Thanksgiving in Rome

We normally don’t report on Day 0, which is the day we leave Kansas City but this trip is an exception.  (We seem to be saying that more and more often.)Departure was Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving.  This is usually one of the WORST days for air travel, and the local news showed clips of long lines of people waiting…. Waiting to check-in, waiting in the TSA line, waiting to go through security, so imagine our surprise when we showed up and saw this.  (If you’re not familiar with the Kansas City airport, this is the check-in for United Airlines)

And then this…. A nearly deserted corridor.  The TSA agent said that we were in the unexpected lull period and that we were lucky.  We do agree with that!!!

The rest of the travel day was thankfully uneventful!

We were in Rome nine years ago for a very brief two days, and we always said we would like to visit again, so here we are!!  To our friends and family back home, Happy Thanksgiving! 

After checking into the hotel, we took it easy in the afternoon in anticipation of our evening activity – a Rome by Night walking tour!!  This was a private tour, which sounds extravagant, but the company concentrates on small groups and prefers to not mix random people.  We were excited for the opportunity to see so many Roman sights at night! 

Our tour guide was a lovely local who was extremely knowledgeable, answered every question without hesitation, and ensured that we covered as much ground as possible in three hours.  It was a lot!!

We passed the Spanish Steps and Trinità dei Monti church (at the top of the steps).

Next stop – Piazza Navona & Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers).  This is a beautiful, enormous plaza with an interesting history as it was used as an arena, including water sports.  They would flood part/all of the plaza to create a body of water for sport. Can you imagine the muck left behind each time it was drained?!  Yuck! 

While there aren’t any rivers that lead to this fountain, the great rivers that were known in the 16^th century – Danube (Europe), Ganges (India), Nile (Egypt), and River Plate (Argentina) – are personified in the statuary and obelisk, with one obelisk side and one statue representing one river.

This was absolutely beautiful at night!! 

And then  – Fontana dei Libri (Fountain of the Books).  Compared to other fountains in Rome, this isn’t as popular and is “new” having been built in 1920’s, but it has historical significance. 

This is the site of the first university in Rome (hence the stacks of books) which was built in the 1300’s.  And for the sake of technicality, this isn’t a fountain but is a “fonatanella” (drinking fountain), and the water is still free, clear, and drinkable.

It is also a dedication to St. Eustace, a hunter to whom Christ appeared as a deer, thus the deer between the books.

We then moved on to the Pantheon. While as noted previously, we had been here before / had seen the Pantheon before, seeing it at night was just… well… it was like seeing it for the first time again. The different sites at night are just A M A Z I N G (not to mention relatively free of the crowds you would see during the day).

And everywhere we went, there were plenty of either Polizia (national), Polizia Municipale (city), or Carabiniere (military/national) protecting the historical monuments of the City as seen here at the Pantheon.

Next we moved on to the famous Trevi Fountain.  The travel gods blessed us tonight as there were very few people at the fountain.  If you’ve ever been there, you know what a headache it is to fight the crowds and get a clear look at the fountain. What an unusual and wonderful treat this was.

From the Piazza Navona to the Pantheon, to the Campo de’ Firori we got to see the wonders of Rome beneath a beautiful night sky and few people. After our 3-hour tour (hmmm, good thing we weren’t on a boat), we made it back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

We’ll leave you with a few additional pictures of places and things we saw this evening.

(Starting with the Column of Marcus Aurelius)

For those who know of Tim’s love for all that is Roman, along with his habit of taking pictures of infrastructure on our vacations, we’ll leave you with a combination of both.

He told me that ‘SPQR’ is (in his words) quintessential Rome, as it stands for Senatus Populusque Romanus or translated “The Senate and Roman People” and was proudly flown beneath the eagles and banners of the legions. Yea, whatever, looks like another man-hole cover to me. Joy.

Our first full day in Rome, started with one of the most unique experiences we’ve had to date – we visited the Necropoli of the Vatican!  This is a very limited tour (they only let a small number of people in per day), so we had made our reservations / purchased our tickets many months in advance to make sure we could have this experience.

You pick up your tickets in an out-of-the-way ticket office to the side of the Basillica.

To then get to the Necropoli entrance you must go to the other side of the Basilica back into a restricted and secured area. To get into this secured area, you must check in with the Swiss Guard. Don’t let the frilly, colorful frocks of their uniform fool you.  They are not “ceremonial” guards but are highly trained, bad ass, elite special forces.

After everyone in our small group were assembled, we descended 40 feet below St. Peter’s Basilica and into the ancient and original infrastructure that the Basilica was built over. We saw parts of the original Vatican (yeah, we didn’t know there was an original either!). 

It was fascinating, as it was like a mini city down there. We saw a lot of sarcophagi, mosaics, and multi-story mausoleums (that looked like brick buildings), that are over 2000 years old!  One of the incredible things that we learned from our guide, was that most of these buildings and mausoleums were from Pagan families/times, and often on the anniversary of a loved ones death, they would come to the mausoleum with ample food and drink and picnic on the 2nd story so that they could eat and celebrate with their loved ones and ancestors.

We also saw the tomb of St. Peter.  (Interesting random facts from Jay – the entire purpose of St. Peter’s Basilica is to protect the tomb of St. Peter, although it was also indicated that part of the reason for the location of the tomb and subsequent massive Christian basilica was to cover over the pagan holy site and remake it into a Christian holy site. )

To exit the Necropoli, we walked through the Vatican Grottoes which contain the sarcophagi/tombs of many many deceased popes dating back to the 1200’s.  Unfortunately photography was not allowed in all of these areas (understandable – they are all considered sacred places) so we cannot share any images.  Despite that, we wanted to at least verbally share such a fantastic and special experience!!! (So that you will know it is there, and if you have the chance, experience it for yourself!)

After being below St. Peter’s Basilica, we next went into the Basilica again (we had been here previously, but it spectacular and well worth multiple visits).

At the top of the steps, through the arcade and into the loggia (essentially an open hall between the outside and the building, or what someone other than Tim might call the “front porch”) the splendor of the building started.

There are multiple sets of doors, and using the people in front of them for scale, you can see how MASSIVE they are.

In fact they are so massive, and the glimpse of the interior you see through the open doors might make you walk right past without realizing how brutally graphic the depicted relief on the doors is… people being hung in martyrdom!

The grandeur of the basilica almost defies words for description, but below are just a few of the areas to whet the appetite and perhaps convince you that you need to visit yourself.

This is the entry hall when you first step in:

A couple of the many side domed alcoves:

An actively functioning transept/chapel for ceremonies or mass:

This is the Choir Chapel, and one in which we saw several Bishops enter for either a ceremony or a mass (we could not tell what was going on, other than it was official):

The Clementine Chapel:

And the final resting place of a Pope:

And of course this is St. Peter’s Basilica because it protects St. Peters tomb. The center piece of the basilica is in the central nave and consists of a large bronze canopy over the alter.

We started under, proceeded into, and the last adventure of the day was to go “on top of” the basilica. You can actually take a tour onto/into the dome at the top of the basilica if you are good with the grueling climb. (We had done this climb when we were much younger, during our first visit to Rome, but decided it must be done again.)

You first get to an upper balcony-like area above the main church that has a protective barrier. (Looking down from above on those amazing views was a little surreal after having seen them from ground level.)

This circles around to a door that leads you to a stair’d hallway which spirals up just inside the dome. In fact the farther you go up, the more the left wall curves up and over you as you get further “into” the dome, making you have to slightly lean to the right as you climb the stairs.

Once you reach the top, you are on the roof of the basilica (there is actually a little coffee shop up there). You must then walk across the roof to the “knob” on top of the dome where you take the final trip up to the top of the “knob”.

From here you can walk around the entire circumference, getting views of St. Peter’s Square, the Pope’s residence and other portions of the vatican, and of course Rome, Rome, and more Rome in the distance.

St. Peter’s Square:

The Pope’s residence and grounds of Vatican City:

A nearby building in Vatican City, the roof of which is complete covered in solar panels. (Yes, the Pope is green as well.)

Well this pretty much covers the basilica (and our day). Of course we saw above St. Peter’s Square, which you must go through to get to the basilica.

The Pope gives an audience to the public in the square periodically, and as can be seen, they had been setting up for such an audience.

Anyway, we’ll wrap up the day here. Hope you enjoyed our account of St. Peter’s Basilica.