Rome has not changed much in 35 years

We arrived in Roma after taking the train from the airport.  Our hotel was only about 3 blocks away from the train station.  I had printed out the directions from Google maps and a map with the pictures of the buildings.  Once we oriented ourselves and dodged all the souvenir and tour sellers, we were able to walk right to where the hotel should have been.  We had picked the hotel from a Rick Steves guide book for its location and price.  All we found at the site was a big wooden door and a hotel sign.  It apparently is common in the big cities for little hotels to be located on the upper floors.  Once through the big door (12 foot high), we climbed the staircase and were able to check in.

The bellman, who spoke almost no English, took us to our room.  He put us in the elevator with the luggage and closed the three doors (yes three, the outer wood door, the metal gate and an inner wood door) for the ride back down to the first floor.  He met us at the bottom and we exited the building, crossing the street to another building.  Evidently the hotel has expanded by taking over another hotel in the other building.  Bit a bother to drop the key off each time we went out, but not really a problem.  The room was nice with a big window onto a semi-quiet street.

We walked to the Colosseum and were able to walk right up to the entrance (no standing in lines to buy a ticket) because we bought a museum pass.  It was crowded inside and it took a while to get to the front of the viewing areas.  Patience and perseverance.  Waiting allowed us to eaves drop on the tour being given in English.  It was not as easy to hear the commentary these days because they give the tour members a radio receiver with headphones and the tour guide a microphone to broadcast.  This allows the guide to be quieter while allowing everyone to hear.  They are very nice for the groups in museums, but if you stand near the guide, you can still get some information gratis.

From there we walked down to the Palentine Hill and roamed the ruins.  You get a nice view of the city from up there.  As we wandered, we reached the Forum and went on one of Rick Steves' self guided walking tours.  My guide was able to give me lots of information about the ruins.  I was able to just gaze around as Robyn read the information about each of the structures.  As we reached the far end of the forum, the bells rang and they announced that they were closing.  We exited out the back door above the old senate building.

We wandered the streets and ended up in the Piazza de Navona with a Bernini fountain.  There were artists creating simple water colors for the tourists, but we liked the colors of one artist with a simple display.  He created the items at his table and sold the still damp images.

From there, we grabbed some gelatto and continued our stroll.  Found the Parthenon, but a religious service was in progress, so we did not get to go inside.  More wandering and we stumbled on the Trevi Fountain. Actually, we stumbled on the thousand tourists and sellers around the fountain.   From there we went back to the hotel for the night.

The next day we went to the Vatican museum.  We stood in line for about an hour to get through security and buy a ticket.  Once inside, we visited a gallery and then ate lunch in the cafeteria.   Refreshed and re-energized, we tackled the crowds of people and toured more of the museum.  After a while, the crowds were getting to me, so we took a break in the gardens, relaxing and people watching.  The sun was out, so it was a nice day for sitting in the garden.

 Then for the real crowds.  The museum is laid out to flow through several different galleries and end in the Sistine Chapel. The halls leading to the chapel entrance were completely packed, no passing.  Felt like cattle being moved to a new corral. I remember the chapel from 35 years ago, but I don't remember it being sooooo crowded.  There must have been over 500 people in there.

 It has only been a couple months since the cardinals from around the world gathered here to elect their new pope.  I am still awed by the size and vibrancy of the paintings.  They were just starting to clean the walls when I was here before.  Now the colors are bright and vibrant.  If it was not so crowded, I would have sat for a few minutes.  As it was, the crowd did not move very fast and I think it took over 20 minutes to move through the chapel and out a small door.

Saturday morning we wanted to climb to the top of St Peters.  We headed out early to get there before 8 am.  We walked right up to security and the X-ray scanners and we were able to walk straight into the church.  They tell you it is large, but until you actually see it, you cannot really appreciate the magnitude.  As we finished the tour of the inside, we arrived at what I remembered as the entrance to climb to the top, but there was a security guard at the door.  We needed to go back outside and to the opposite side of the church to climb.

Luckily it was still uncrowded and we were able to get across the groups coming in.  Once again being early allowed us to walk right up the ticket window and then immediately start climbing.  The guide book said that there were only 300 stairs, but I counted 200 just to the top of the church.  From there we still needed to climb up the dome another 300 steps.

To access the very top, you are allowed to walk around the interior of the dome, 150 feet above the people inside the church.  It is an amazing view.  From there you enter the space between the inner and outer dome.  The last 100 meters of the passage way is two way traffic, but only wide enough for one way.  Usually the intermittent groups of climbers can wait for groups of descenders, but some times it backs up. This means getting cozy with the people coming down. The last stretch of stairs up along the curved space of the dome to the very top is where you have the most fantastic views of Vatican City and Rome.  It was a clear sunny day and we could see forever.


After spending quite a bit of time on the top, we could see the lines growing to get into the church.  Heading back down we saw that the whole square of St Peters was filling up with people.  They were also setting up chairs for the service that evening.  The pope would be attending, so the streets were being shutdown and cleared.

The next day we roamed the city again and got lost in the neighborhoods south of the Coliseum.  After half an hour we found our way back.  It was quite a nice adventure.

Rome has not changed much in the 35 years since I last visited.  Lots of old buildings, lots of people.  I was happy to leave it then and I am happy to leave it now.  It has been fun, but now that Robyn has also been able to experience the city and has seen the well known sites, I doubt that we will need to return here again.