped down so that they use the materials from the Colesseum to build other buildings in Rome. I had just watched the movie Gladiator as well, so it was kinda cool to remember back to the film and imagine how the fights would've been in the main arena!




Today, I said goodbye to my Aussie mates who were heading Naples. I headed to the Rome Museum which had a special exhibition of a famous Photographer named Henri Cartier-Bresson. He died recently and did a lot of portraiture. It was good for a change to see some Black and White photography and something that was modern! After, I took a very long walk to Travestere, which is to the south of Rome and went to the top to overlook Rome, very pretty!



The food here has been very cool. I had the most awesome pizza last night. It was Calzoni and it was nothing like I had ever tasted. Its like a folded pizza with mozzarella cheese, ham and egg inside. The restaurant was extrememly Italian, as it was heaps loud and the male Italians were VERY Italian with their mannerisms and speech. The Chef was the coolest, he spoke just like the guy from 'The Godfather'! Gelato here is pretty cool too, much cheaper than Florence and Venice. Coffee here is great, I keep going back to this coffee shop in Campo Di Fiori and the staff know me well enough to know what I order!

The people I've met at the hostel have been pretty cool. There are heaps of Aussies staying in our hostel, and only one or two are from Sydney. I got to know really well a New Zealand girl, and I met 3 Korean guys who were on Vacation from being in the army in Korea. They were paratroopers and said they would teach me how to parachute out of a plane... :P


Well, that was a mouthful, I hope you're enjoying the read. Thanks for hitting the blog and reading about my adventures, its good to know people are reading! Feel free to comment and ask questions and I'll try to answer. I'm heading to Athens tommorrow, which should be fun (and hot too)! Only 7 days to go till I head back to Sydney!

Chao
d

PS: Heres a link I found to 'The Last Judgement' painting:
http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/m/michelan/3sistina/lastjudg/

PPS: A big happy b'day to my mate Aaron Babb, who turned big 25 yesterday. Congrats man, welcome to being a quarter of a century dude!