ROMA - ITALIA!

ROME

Well we made it! Again! We survived the stretch in Rome and what a time it was! First we left here and took an old train north to Naples; switched trains and got on another one to Rome. 

This is Called a Piaggio Ape

A 3 wheeled motorcycle with a cab and box for work! They are everywhere and I want one!

From there we took a great deal of time trying to figure out where we were and where we had to go? Have no fear; Barb is like a honing instrument, a keen GPS machine! She got us on track and we found our new abode for the week. We arrived on Monday and toured Tuesday thru to Thursday and left again on Friday (March 5th).

Barb and her built in GPS. Barb's awesome research always pays off! 

What can I say; Rome is Rome. Supposedly in the top 3 in the world to see. Boy is there a lot to see, we still didn’t even get the basics covered but by Thursday we were so tired we decided we do the rest of what we wanted to see when we come back up into northern Italy later in the spring.

Rome is a beautiful city with more character than most and likely all? It has every thing in a modern city and yet still has the old, historical and touristy types of things to see.  Its very metropolitan and mixed and has about 2.6 million people that call her home. It has a subway and lots of other transit options and tons of parks and squares or Piazzas. (Plazas).

When you see this for the 1st time - It takes your breath away!

All the marble on the outside of the Colosseum was stolen by the Dictator Mussolini and used for his home...

There are cars and people everywhere and for one (Jim) who doesn’t like crowds it wasn’t bad at all. Like I (Jim) founding the orient they know how to move people and they know how to move them well. So the crowds and traffic are not too big of an issue but don’t be in a rush and always leave early!

Walking, trains and buses were our main modes of transportation and we walked a lot. IM sure I must have worn out those new shoes as I know my back and legs were worn out by the end of every day.

The first night (Monday) we went out to try and find a place to eat dinner that our friend Loretta knew about. As it turned out we couldn’t walk the way we had wanted as the Polizia had the streets blocked. I could hear crowds yelling in the distance and after a few minutes they were getting closer - but what was it and where? 

We had to change our course a couple of times and once we made it to a Piazza and there they were... 

Van loads of Polizia, Local and Federal. Riot squads and shields to the ready and yes the crowds started to show. They were noisy and it was eery to say the least to be standing there with the Polizia (they didn’t seem to care about us or who we were? We could have infiltrated the Polizia easily?) But the crowd came into the square with their signs, placards slogans and chants. We couldn’t understand, they were loud and they were very angry screaming…  Loretta said they wanted decent affordable housing!

Polizia watch the streets. Armored vans are to the left and to my right are the Riot Troops - all lined up!

A few minutes later the Protesters showed - But no real violence that we are aware of!

So we waited a few minutes and then the crowd we were with voted to leave so I had to follow! It was almost like watching some foreign news channel; waiting for the updates! I never did see anything in the papers the next day? Hmmm? 

They must get this fairly regular as I began to notice a lot of their police vehicles have wire mesh over the lites, windows and windshield etc. We must remember it wasn’t that long ago that this was a much different place to live and there are still remnants and reminders of the poverty and violence that you can see as you travel the cities. I’m not trying to beat it up at all in fact its very nice here but we are far from paradise in some areas and in my humble opinion.

The people work hard and many own their own business or work with their hands trying to get ahead. I’m not sure what they have here for social programs but when one sees what one sees its not Canada either? We’ve left that behind. You cant help to feel for the people. Most are very happy and they are definitely living a slower pace except the young ones in the big cities trying to make the big time.

During the week we saw several things but Ill just mention the highlights.

The Colosseum.
This can not be described and pictures do not so any of them justice. The Colosseum was started before the days of Christ and carried on in use for 4 - 5 centuries. It was the first one built and used as the one the others copied. Most weren’t as big.

 The first and largest Colosseum ever built - Holds 60,000 spectators and has 80 entrances.

Note to self: Watch the movie Gladiator!

The Emporer would sit there along with 60,000 of his closest friends and the show would begin. Many times it was Chariot races or the Gladiators (who fought each other, animals or killed the dammed). Sometimes it was the Christians being put to a slow agonizing death by either animal or Gladiator. Tigers or Lions or sword. I stood there and could almost hear the crowds cheering and standing. There were hand signals between the Emporer and his warriors on the ground whether to keep going, stop or kill. He had full control and he let his commoners feel like they had the say. Sometimes he would ask the audience and he would comply by giving the order for whatever they chose - usually death!

The story goes that over the years it got so bad that the Roman audience themselves were beginning to feel they had gone too far with some of the shows that they were attending. The death and carnage and they way the poor Christians (and others) were tortured before they could even be allowed to die to make it stop. Finally there was some sense and they started to back down. The Emporer kept his thumb on the pulse of the audience and instead of continuing his entertaining them and giving them what he thought they wanted he sensed their new found revolt and they had to tone it down. (Thankfully!).

There is now a Cross mounted inside the Colosseum entrance to mark this sad fact of early Christian history.

The Cross mounted inside the Colosseum - Due to all the Christians that were murdered here.

ARCH OF TITUS
There were arches that we visited; 3 in all and they had different names. One was the Arch of Titus and it was built after a particular battle that the Romans had fought and won. It was almost like an Alter to the Brave who came back and I guess even to the ones who did not. Once finished all the warriors would ride through it with their Commander or Emporer leading the way. The story has it that many of them didn’t live long enough to ride though their own arches!

The Arch of Titus - After defeating the Jews.

Its amazing to see what good condition these arches are in! 

Its amazing how you can be in such a big city and all of a sudden poof; there are 2 or 3 columns of marble sticking out of the ground! Or many. Some sites that we saw were certainly in the center of Rome in the day and were very busy with markets, roads (2 which we actually walked on ourselves) and other buildings.

PAUL’s PRISON

Paul’s prison or as some know him; St, Paul was nearby so we went over to where he died which was in his prison cell which has been well preserved. Unfortunately it was closed as they were renovating so I could only see into the entrance a bit by peaking through the cloth that lined the fenced off area. Someone built a church on top of it. Knowing that this is the site where one of Jesus Desciples died gives you a bit of a feeling - to say the least! Even the Roman's (the enemy) admits it. 

Inside these doors is where Peter was held in Jail by the Romans and eventually where he died after writing his letters. 

The Catacombes
Something you must see. The only bad part was they wouldn't leave us in there or let us wander around by ourselves.

Back in these particular days (2000 years or so ago) 50% of the babies were "still born" and 50% of the population didn’t make it past 12 years of age. Can you imagine? If you were fortunate enough to be born alive you were considered very special if you made it past 12 or 13 years of age! 

So remember; keep washing your hands! 
(I recently saw something that said thats been the biggest advance in Health Prevention ever!).

The Catacombes were a place outside of the walls of Rome (some walls of which you can still see) where the Christians were buried. They were not allowed to be buried in Rome because to be a real Roman you had to honor their Gods and other such things; not the one true Christian God. 
So you were relegated out of town and buried here at the Catacombes which were miles of tunnels (6 levels of tunnels) layered on top of each other. It was an amazing walk down the stairs underground into this maze of tunnels (likely why they don’t leave you alone down there) that must go for miles and miles. 
Apparently lot of people died down there due to lack of oxygen and an over abundance of other gases?

They say that there are 68,000 Christians buried down there and wow you should have seen it! Right out of the movies!

Turn Left Here for the Catacombes.

The tunnels were usually about 5’10” or so they weren’t very tall in those days. Amazing how they accomplished all this work! Different tunnels would spring off of each one. All along the way were holes dug into the sides. Some were actually rooms with whole families in them and others were just holes where the caskets had been. The dead were buried in a marble or stone casket with a lid, many of which have been opened up and studied but they have stopped doing that now.  Pictures were not allowed inside. Many of them were still there!

You can tell the babies from the children and the adults. All by the size of the casket. Sad really but at least they had their own place and were left alone until modern times. I believe they started to find some (not all) of them in the first world war when they started digging in. I cant imagine the feeling!

This particular Catacombe had a Church built over it. Amazing. No one even knew they were there at the time. Or so they say?

Carefully look and see the second arch - That was part of the Wall of Rome during the Empire. It still stands.

I can't recall the name of this road but it is the road leading out of the city of Roma to the Catacombes. 

It is a very famous road built by the Empire way back when! It was used to travel to many locations south and east and went for hundreds of miles. You can almost hear the horse's hooves, the chariot's wheels and the soldier's boots as they march by - when you stop to listen...

TAKEN FOR GRANTED?

When walking around Rome I began to notice that many of the locals don’t even realize, remember or some may not care what they have here. Maybe they just get like us and take it for granted (like we do the Rocky Mountains). After a while and after seeing so many old things I could start to see why. As you wander and walk down quiet little streets and paths you are overcome with Churches, sites and other things that were built hundreds If not thousands of years ago. New buildings are 200 years old!  One day I walked down a street and beside an old apartment block were two Roman columns sticking up out of the ground. They'd been there thousands of years and were still sitting in there - am empty lot in a residential area.

We saw things from Before Christ (B.C.) and many things after Christ (A.D.). We saw some things from the time of Christ and let me say - you will never be the same again. It puts a lot of things into perspective when you sit and do the math. Really it wasn't as long ago as I had always thought! Not when you think about time and eternity!

Like the Pyramids (I’ve not seen them - yet) this is one of the few places where you truly see how old man is though. 
How smart man was. How determined and refined they were so long ago. It truly is amazing to see the structures and then wonder how it long it took to build but how did they do it at all? How did they build it so high? Unbelievable work! Almost made me proud to see what they accomplished I thought with a slight smile to my face. We have seen buildings that took several hundred years to complete. We have seen one that started in the mid 1800's and wont be done for another few decades - so its not just modern man. Its man! Some of the structures that have been built - even today take life times or maybe even 3 generations of families to complete. Then I would imagine - they would have to start renovations! Just like at my house!

THE ROMAN ROADS
Now I don’t know how many miles they built but let me say these guys traveled all over Europe and when they built their trade routes; If it wasn’t done by boat it was done by road. They had this down to a science and used brick and rock for a reason. Not just because it was there. Drainage! Yes they too were worried about drainage! They even built down spouts and drainage lines from Teracotta. They used drainage to water the gardens, trees and their plants. No wonder they were the ones who started the civilization, the rules and laws that we live under today! They were really quite smart!

We saw so much in Rome it is impossible to cover it all. Look at the pictures on our sites where we have them downloaded and I only hope thy can begin to help you see what we were able to see and share with history.

Much of the Ruins of Old Rome are near the Colosseum and other sights.

This area I could have spent days looking at and touching the artifacts!

Ruins from the old City of Roma

CHURCHES
Many times in Europe churches would change hands. I’m not a history scholar, Example; if they started out Muslim they likely ended up being Christian which in most cases for Europe meant Catholic. 
Some of them look like the Muslim origin from which they came (you can still see it if you know what to watch for) and others don’t really. Its hard to tell with out asking but know that it occurred. 
Some people talk about the Muslims being bad and mean but the Christians have had their time of moving in and taking over too - and I don’t think they were very nice and friendly about it either? 

Much Older Than It Looks - This Is The Original Church Where People Come to Crawl On Their Knees Up The Steps.

Go to our Pictures to see more.

Churches are a must-see for the art, the architecture and design, the history, the stories, the right doings, the wrongdoings and more. Quite a story, hundreds of them!

THE POPE AND ST. PAUL’S

On the last day we went to St Paul’s Basilica. This is where the Pope works. In fact prior to that we went to the Church that the Pope leads but I cant remember its name. When I review the pictures Ill try to name them in there on the titles of each. Now the church at the Vatican is something else. 

The Pope's Army!

Children are allowed to approach - Not Adults!

Huge doesn’t describe it. They say its the largest in the world, it seats 60,000 people. There’s another one been built in Dubai that is supposed to be a replica but they don’t have proof that they are bigger (they say they are). So now we have seen 2 of the 3 largest Christian Churches in the word. The only one left is St. Paul’s in London and we will try to see that one too so we will have covered all 3 in this trip.

Over 60,000 people can sit in this church!

This church starts off with a bit of eeriness in my humble opinion. You are directed downstairs and their are alters after alters with marble caskets and inside of each of them is a dead Pope! One of them upstairs is said to be the real guy with no mummification and he looks to be real? It has a side wall that is glass so you can see the poor guy! All dressed up in his Popal Clothing. 

Once upstairs we went into the actual church and wow is it ever big. Some of the Chapels (lack of a better word?) off to the sides are bigger than our big north american churches! Then there is the art - some of it by well known artists. Then there are the carvings, the statues and all! It is simply overwhelming! All I could think off is who sets up all the chairs and where did they go? (60,000 people and hardly any chairs out?).

The Altars and ornaments and all these things are worth bazillions of Euros’ I’m sure. When you think of the age of it the gold and the silver, the gems and so on. Wow! I won’t get in to much more of it because it is Catholic and Im not up on the history or things about the Catholic Church but I will say they have a lot of money. 

I was told once that the largest single private land owner in the world was the Catholic Church. Now I believe it. 

The square outside where all the people gather to hear the Pope when he comes out is huge and its all brick again. 

Part of the Square at St. Peter's - It is huge!
When the Pope comes out to speak this placed is filled!

We will post our video of this else where.

Man I wish I could hire some of these guys to do my brick patio that I want? If you have ever been to a large outdoor sporting event or rock concert - the big screens are here too. 

The Pope too uses hi-tech to get his message out. One thing I didn’t care to see was a large billboard advertising a phone company? Why and how much did they pay the church to have their sign there? Was it more than the Super Bowl? It just didn’t seem fitting to have that in a place that is supposed to be sacred and special. Maybe thats unfair of me but until I hear an answer - I can not help it.

After seeing all this we were going to go to the Sistine Chapel and the other things in the area but were tired out and we frankly had enough for one day. It was awesome and mind boggling. The history, the culture, the artifacts, the stories and more. 

They just make you tired. We weren't just physically tired we were mentally worn out too! It is a lot to take in and think about. At this point I would say a person needs a least one or more weeks in Rome to see it all. Many times you don’t get enough time at one place and want to go back also. 

I hope I've kept all the facts straight. I have tried, we learned so much is just a few days! Its hard to keep up! You really must make this trip yourselves. Put it on your "Bucket List" but make sure its near the top and get it done! It will change your life!

I wish we had time to take the open top double-decker bus tour. 
(We like to do these first in the many cities because then you can pick and choose what you want to go back and see).

If you do this trip - Travel Light. Hauling suitcases around is not fun when traveling this way. We did Rome with two Back Packs and left our other things in Sorrento, Im so glad we did!

So on the Friday we awoke with colds getting worse. We made it to a bus station and took the 4 hour ride back to Sorrento where we are living right now. You will see our pictures and I hope they help. 

We have a “flat” (apartment) rented in a nice Italian residence that is much like a small acreage in the city. Our Landlord's are so nice. A great Italian family; only the daughter speaks english. Dad brings us oranges and lemons off the trees in the yard. Once he even brought us his special red and white wines that he makes. The first day he gave us a Grapefruit that was as big as a bowling ball! The only english we have ever heard him speak was him describing this particular grapefruit and his description went like this: "Sophia Lauren'a!" I'll leave the rest to your imagination! 

We are about a 10 minute walk to the ocean. There are wild lemons and oranges everywhere and the odd grapefruit tree too. We are living in Sorrento for these 6 weeks. Its just south of Naples (Napoli), Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. (An active Volcanoe). So once we get travelling again you'll get to hear more stories about those areas too!

Barb leaves for Canada on the 23rd of March for 3 weeks. Jim may do some travelling on his own; Perhaps; Palermo (Sicily) and or Greece depending on the political climate as its a little uneasy in Greece right now! 

Unless we make changes the next 6 weeks will be here in Sorrento with potential day trips from here.

Talk to you soon!

Jim for

Jim & Barb.

Dont forget our pictures are posted at: