A Productive Day

After a quick, continental-style breakfast at the convent, we started day one in the Eternal City.  We would spend most of the day marveling at the ruins of the pre-Christian republic with some quick side trips to conveniently placed churches and monuments along the way. Alex had made a list of the main things we wanted to be sure to see and a list of things we would squeeze in if possible, in then end, we were able to visit every site on both lists; it was a very productive day.

We began by heading towards the Pantheon, the large Roman dome who would inspire the Renaissance architects when it came time to rediscover the art of dome building 15 centuries later.  The great dome has been re-purposed many times during that time and walking up to it, you could hardly but wonder at the permanence of a structure and how the landscape must have changed over the time it stood there.  Inside, Rick Steves walked us through the sites of the single roomed monolith.  Raphael, Corelli (composer) and Victor Emmanuel (the first king of a united Italy) are all buried here.

We headed out towards the ruins of the Roman forum.  Here among the marble columns and arches left standing, business among the Roman elite occurred.  We walked, again guided by Rick Steves, along the paths where Caesar walked (and was ultimately assassinated).  We went to the imperial palace and stood where the emperors throne once stood; the seat from which decisions affecting the whole of the western world and about a third of the world's population were made.  We saw the arch of Titus, commemorating the fall of Jerusalem you read about prophesied in the Bible.  Closer to the Colosseum stand the arch of Constantine, whose victories would usher in Christianity as the state religion.  Farther back in time, but all right there together is the palace of the Vestal Virgins, priestesses of the old Roman religion.  All of this, a thousand years of history whose implications are still being played out today, was before us in something like a quarter section of land.

As we perused these ruins, we kept a keen eye on the line into the Colosseum.  Initially, it looked like we would have to resign ourselves to a very long wait, but checking back later we found a lull in the line and was able to enter after no more than 10 minutes in line.  Again listening to Rick Steve's tour, we walked along the atria and viewed the ground where so many would suffer and die.  We marveled at the engineering mastery of Rome's architects; the Colosseum is nothing if not colossal, and the elevators and structural workings of the building was a thing of awe.  I wonder if any present day football stadiums will look in anywhere as good of shape in 2000 years.

The major sites of the day visited, we headed next to St. Peter-in-Chains church, so named for the relic it houses.  In a small box we could view the chains legend holds bound Peter as he was held prisoner in Rome and the chains that bound in Jerusalem, which miraculously fused together when someone was examining both.  Built in the 5th century A.D, the chains are not nearly the coolest thing about this incredible site.  What steals the show is Michelangelo's Moses, a marble sculpture so lifelike we half expected him to get up and start knocking some heads together to punish the Israelites for setting up the golden calf.  It was a great stop among Rome's lesser known sites, which meant Alex got a much needed respite from the crowds.

Many of the biggest sites checked off, we stopped for some pizza and ate near one of Rome's 2000 public fountains, making it easy to pinpoint our exact location.  With plenty of daylight to go, we headed toward the ruins of the ancient Roman market and saw Trajan's Column.  From there, it was just across the street to Victor Emmanuel's Monument, whose construction in 1885 made it the most modern building we had yet seen.

We also viewed many churches on this day.  Standing out in our memory is the church dedicated to St. Ignatius, with much fine gold gilding.  Somewhat ironically, with all that gold that went into the gilding there wasn't enough set aside for the construction of a dome, so they hired a painter to paint the appearance of the inside of a dome instead.  He did a fine job of it, but as you walk around and view it from more than one angle the trick is pretty quickly discovered.   We viewed the very French Church of St. Louis, whose frills and ornateness definitely screamed of its Baroque influences.

The church that stand out in my mind the most for this day, however had to be Santa Maria sopra Minerva, where the remains of St. Catherine of Sienna are interred.  After being in Sienna and seeing the influence of this woman, she was more than a random historical figure.  It was much like going to the Eisenhower library in Abilene and seeing where the former President and Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Forces was laid to rest; both were such palpable experiences.

We finished off our day with gelato on the famous Spanish Steps and some people watching, which Alex thoroughly enjoyed.  I sat back in wonder, trying to take it all in.  It had been a full day, and we had seen a ton.  The following day, we would see what had made me long to visit Rome in the first place, St. Peter's Basilica, and the thought of what we had seen and what we were yet to see filled me with awe.  Omnia Vincit Amour.