We visited Rome for five nights; we had a fantastic Airbnb located very close to the Vatican. On our first evening we were able to go for a lovely walk and see the Vatican and Saint Peter’s Basilica lit up. The next day, after school, we began our experience by taking a hop on hop off tour to see the main city sites. As I wanted to keep everyone’s energy for museums for the Vatican Museum, I headed to the famous Botticelli Museum on my own. I had a very animated and interesting tour guide, who gave me a completely different and much greater appreciation for sculpture and fresco art. His teaching also helped me increase my appreciation of the Vatican Museums as well (hopefully I will be able to remember some of his wisdom for years). The kids and Alastair walked around the Roman sites seeing the Colosseum from the outside. Luckily after I had such a hard time booking sites in Barcelona, I made plans for Rome and I was able to reserve tickets for touring inside the Colosseum and the Vatican/Sistine Chappel, our final day in Rome was the earliest available. We visited the Trevi fountain, although it was under restoration construction, it was still very beautiful. Both Aiden and Sophie threw coins into the substitute fountain, hoping to return to Rome one day. We were happy to explore Vicusus Caprarius (“The Water City” an underground aqueduct archeological site below the Trevi fountain and its surrounding area. While in Rome we also took a bus tour to see some of the catacombs just outside Rome. These were very active burial sites for about four centuries and reportedly have ½ million people buried in them. We were able to explore “only 2% of the maze: but it gave us a sense of how complex and amazing it was. We were down at least 20 m and according to our guide there were two more levels below us. We believe our guide was likely a Catholic priest or priest in training, he talked passionately about the Catholic faith and traditions.
While in Rome, we all came down with a bad cold that limited activity a bit. We relaxed and concentrated on school, Alastair and I took our usual long walks exploring neighborhoods. On our final day, we were up early to be at the Vatican Museum for our 8:30 am entrance time. It was amazing to explore the 16 museums that eventually lead to the Sistine Chapel. Again, we are struck by the opulence and decadence of this religious institution. The wealth that must exist over the generations (much secondary to plundering). An interesting TED talk on the Sistine Chapel, helped me gain a much greater understanding for how unique Michealangelo’s approach to painting the story of creation and telling of the different events noted in the Bible, was quite inspirational and courageous for his time. He completed the project in an amazing three years, which is almost unbelievable. Apparently, there was significant controversy over the Sistine Chapel, extending for at least 20 years, as people would say “there is pornography in the Popes private chapel” as Michelangelo, traditionally a sculpture, painted many of the body’s nude.
According to the kids Rome Colosseum was “pretty cool” to see. We were lucky to get in on at 3:15 pm on our last day in Rome. It was amazing that this stadium, built so long ago could accommodate 50,000 to 70,000 spectators. Aiden was surprised by the how small the stadium floor was, but the rest of us were quite shocked by large, the under-stage area. We learned that it had once been able to fill with water at will, to have performances boat wars in real water or to give the idea of Ocean gods riding on chariots through the water if the stage was only flooded a little. We learned about the exotic types of animals that would be stored in the under-stage maze of cages and how the gladiators would have fought until death. It is amazing that something 2000 years old is still surviving! Seeing it at dusk gave us some beautiful views with the sun coming down.
