Our last day of the official honeymoon

Our last day in Rome, which was Sunday, we decided to have a low stress day-too much of our trip was planned, with an agenda. So we woke up late, had breakfast at the hotel, and left our bags there. We picked up our train tickets, and then had a (forgettable) last lunch at Gran Caffe Roma (not recommended). We found a place that had homemade Toblerone while wandering around looking for bees on buildings (the Barberini family signified the buildings that they had built by putting their symbol, the bee, in hidden places -once you know that, you'll see little bees everywhere in trim, crests, etc). We visited a few places that we had missed, and sat in the Borghese park, watching the ducks in the pond, and Romans out strolling and biking (in high heels). Finally, we walked to the hotel to get our luggage, and to the Termini station to catch our train.

We saw the famous St. Teresa in Esctasy by Bernini which was amazing. I didn't like Bernini much in Art History classes but his sculpture is beautiful in person. I still hate Baroque and Rococco, though.

For me, the highlight of the day was the Capuchin Crypts. The theme is "What you are now, we used to be. What we are now, you will be"  and the crypt was built in the late 1600's. People more familiar with Catholicism will probably correct me, but I understood the Capuchins to be be an offshoot of Franciscans, which I found interesting. While we were in Rome, I found myself repelled by the extreme wealth that the popes (admittedly a different situation in Renaissance times and later) had. I tend to like people who are a little different, and admired St. Francis of Assisi after I had done some reading about him. So after being so drawn by the Capuchin Crypts, it made sense to me that they were related to St. Francis. You can't take photos in the crypts, but you can see photos online here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capuchin_Crypt

The Crypt is decorated with literally thousands of bones from the skeletons of friars of the sect- bones made into garlands, arches, even a chandelier. But the idea is not to be like a house of horrors, but to confront each person with the undeniable fact of their mortality. We will be this someday, because we were standing like you one day. Even Nate, who I think was curious but not prepared to like the crypts, was visibly and profoundly moved by the experience. I had tears in my eyes.

I even went looking for a book about the history of the sect, but couldn't find a good one -this sect supports themselves with handouts, and on their website, even a bake sale. No joke. I think people might be getting their cookies from me for Christmas. I struggle somewhat with the idea that this religious group is related to a pope who wears Gucci shoes, and Prada, while many of the religion's adherents struggle in poverty (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122201914.html). I feel like this group, and St. Francis, had more the right idea.

Anyway, we arrived home, and Godiva the dog threw an enormous happy fit, and hasn't stopped his doggy smile since. Back to work tomorrow.

Thanks for taking the time to keep up with our honeymoon!

Friday revision and Saturday

I realized I forgot to say what happened after Pompeii. We took the train back to Naples, which is loud, overwhelming, and the part we saw, not that pretty, and had pizza. Pizza is a source of Napolitan pride, and we went to one of the places they like best, "Antica Pizzaria di Michelle" which was in the movie "Eat Pray Love." It was amazing. On the 2.5 hour train ride home, some guy pleaded and argued loudly the entire time with his mom on his cell phone. The other Italian men did not need a common language to make their message apparent: they were eloquently able to convey, "grow a pair buddy" by gesture alone.

Today was Vatican day. We got there earlier than our reservation, but they still let us in. The place was so packed it was almost not enjoyable, though was worth it for the Sistine Chapel (even though they don't let you talk and were forcing us to walk through without stopping) and the Raphael Rooms. You're not allowed to take photos in the Sistine Chapel, though there, like everywhere else, visitors were explicitly not obeying the museum rules. I surprised myself by snapping at a French couple who were reaching through the ropes to touch two thousand year old artworks, "Don't touch that!" in French. Thanks Monsieur Krieger (our high school French teacher)! I didn't see them touch anything else... :) After the Vatican museum, we were exhausted and had lunch and a gelato that defines gelato for me, the most spectacular pistachio gelato ever. We went over to St. Peters, but the line wrapped around the entire square (about 5 hours long) -I guess we'll see the Pieta another time. It seemed like there was something special going on, because they had a platform in front that looked like a funeral bier. Then we walked over to Hadrian's tomb (which one of the medieval popes had tricked out in papal splendor). We picked up a souvenir for a friend, and then went back to the hotel. We had dinner at some Italian institution next to four priests that I think might have been from Sacramento- boy were they bitchy.

I think the thing that bothered both of us the most was the incredible luxuriousness of the papal apartments, particularly those from the Renaissance times. It felt distressing that they felt entitled to that level of splendor -almost hypocritical. Anyway, tomorrow we're on our way to London for a layover and then back to the US on Monday. I think I appreciate Washington DC more than I ever did, because in comparison, the people in DC are so nice! And I really miss the dog!

Friday

Is that....Mt Vesuvius in the distance? Yup, we finally made it to Pompeii. After the monumental flood of Thursday (someone actually drowned in their basement in Rome), we got up at the crack of dawn to board the express train to Naples. I like traveling by train, except when you're traveling at high speed through the countryside, and then, "click, click, click" from the train, and it stops. We were stuck for about two and a half hours or so, total, and ended up being pushed by another train back to Rome, and then boarded another train, ending up in Naples much later than planned. It turns out the train track was damaged by the intense weather, which in turn, damaged the train. After switching to a commuter train, and twelve stops with Nate and I squashed next to some obnoxious tourist with poor personal hygeine, we leapt out of the train the second the doors opened, and breathed the fresh sea air of Pompeii. This photo is taken from the forum at Pompeii.

This photo is at the market place, where the sad casts of the people who died are displayed.

A nicely preserved fresco (hey, it's more than 2000 years old!) -however, mostly Pompeii decoration were considered pretty nouveau riche by most Romans. The mosaics and frescos are actually reproductions- the originals are in the Naples museum, which is good, because then I felt less homicidal with people who were abusing their privilege to see the site (climbing on ancient pillars, touching everything, climbing over barriers to go into unauthorized areas -no kidding, we saw all of these).

A major throughfare, with rosemary and pomegranates growing by the side of the road. You can tell this was a major road by the raised stones at the intersection- it was supposed to accommodate two way chariot traffic.

A nice photo of Nate.

A mosaic in the house of the Fawn, considered the only non-declasse house there.

The "doormat" at one of the houses- it means essentially "hail you."

I think people liked dogs in ancient Pompeii, as there were two mosaics that pictured dogs, and one entryway had a dog with "beware of dog" lettered under it. There are a bunch of Pompeii dogs there now that sleep in the sun, and I assume keep other animals out of the side. This puppy was asleep on one of the mosaics. (I sure miss our dog, Godiva!)

The fifth day: rained out!

No photos today...we were scheduled to go to the Vatican museum, with the afternoon off for the Jewish Ghetto or somewhere else. There was a giant rain/lightning/hail storm that flooded first floors of buildings, streets, and stopped the trains. Unfortunately, we were stuck on one of those trains, and ended up in the train station in a not nice neighborhood for three hours, and missed our time for the Vatican. So, we're going Saturday (now, it's a $100 visit to the museum, since it's about $25 per person). We did visit the Travestere, which used to be a yucky area, but is now pretty fun. Tomorrow, Naples and Pompeii!

Day four (whew!)

This is going to be a short blog, because we're both beat! (and have an early day ahead tomorrow) Today, we took the train in Ostica Antica, the port city for Rome. When Rome was declining, one sign of it was that the via Ostica (busiest road in Rome) had grass growing on it! At some point it was covered by silt, and in the early 1900's, the Italian government did a massive archaeologic dig. As a result, it's in excellent condition. The photo at left is the amphitheatre there.

This is one of the mosaics that was in the trade district. Each shop had a mosaic floor that signified what it sold or what service it provided, since there were so many foreigners there. St Augustine even stopped there, and his mother died there.

This is a perfectly preserved marble bar!

Looking out from the third story of one of the tenements (still in great shape).

Another bar! We looked over most of the city (which was considerable). It's worth it to see soon since it will probably disintegrate because the tourists are really inconsiderate. Nate thought he was going to be in a fight after a tourist was letting his kid climb on the walls and kick at the walls, and then I saw him spit on the building. I told him very clearly that he was disgusting, making sure I spoke slowly and clearly in case he was as dumb as I thought he might be. I suspect he did understand me because he looked surprised.

After the train ride home, we walked to the Campo di Fiori (pictured) for a drink, and to people watch. Then we had dinner at a trattoria, where the mom cooks what she feels like, and what is seasonal. You don't get to pick what you eat -she does. And you better not give Signora Paola a hard time, either. The food was pretty fun.

Then we walked (er, I staggered) over to the Piazza Navona, looked at the Bernini fountain, people watched some more, and then walked to the Trevi fountain (pictured). We hoofed it to the column of Marcus Aurelius (my hero!), then the Pantheon (stunning at night, as you can see), the Spanish Steps, then back to our hotel. The Vatican Museum is tomorrow!

Our Roman Honeymoon: day three

Today, we woke up a little late (still jet lagged), missed breakfast, but still managed to tour the Baths of Caracalla and the National museum of Rome. The Baths of Caracalla are the most massive ruins I've ever seen, and only a few blocks from our hotel. The front part of the baths have been made into a Baroque church, with all traces of the Roman features obliterated. We didn't spend much time in the church. However, the museum was amazing and had a lot of beautiful statues, mosaics and wall paintings. Nate and I photographed them extensively, though clearly from Nate's face, I think I might have been more successful at it. :)

The photo below is a room from a home around the time of Augustus (died 14 AD). They found it buried in the Renaissance time, and preserved the wall paintings and mosaic floors. This was pretty amazing!

The next photo is a bronze statue of a boxer, who originally had glass or marble eyes, which dangled from hooks, which are still there, within the head.

This was a beautiful marble sculpture portraying a person from Greek mythology, pulling an arrow from her back.

The marble busts were amazing.

This is me frowning at two of my least favorite things, simultaneously: zoos (bored animals in cages) and Rococco style.

After the national museum, we had a really nice lunch, strolled through the Borghese gardens, stopped at my favorite drinking water fountain, and bought a perfume from the Carthusian monks from Capri for my Roman souvenir (fig, tea, and Capri carnation!). Then we wandered over to the Piazza del Popolo, wandered an amazing church, which was redecorated by Bernini, and had TWO caravaggios, one of which is in a smuggled photo from my phone below.

After doing a little shopping, staring longingly at the Vuitton bag store, and climbing the Spanish steps, we watched people for awhile, and the con artists preying on the crowds. The photo of the peach colored house is where Keats died. We wandered back, had fried zucchini flowers and pizza for dinner, and now are getting ready for tomorrow's trip to Ostia Antica, the ancient Roman port town. The afternoon is free so far. Any suggestions?

A few more photos....