October 31, 2005
Topic: Rome
Our last day in Italy. I could stay another week, but work calls. After breakfast, we packed and checked out. The nuns let us leave our luggage down by the office and even allowed us to keep the outside door key so we could get back in without having to ring. We hadn’t been over by the Forum, so we headed in that direction. On the way we stpped at the Gesu. Built between 1568 and 1584, this is an amazing example of Counter Reformation Baroque architecture. There are chapels to St. Francis Xavier (his right forearm is here, the rest of his remains are elsewhere) and St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits. There is also an elegant Bernini tomb for San Roberto Bellarmino. Then we moved on to the Piazza Venezia and the Victor Emmanuel Monument, which was built in honor of the first king of a unified Italy. Many people refer to it as the “wedding cake’ because it’s a white marble edifice that appears to have been built in layers. I wanted to walk by the Forum and Colosseum and Steve wanted to revisit the Palatine, so we went up Via dei Fori Imperiali. From there it’s possible to see Trajan’s Markets, which was once a complex of 150 shops and offices (early 2nd century AD), Trajan's Column, the Roman Forum, and the Mamertime Prison (where St. Peter is said to have been imprisoned). We stopped to visit Santi Cosmas e Damian (beautiful mosaics and the Temple of Romulus). The crowds around the Colosseum were every bit as dense as what we’d seen the day before at the Piazza Navona—maybe because many museums and other sites are closed on Monday. So, we skirted around that and walked to the entrance to the Palatine through the Arch of Titus. The Palatine is the hill where Romulus and Remus were raised by a wolf in a cave. It’s also the place where Cicero, Catulllus, Augustus, and other famous Roman citizens lived. We saw the House of Augustus and the House of Livia (his second wife), the Farnese Gardens, the Domus Augustana and the Domus Flavia. From here there are also spectacular views of te Roman Forum, the Circus Maximus, and a stadium that was part of the Domus Augustana. It was after noon, so we ate lunch near the Theater of Marcellus and headed for the supermarket over by the Pantheon to buy some snacks for our two flights. We had about half an hour when we got back to the hotel, so we turned in our key and went back up to the rooftop terrace once last time. Our driver was punctual and we were at da Vinci Airport in good time. Our flight was late and things were a bit confusing when we reached Heathrow. Turns out hotels don’t have shuttles here, so Steve needed to change Euros to pounds for bus tickets and then we needed to figure out which of the two airport Sheratons we needed to get to. But, we got things sorted out and had time to get some dinner before the restaurant closed for the night. Whew! Just one more leg of the trip to go. Photos:
     
Rome 10-31-05