Rome
We spent our first afternoon in Rome walking to St. Peter's Square and going through the basilica. It is truly immense. I think all the other churches we have seen could fit inside it at one time. I had been inside years ago, and what I took most from that visit was the tiled walls. But they were even more beautiful than I remembered. And the ceilings, and the floors! All stunning. We took so long inside that we got to the Vatican Museum 10 minutes too late to get in line, so the Sistine Chapel must wait for our return. Rome is littered with the detritus of antiquity; columns pop up out of back yards, archeological sites and cordoned off areas are seemingly every other block. Thousands of years have to be accounted for. My fondest wish remains a time machine.
I suppose when you travel you should expect the unexpected. Our plan for Saturday was the Forum, the Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum. We got to the gate at the Palatine Hill but it was locked, as was the gate into the Forum. No indication of why, no one around to explain. Tons of people milled about wondering what was happening. Tour buses disgorged the hordes of badge-wearing glassy-eyed tourists, but no one got inside the gates.
It turned out that Rome was in lock-down mode. Police and military types were everywhere, just waiting around. We finally asked one of the police who told us of the coming demonstrations that day by “gli indignati” - the indignants. The protest against bankers was supposed to be large and peaceful, but it turned into a huge mob of thousands that was violent at times, clashing with police, setting cars and buildings on fire, throwing rocks and other objects, and receiving hose downs from water cannons and retaliation from the police. Much of it occurred around us, in the city center, as we executed Plan B; walking from the Colosseum to the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and Piazza Navona. Our route took us by the Senate (lots of police there), the city offices (ditto), the ritzy shopping streets, and the historical sites that were the scenes of much of the violence. We never saw it. We did see five protestors with three banners parade by the crowd at the Trevi Fountain, but that was it. In fact, we were “the indignants” thinking, “you're kidding, they locked us out for this pathetic excuse of a protest??” We were stunned when we saw the coverage on the news when we returned to our hotel. We can't imagine how we missed it.
So there were hordes of tourists milling about the places we went, I guess because no one could get into the historical sites or museums. We really enjoyed Piazza Novana, wandering through the artists and talking to them about their work. As we were leaving a musical group set up, and what do you know, there we were swing dancing to a saxaphone again. We attracted quite a crowd, many of them taking pictures, as we managed to jitterbug and Lindy Hop with backpacks on (we even got some “oohs” when Paul tossed me out of a hip dip). Such a hoot! Dancing as the sun set in the Piazza Navona; what a great introduction to Rome!
Sunday all sites were open so we executed Plan A from the day before. Walking in the Forum was such an other-worldy experience, you could picture it 2000 years ago. It was good to be reminded that the Forum at that time wasn't the white dusty monochromatic scene it is now, but that the frescoes, walls and columns were often painted bright colors. The Palatine Hill, where the wealthy Romans lived overlooking the Forum, was remarkable, and the Colosseum was also. I'm not exactly sure how we managed to avoid lines at all three, but we did; we never had to wait to get in. We had a wonderful last Italian dinner in a little trattoria off the Campo di Fiori, toasted a fabulous vacation, and said “arrivederci, Roma, ci vediamo”. We will return.
