streetside in rome

Day One:

It turns out that all of Rome turns out on Sundays to walk around the city. So in addition to all the traffic from tourists, you suddenly had what felt like half of Rome walking around the old city. For someone who doesn’t like crowds and does like photography, it was not the best introduction to the city. (it got better on day two)

Trevi Fountain

So. Many. People.

Altar of the Fatherland

Everywhere was crowded.

Christmas Tree

And not just with pedestrians. Look at the amount of car traffic on a Sunday evening!

Head on

Let’s be honest, the scooter would win.

Vatican City

The entrance is impressive.

Day Two:

On the second day, I was pleased to see that Rome wasn’t as packed everyday as it had been the evening before, and it was possible to see the sights without the entire free world experiencing it with you. We started out walking to the mall, and then taking a shortcut through a building that yielded this amazing gem. I had to lean out of the scaffolding to shoot upwards, directly into the light. Thank goodness for the miracles of post-processing!

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Just your usual atrium. (click to see it larger)

Vatican

The miracle of warm weather climates is that even in December, the trees still had some leaves.

Castel Sant'Angelo

This tiny glimpse of golden hour is all I got.

Piazza Navona

Day Three:

This was all about the Roman ruins, walking first to the Roman Forum, a stop into the Musei Capitolini, then further out along the old Hippodrome, and finally to the Coliseum.

This car parked at the stairs is one of my favorite things.

Day Four:

After three straight days of 25k+ steps, we needed a day where we didn’t do so much walking. Villa Borghese was just up the street from us, so into the park we wandered on our first somewhat chilly day in Rome.

Tempio di Esculapio

vatican museum

We thought we weren’t going to make it.

Naively, we bought tickets to the museum based on the amount of time we expected to spend in St Peter’s, neglecting to remember that there are 551 steps to climb to get to the top. It’s one of the few places to get a view of all of Rome, so of course we were going to do it. Even if we only had 35 minutes until our entry time to the Vatican Museum.

After we got to the top, then rushed back down, we found out that the entrance to the museum is NOWHERE near the basilica. In fact, it’s nearly a mile away! We hoofed it, walking as fast as we could, and made it to the entrance 10 minutes late. As it turns out, they operate on Italian time, so I suspect we would have been fine even if we’d shown up an hour late.

Now, I grew up in CT, not far from New York City. Going to “The Met” was not an unusual weekend activity when I was a kid, so I’m not easily impressed. But, well, this is the Vatican. “More is the new more,” was their motto for, like, 400 years, and it shows.

Courtyard

There’s a seagull who likely thinks of himself as King sitting on top of the corn/pine cone thingie.

Fancy Stairway

Also a bit unnerving when you consider all those eyes staring at you.

Rotunda

Possibly a sacrificial bowl; unclear what sorts of nefarious things happen here.

Gallery

Just another underwhelming hall on the way to the Sistine Chapel.

Hall of Maps

… and gilded ceilings.

But there’s one thing that everyone who comes to the Vatican Museum really comes to see: the Sistine Chapel. Don’t get me wrong, this entire place is a literal embarrassment of riches. It’s almost hard to appreciate some of the amazing artwork because every room is jam packed. (Mostly I mean the art, but also tourists… that’s Rome for you.) The only way to get there is to walk through the ENTIRE museum; the shortcuts are a lie. A beautiful, heavily gilded, marble and jewel-encrusted lie, but definitely not an actual shortcut. Once you get there, though…

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My one, illicit photograph (click to view larger)

Of course you’re not allowed to take pictures. I get it. Flash would destroy what has been so painstakingly restored, and if that’s half the reason people come, then you want to keep it a bit more under wraps. It is the sole job of several men to stand around and yell at people who missed all the signs telling them not to take pictures. One older gentleman had a booming voice that echoed through the entire chapel, “NO FOTO!” Strangely, it’s one of the things I’ll remember most about the trip.

The chapel was crowded, with everyone doing their level best to speak in hushed tones, discussing all the brilliant detail. It’s a challenge to pick out the meaning of some of the images because all the characters are wearing the garb of the time, so you have to look for clues in other ways. And to think this was Michelangelo’s first professional gig as a painter!

I suppose it makes sense to put the Sistine Chapel at the very end. Nothing else looks quite as impressive after you’ve seen it. I’m fairly certain I saw things after we left the chapel, but I don’t have a single image to prove that. Except the spiral staircase leading out of the museum, which was fabulous and seems like a great way to end this post.

It starts out smooth and then the stairs become more pronounced as you go down.