Having only a day to explore Rome , and no real idea what I was facing, it was easy for Sheryl to persuade me to take a tour into Rome for a look.
A chat with the local tour guide opened up possibilities that we had not preconceived, we could do some walking, take in ancient Rome, and then get a bus tour up to the Vatican City.
The hotel shuttle bus dropped us near the Tiber river, 'twas weird feeling about it having that name for thousands of years (I bet the really ancient romans just called it the river).
After navigating across the Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus) Sheryl commented that we were probably walking over the spot where many brave charioteers had died.
Attempting to describe the parts that are identified as ancient Rome is beyond this blog, or for that matter any substantial book. We had to take in as much as possible in less than a couple of hours.
Having no idea of what to expect, the Colloseum and the Palatino were breathtaking. We organised tickets and strolled in to the Colloseum first. I'd seen lots of the Colloseum from streetview and the google shots but you just have to be there to get an idea of its imposition on the space it occupies. After taking in as much as we could with the time, we left, knowing we had to find some Euros, so we put the Tomtom into service. "Navigate to Cash Machine"; sounds good, but fails in practice. The occupants of the street cafe's were bemused by the Tomtom telling us to 'turn around where possible'. More than once were looped around under its command.
A plausible explanation might be: being designed for vehicles, the TomTom prediction algorithm cant cope with the consistent uncertainty in your position when you are just walking, and the narrrow streets and close buildings mean a good fix is intermittent. The result is, when walking, put the Tomtom in the bag and it's best to ask someone for directions. Language is not such a disability, most people have at least rudiments of English, and you can make yourself understood.
After we eventually found the the cash machine it told us we had zero balance on our brand new cash card, we, not without fear, opted to deal with the so-called "money exchange" near the Colloseum to get some Euros. The experience was, I imagine, not unlike proctoscopy. You get lots of apologies, but you feel utterly violated after. I facilitated a slightly panicked phone call to the bank in Melbourne straight after. The Bank assured us it was the ATM's fault, and our funds were 'virgo intacto'. Not so my wallet.
Settled, but still strapped for time we enterred the Palatino, or 'Caesar's Palace'.
This part of ancient Rome has laid down the gauntlet for me and my facility with adjectives(perhaps not so with cliche'). Just the walls that surround the area are so imposing. With massive arches inside them and ceilings that seem to hang over unsupported, there are few modern structures that rival in magnificence. Inside the walls, throughout the palace and the Roman Forum, the paths and roads are laid as large rocks and boulders, all worn smooth by centuries of sandal leather, hooves and wooden wheels and now modern footwear. Roman columns stand free and some still support structures, and full buildings, even some recently occupied, with wooden window frames, glass and protective steel grilles.
Great Bronze clad wooden doors open into spaces prevously used by the Catholic church for gatherings and worship. Some of the forum is still under discovery by archaeologists.
Everything seems to soar overhead, deliberately large as to look down upon and belittle the lowly human, the Old Roman Empire, the State, the Church cries out power through these structures.
The next part of the Rome sortie started on a bus service from many blocks north of where we were. We had a rough map that led us to a really nice pub on the way to the Trevi fountain, but this was a breeze-by photo opportunity, followed by a very unwelcome long and brisk walk in order to make the bus.
I had decided early that there was no way to take in all of Rome in one day, but it was all we had. I normally avoid package tours because they are predigested and expensive, and tend to interfere with your own assimilation of the information you are given. In this case I set aside these prejudices and the religous dissonance associated, for me, with this particular tour of the Vatican, and tried to appreciate what I saw.
The Vatican museum needed twice the time we had to begin to appreciate it. The sheer size, variety and value of the collections of art 'gathered' over the centuries is massive.
We were given an opportunity to take in the Sistine Chapel. For the time we were there, the security guards kept 'shhhhhhing' the crowd, whose excited voices were consistently raised as their eyes drew in more and more. The interior is truly a masterpiece. Perhaps a poet can do the job of describing it. I could spend hours taking it in, it is truly beyond decription. As I was leaving I realised that the structure of the ceiling is brought into the painting as plinths that the characters sit upon, and they themselves frame each panel, it is pure genius in art.
Leaving there and the tour, we were left alone to explore St Peter's Basillica.
There's little to say except that one day might be sufficient to take in enough to gain some appreciation for the beauty of the building's interior. You can video and take photos, but there's just no catching it. We had about 20 minutes that just flew by. Upon reflection we should have blown off the bus ride, taken our time at St Peters, and taken a taxi back to the hotel, it would have been money very well spent.
I have talked about this before but it seems apt to commit to writing. Why do we people now have to build rectangular blocks of concrete steel and glass that seem to be nothing more than a fashion statement? Why is that we cant see the way to creating beautiful structures so exemplified as the London Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and St Peters? These are buildings that are pieces of art as well and beautiful structures and much more again, that generation after generation to come will want to preserve, protect and defend for centuries to come.
I leave you to agree.
Rome as a 'modern' city is a sort of sublime statement of this tenet, the central parts of the city have no glass edifices (that I could see) most 'modern' buildings within Rome even show the adoption of the same practices of building as ancient Rome, flat clay bricks with mortar, rendered on the outside, with detail added with flair and care for its surroundings. Some even have the same type of clay roof tiles.
Unfortunately right next to the Rome hotel we stayed in, about 15k's out of the city, was the 20th century contribution to modern architectural horror, brought to us with abject ignorance by ESSO. It is truly hideous.
Have another look!!
Perhaps it's only redemption came from the fact that it was in a sort of tech park, along with other similarly but not-quite-so-ugly buildings.
Sunday AM we negotiated a price for a taxi from the hotel to the cruise ship. Its quite a way, over 90 mins in the train, and although the train offered a really cheap option it also meant we would have had a non-trivial wrestle with the bulging luggage and potential thieves.
We got door to door delivery to the Ship, after check-in we settled into the top level Verandah room, feeling very spoilt because it was just possible when we booked, not guaranteed, that we would get a top level room. It's the best stateroom level on the ship and Erica and Pete are also here, just on the starboard side.
Check-in was a breeze, we have a fair bit of luggage so Sheryl played a little tetris with the room, but we eventually discovered all the nooks you can stash things in.
A little adventuring on the ship exposed some of the facilities, gym, spa, shops, lots of bars, two pools and about 5 Jaccuzzi's. Median age of the guests would be about 65. We had fun in the Piano bar late Sunday night, entertained by the "Piano Man", and a very drunk American who was trying to communicate with a very drunk Norwiegan, repeating and getting louder "do you know Orlaf from Orton?" , and the Norweigan was replying "Ergen in da Blergen Mergen". It was the muppet show in real life and very funny.
The ship is huge, I mean its really big. It has stabilisers that smooth out the ride really nicely, so you hardly know when you are moving, and even with a bit of sea, the stabilisers dissipate the heave and roll. If I put my physics hat, on the vibration we feel occasionally is probably them working to chop up the sideways and vertical motion from the sea.
We got the ladies to wave from the balcony of Erica and Pete's room for a photo.
Monday we decided a sleep-in was the best option, had breakfast in the room and took a leisurely afternoon walk around the port city of Livorno, the gateway to Tuscany. (Pisa and Florence) That was the extent of the shore excursion, we found a Billa (supermaket), we were blown away by the alcohol prices, Beers at 1E a pop, & Sheryl smuggled in a 700ml bottle of the Old Smuggler for 7E. We were swearing about having to pay the duty free prices in Singapore! There's a little tuning to be done with ship life, how to work out what you can get for free, how to train the help to make iced coffee (No minimum wage here).
Today we set anchor about 1 km out from Monaco, the Mount looming above this edifice to success (excess). The Cote' de Azure is aptly named today, we have glassy crystal blue waters and a crystal blue sky. The flag on the foredeck is the tricolore, so Vive' la France, and because we are still in Europe, no stamps for the passport.
At completion of this editing session its Tuesday the 31st August
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