Viaggi a Roma!

Back in June of last year, Sarge recounted a trip he and his missus took to Rome, Florence, and Venice Italy.  Reminisce here.  I read each post with earnest as I was planning my own trip to Rome to celebrate 20 years of bliss with my missus.  The trip is now complete and he's been on me to share my story.

The trip consisted of a 7 day cruise starting and finishing in Rome (Civitavecchia), followed by 5 days in the city itself.  All in all it was a 15 day trip.  Leaving on a Monday morning, we arrived at  Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport (SAN, ORD, FRA, FCO) on Tuesday morning, a day early since I've read far too many horror stories of missed flights and weather delays.  And being a dedicated Navy man, I'm always concerned about missing ships movement.  One can't easily get from FCO to the port without using a taxi or cruise ship charter bus.  Despite it being my 20th Anniversary and pleas from my friends to not be cheap, I'm ever the frugal bastard and wasn't interested in paying the exorbitant rates those forms of transportation demand.  My time in the Navy ensured that I'm a fairly experienced traveler- I've been all over and am quite adventurous, willing to take the road less traveled, or at least the one that might be more complex, but easy if you know what you're doing.  When in Rome- the saying goes.  The trains and buses in Italy are great- on time, efficient, and inexpensive.  While FCO is a bit less than mid-way between the port and Rome, one must travel into Rome to catch a train out to the port.

As luck would have it, we arrived into FCO at 0830, nearly 45 minutes early, and had zero problems on the flight over.  Thus we really had no need to come in a day early, but better safe than sorry.  Sarge's lessons learned and my own past flights over the pond told me that long flights in coach can be less than comfortable to say the least.  Therefore, I decided early on to cash in all my Marriott Rewards points (mainly from my credit card) and United Mileage Plus miles (5 flights to Bahrain over a 14 month period) to go in style- business class on the way there and we lucked into first class back home.  I said I was frugal, not cheap.  

It turned out that arriving a day early was a very good plan.  After the trip was booked, I found out that on Wednesdays when the Pope is in Rome, he holds a general audience in St. Peter's Square for all who wish to either pick up tickets the afternoon prior, or starting at 0830 the morning of.  Being the son of a good Catholic, and my wife and I attempting to follow in that tradition, we couldn't pass up the opportunity.  We stayed in a Marriott near the airport then made the trek back to the airport the next morning to catch the express train into Roma Termini Station.  Hauling our luggage with us was a pain, but during  my research, I discovered a baggage storage site in the station.  We were pushing it as far as time goes- with it already being 0830 when we arrived at the station, where we found a 10 person-deep line to check the bags, and friendly, yet less-than expedient service.  Once that was taken care of we rushed to the metro to make it back across town to the Vatican.  Unfortunately, I got off the Metro at the stop for the Vatican Museums, which is different than the stop for St. Peter's- a very rushed 20 minute walk to get where we needed to pick up the tickets. (To those of you wondering why we didn't just get back on the Metro to the other station- Why didn't you text me?  I had international dialing and a data plan.  C'mon!)

Rome in late September is still fairly warm and the humidity wasn't insignificant.  I thought it appropriate to wear a sport coat to be in the Papal Audience so I was a sweaty mess quite warm by the time we reached the ticket office. We retrieved our tickets then set out in search of some open seats near the front.  It seemed like you were corralled into certain sections on the square dependent on which gate you entered.

Not satisfied with the pen seating area we found ourselves in, one that required binoculars to see the Pope, we exited and found the route up front, or close as we could get without being kindly told to get back by the Police.  It turns out it didn't really matter where you were seated, as the Pope made his way around the square between the seating areas before the ceremony began.  There were also large screens set up to provide the audience with a closer look.  We were close enough to the front that we could see him fine, and after ditching my jacket, I was able to move up a few rows to snap a decent picture:

The Papal Audience lasted about 90 minutes and consisted of the Pope's thoughts and prayers and blessings for the attendees, lengthy not for the number of prayers, but for the large number of languages his words were translated in from Spanish.  At about noon, the event was over and we made our way out of St. Peter's Square, which took a while in itself.  At this point I'm starting to check my watch often as I wasn't exactly sure how long it would take to transit to the port which required us to arrive by 1730.  Following a large slow crowd of people towards the metro, we headed back to Roma Termini to get our bags and train tickets to Civitavecchia.

At baggage claim, which is actually in the basement of the train/metro station, there was another long line, which only allowed us to pay for the time our bags were held, then stand in another line to finally get our bags.  Long line number 637 for the day as we waited to purchase train tickets to the port.  Once we were second in line, I could hear the conversation in English between the clerk and the customer ahead of us.  She was asking a thousand questions about the best way to get from one place to another, the varied costs for the varied tickets, and  the capper- which made me stress even more, reminding me of this scene from "Honeymoon in Vegas"- She wasn't even traveling that day!  Once our own tickets were purchased, the clerk was very helpful in giving us directions to the specific track our train was on, telling us to take our time since our train wasn't leaving for about 15 minutes.  I rushed anyway, pleading with my wife to hurry and we boarded the train.  The doors immediately closed and we were off, which I thought was strange since we weren't supposed to leave for another 9 minutes or so.

I mentioned earlier that I was the adventurous type, but I instantly got a horrible sinking feeling in my stomach as I knew something was wrong; This adventure just didn't feel right.  I immediately abandoned any attempt to use the Italian phrases I knew as I asked the passengers in our car if anyone spoke English.  A Brit dryly said he speaks it fairly well and I asked in a panicked voice where the train was headed.  "Why the airport of course, this is the Fiumicino Express" - a 37 minute non-stop express train.  Right track- very wrong train.  By the way, didn't I say that you can't get a train from FCO to the port?

Will our intrepid travelers make their ship?  Will Tuna have a coronary before reaching the airport?  Will his wife kill him if the coronary doesn't?  

Tune in next time for another exciting episode of Viaggi a Roma!  

Viaggi a Roma- The Last Day

Sant'Agnese in Agone

Sunday, a day of rest in the Western world.  After going non-stop for two weeks we needed a change of pace from the jam-packed days we had planned for ourselves.  We were also looking forward to getting back home, seeing our kids, and just relaxing.  A co-worker who travels to (and all over) Europe several times a year as part of his duties managing  NATO Doctrine (best job EVER!), made me promise to take a day to just sit in a piazza with my wife, share a bottle of wine, and just watch the world go by.  Other than attending mass, that was about all I had on our plate for this last day of our Viaggi a Roma- our Travel to Rome.

Rome's famous (and beautiful) Piazza Navona

Piazza Navona's Cafe Bernini, taking its name from he who had become my favorite artist, was the spot I chose to sit and people-watch while enjoying a wonderful lunch.  I enjoy wine, and like both red and white variants, but I can't say I'm a connoisseur, nor do I have a very discerning palate.  Before I really began to enjoy wine, I used to subscribe to the Dave Barry view of drinkers:

I have never gotten into wine. I'm a beer man. What I like about beer is, you basically just drink it, then you order another one. You don't sniff at it, or hold it up to the light and slosh it around, and above all you don't drone on and on about it, the way people do with wine. Your beer drinker tends to be a straightforward, decent, friendly, down-to-earth person who enjoys talking about the importance of relief pitching, whereas your serious wine fancier tends to be an insufferable snot.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/05/1795782/daze-of-wine-and-noses.html#storylink=cpy

I know I haven't fallen into the category of insufferable snottiness because when we dine out in the US, I tend to get a bit overwhelmed by the expansive (and expensive) wine menus some places have.  I'm usually happy with the bottles on the lower end of the cost-spectrum, and am sometimes unable to tell how a more expensive bottle is better than a cheaper one.  The multitude of red varieties- Pinot Noir, Malbec, Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, Beaujolais, etc., aren't easy to find in Rome, or at least aren't offered in the places we dined in.  So one of the most endearing aspects of dining in Rome is that they have just two varieties- Red and White.  You can either ask for one or the other,  or just tell the waiter to bring you what they recommend.  I guarantee it will be delicious, will go well with whatever you ordered, and you'll enjoy the simplicity of it.

This cozy spot in the northwest corner of the sun-drenched piazza had a wonderful view of the comings and goings of both tourists and locals alike.  The wide-eyed visitors meandered through the spectacular fountains and sales displays of regional art, semi-aggressively vying for the best photographs in front of the amazing architecture and sculptures, while the Romans pushing through the square tried to ignore the chaos as they made their way to wherever they were headed on that lazy Sunday afternoon. 

Piazza Navona from the NE  (not my photo of course)

As we sat there slowly sipping yet another thoroughly delicious wine, I was amused by a street musician playing an accordion.  He was being completely ignored by both Romans and tourists alike, most likely due to his choice of music at the time, with Guantanamera not going over so well.  As soon as he switched to music with a more Italian flavor, such as 'O Sole Mio and the Godfather theme, his business picked up and his cigar box began to fill up.

A few other pictures from the piazza- 

 Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers)

 Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune)

 Fontana del Moro (Moor Fountain)

The Carabinieri getting zeppole (think cops and donuts- Italian style)

After leaving Piazza Navona, we went in search of some gelato. What is gelato you might ask?  Ice cream sent from heaven.  That stuff is much better than the swill they serve here in the U.S.  I'm kidding of course, but it is so delicious- creamier, more dense due to the way it is whipped, and less fattening.  We were told to visit the Gelateria Frigidarium just west of the piazza for the best gelato in all of Rome.  In fact, it's practically endorsed by the students at the Pontifical North American College in Rome (and supposedly delivered daily by St. Peter himself!)

My friend David Exner (former Captain, USMC)
during a break from his studies to become a Catholic Priest

We had a leisurely stroll on the streets around the gelateria as we enjoyed the treat, making our way towards a few sites just east of the plaza.  First we entered Piazza della Rotonda.  This is the plaza just in front of Rome's famous Pantheon, also known as the Church of Santa Maria Rotonda.  At the center of the plaza is the Fontana del Pantheon which is topped by an Egyptian obelisk, one of several in Rome.

 

The well-preserved Pantheon has been in continuous use as a church or temple since it was built  in 125 AD

The view of the interior of the Pantheon from just inside its massive doors

The Pantheon's Oculus- the only source of light inside. The dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.

There is no top or cover to the oculus during inclement weather.  The floor of the Pantheon however, hides a drainage system for the the rain that falls through the oculus.  As the sun shines through the hole, it creates a sort of reverse sundial as the rays of the sun shine around the room as the earth rotates throughout the day.

Here are two panoramic photos of the interior.  Be sure to click on them for the full effect.  The right side gets cut off if I try and post the original sized picture.

Just east of the Pantheon was my favorite church in all of Rome- Sant'Ignazio (St. Ignatius)- mainly due to the phenomenal fresco paintings on the ceiling- paintings that make it appear that heaven is reaching down to earth, and is thus a portal to the heavens. 

  

One can hardly tell where the building ends and the heavens begin

A better description of the perspective I mentioned earlier comes from Wiki:  "Andrea Pozzo, a Jesuit lay brother, painted the grandiose fresco that stretches across the nave ceiling (after 1685). It celebrates the work of Saint Ignatius and the Society of Jesus in the world presenting the saint welcomed into paradise by Christ and the Virgin Mary and surrounded by allegorical representations of all four continents. Pozzo worked to open up, even dissolve the actual surface of the nave's barrel vault illusionistically, arranging a perspectival projection to make an observer see a huge and lofty cupola (of a sort), open to the bright sky, and filled with upward floating figures.

This view shows the amazing perspective that is seen when under the arched ceiling.  What appears to be columns built into
 the higher walls of the church is actually just paint on a rounded arched ceiling.

All the gold you see here, including the cherub-like figures spanning the picture left and right of the dark clouds is just paint-
 the perspective gives the viewer the impression of some sort of crown moulding or trim, but that too is only paint.

By now we were anxious to get back to the hotel and pack for our flight home the next morning.  If you've read the other chapters of Viaggi a Roma, you're aware that by now I knew exactly which train to would get us to the airport- The Fiumicino Express, and that it would take 37 minutes.  As I packed my suitcase, I snapped a picture of a wall near our hotel in the Via Veneto neighborhood of Rome.  It's an Aurelian Wall (271-275 AD), built by the Emperor Aurelias as an emergency response to an invasion of the city by Vandal barbarians in 270 AD.  It's in great condition and is yet another wonderful architectural feature of the Eternal City.

I will end the story of our trip to Rome with the photo I used to start off the series, but was actually the last picture I took on the whole trip.  I hope you've enjoyed reading about it as much as I've enjoyed writing about it.

The sun setting over St. Peter's Basilica as it shines through the darkening clouds.

Viaggi a Roma! (Part Duo)

When we last saw our our fearless, yet overly punctual travelers, they had boarded a train in Rome.  They had just over 4 hours to make their ship, but they weren't on the train to the Cruise port, having mistakenly jumped an earlier train on the same track- one headed directly to the Rome Airport; a 37 minute express train.

"37 minutes?! Son of a (redacted)...!"  With my adventuresome spirit momentarily quashed, and my navigational travel skills having failed me miserably, I quickly tried to regroup.  My frazzled brain quickly calculated the time we had left- 37 minutes to the airport, maybe 5 minutes in the station, 37 minutes back, that'll put us back in Rome shortly after 3PM.  I knew it was an 84 minute train ride to Civitavecchia so the only variable I had to worry about was what time the next correct train departed.

To make a long story (with far too much math), short- we made it to our ship with about 40 minutes to spare. Traveler Tip:  Bring a small towel or handkerchief if you're traveling there outside of winter- it's warm, humid, and you will probably sweat a lot.  Another Traveler Tip: Avoid the locals in the train station trying to help you with your bags or with directions to your train- they're either looking to snatch a bag (probably not), or an expensive handout (most likely).  Yes, it would have been worth the investment the first time we were there that day, but who asked you?

Norwegian Epic

We had a fantastic time.  Port calls in Livorno (Pisa), Marseilles France, Palma de Mallorca Spain, Barcelona Spain, Naples, and back to Rome.  We did everything onboard- the water slides, the casino (lost a bit), the bowling alley (nearly broke 200), the shows (music, comedy, and the Blue Man Group), trivia contests (won 2 of 5), shopping (a little), dining (too much), and drinking (just a bit - outside the room that is).  Traveler Tip:  http://www.rumrunnerflasks.com/ (worked great).  I did hit the gym 5 of 7 mornings to keep up with my intake though.  I won't go into the countless things to see and do on the ship, at least not in this post, but if you're interested in the Norwegian Epic, one of the world's largest cruise-liner, take a look here.

Pisa was nice to see, but like many people had said, it was somewhat overrated.  We did get the requisite pictures of the wife holding up the tower, and me pushing it over (holding it up is so overdone). But after that we walked back to town to catch the local city bus back to the port in Livorno.  Of course we got on the wrong bus- the one coming from Livorno, vice back to it.  That did earn us a nice tour of the back country- some place called Tuscany.  A nice sympathetic Italian woman took pity on us after figuring out we were trying to get back to our ship.  She had the bus driver stop, she got out and took us by the hand to the bus stop across the street, and said "Bus, Livorno," pointing back the way we came.  She could have said something disparaging about my nav-skills, but she fortunately didn't know about my past history.

 Some contractor got sued for this

Cathedral Notre Dame de la Garde in Marseilles France

Beautiful Architecture inside and out

Marseilles from the Cathedral

Marseilles is a huge port for France.  The Cathedral was a memorial for the hundreds of ships that had been lost off the coast, with models of the ships, nautical themed religious icons and lamps, and plaques dedicated to the crews and the maritime industry in general.  Getting up there was interesting.  After waiting at the bus stop for the ride up the hill, we noticed that we'd see a couple of the local buses, but most of the routes either weren't running or were way behind schedule, including ours.  The wife asked a local and was told that in France, they are always striking and the bus we needed may show late or not at all.  Once at the top via more expensive transport, we found the bus- sans driver.  All in all, a great port- lots to see and do.  The wife and I had a nice time walking around the Vieux Port (Old Port) area which is in the center of the picture above.

Le Seu- a Gothic Roman Catholic Cathedral in Palma

 Palma de Mallorca is a Spanish city on the island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean.  It was probably my favorite port due to the beautiful architecture- a mix of Gothic, Roman, and Arabic, the warm weather, a great lunch of Tapas and Sangria, and the ease of getting around, partially due to my limited, but sufficient Spanish.

Park Güell- a unique creation by Antoni Gaudi'

The Park's iconic dragon

Vast and varied architecture throughout the park

Sagrada Familia- I thought it looked like the cathedral was melting

Gaudí's Casa Batlló

Barcelona was a bit hectic- a lot to see and do, and everything was spread out across the city.  In order to cram in as much as possible, we chose to take a city tour with a open-topped bus which we could get on and off almost anywhere.  We skipped trying to enter Sagrada Familia- another Gaudi creation, due to it being a Sunday and entrance was free, therefore the line to get in wrapped around the block.  Parc Guell was a trek up a hill, where we found a place that would make Dr. Seuss think he was hallucinating.  The park entrance is a chokepoint which is apparently a haven for pickpockets, but we kept our heads on a swivel and our hands on our wallets.  Once at the top of the park, we were rewarded with a wonderful view of the city.  

After a day at sea, the next stop was Naples Italy.  Grittier than the more touristy cities in Italy, it was our plan to visit the ruins of Pompeii.  The excavations there are amazing and somber- with the ruins showing the excellent urban planning that took place, yet the tragedy that killed everyone there in such a sudden way- the explosion of Mt. Vesuvius. 

Bodies were covered and preserved in ash

The city's infrastructure included an amphitheater,
 public baths, a coliseum, and even fast food shops.

 

Two-thousand years old, yet still in better condition than
San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium

The streets would be flooded daily to keep it clean, so stepping stones were built into each street.

After the tour of Pompeii, we visited the birthplace of Pizza in Naples.  It was very crowded and had an hour wait, so we can say we ate next door to the birthplace of Pizza.

Lunch at D'Angeli had delicious melt-in-your-mouth pizza and a very friendly staff.

Leaving Naples for Rome- last night on the ship.

Rome was to follow, and the more exciting part of the trip in my opinion.  We had five days ahead of us and a well-planned itinerary if I do say so myself-more churches with amazing art and Roman architecture that confirms the old adage- "They don't build 'em like they used to." I was also looking forward to the great food, wine, and little chance of getting on the wrong trains or buses, mainly because we'd be walking everywhere.  Stay tuned for another exciting adventure in "Viaggi a Roma!"