Last weekend I packed my backpack to the brim and headed out to discover Rome. I left Nantes on a train with 4 friends from IES, and we arrived in Paris on the windiest, most grey and gloomy day imaginable. We imidiately hid behind our umbrellas which we held in front of us, rather than above our heads, because there was such a strong wind. My umbrella now has some broken limbs and will not stay open on its own, and trashcans around the streets of Paris were filled with abandoned umbrellas. We spent one night in Paris before we left for Rome and, despite the weather, we were able to see some great sites. We walked by le Tour Eiffel which stood tall against the thick grey sky and we avoided dozens of people selling touristy trinkets. We got out of the bad weather and went to le Musee de l'Orangerie (You can get in to any museums and monuments in France for free if you present your French visa) which housed pieces by Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. There was also a giant exhibit displaying Monet's Waterlily Pond collection which was amazing. Each piece was over 20 feet long and the mix of colors was so intriging that you could not help but gaze at each one wondering how individual brush strokes could create something so massive. I am finding that I can appreciate art more after being in an Art History class here (We have to keep reminding each other that we are standing in front of an actual piece, not just a photo of a famous picture or just the Eiffel Tower in Vegas, but the real live thing!) We also stopped by Notre Dame de Paris and Sainte-Chappelle which was almost completely surrounded by stained glass windows that stretched high into the arched ceiling. Of course we had crepes for lunch and a mid-day banana/nutella crepe snack. I also went out with my friend Laura to meet one of her french friends for a thai dinner (This is only important because it is still exciting for me to make it through an entire meal speaking mostly French with actual French people). The next morning, we conquered the public transportation of Paris and took a plane to Rome.
There are so many rediculously old sites and paintings in Rome that I do not even know where to begin. The Colosseum was exciting and horrible at the same time. We took a guided tour (which I highly recommend for the Colosseum and Roman Forum) and learned so many details and stories about its incredible history. The Colosseum was used for battles between gladiators and animals and slaves and women, but in reality it was just an arena for massacres. The stage had 28 trap doors where hundreds of animals would be lifted up (after days without food) and quickly slaughtered by the armed men above. There is only one door out, used by the dead, who were scortched by a hot iron and stabbed to make sure they were completely dead before they were dragged out. Over 700,000 men were killed in the Colosseum and often times the scent of death was so overpowering inside that the temporary roof had to be removed to allow some circulation. It was crazy to stand where thousands of people watched bloody massacres each night, enjoying the idea of a grand performance while the men in the arena were actually being slashed with swords and eaten by lions. It was also crazy to think about how after all the gladiator battles, the Colosseum still experienced hundreds of years of other events.
One of the most interesting parts about Rome is that it is a "Recycled City," in the words of our tour guide. It makes sense when you think about how old most of the buildings are, and it explains why most of the famous sites look especially ancient. Most of the buildings were once covered with thick slabs of marble that decorated the walls and columns giving them a sleek, Roman look. But as new buildings were erected and new rulers came into power, the marble was taken from older buildings (like the Colosseum) because it was cheaper. I learned how the marble was attached to columns, almost just hanging over the stone base, and most of the buildings now only show the stripped skeleton of what used to be smooth marble. You can see which buildings were protected by the church or the emperor because they are still decorated with swirling marble and all the walls are still intact. I can only imagine how awesome ancient Rome looked before it was recycled into less ancient but still old Rome.
Our tour took us up to Palatine Hill where Romulus built Rome after he killed his brother Remus. It is spotted with high umbrella trees which were imported to provide shade for the emporer during his long parades. There is a mini battle field built by Constantine I that was used as the first "personal big screen" where he watched performances and gladiator battles in his back yard. Palatine Hill offers a view over all of the Roman Forum, which is actually only the 30% that has been excavated from ancient times. Present day Rome is built over layers of ancient Roman years, so there are hundreds of years of building and statues still buried under what we consider ruins. There is a church in the Forum that was built inside the ruins of ancient pillars and other buildings that were previously half-buried but now stand fully visible. It is a giant excavation site. Today only one Pagen building remains in Rome, and it is now topped with a cross.
Other sites I visited were:
1.The Pantheon (at one point it had the largest solid ceiling in the world, and the floors are beautiful and marble). 2. The Spanish Steps (which are neat, but just steps where hundreds of people sit and talk. They were also paid for by the French and "the spanish steps" is just a nickname). 3. Plaza Navona (filled with fountains and painters and cafes, and a good place for a gellato break). 4. The Trevi Fountain (We threw coins in and made a wish like thousands of other tourists do each day. Italy makes a fortune from the tossed coins, and they are picked up and donated to charity groups fairly often). 5. Churches (We were told to go into any church we could find in Rome because they are all covered in beautiful paintings. Most churches were painted from floor to ceiling without one blank wall in sight. The domes were deep and my neck began to hurt from gazing up so much wondering how they could be so perfect. We went to one church that did not have domes, but was painted so brilliantly to look like it did that it was almost better than a real dome. We listened to a choir in one church and their voices echoed and suspended like we were listening to angels at the gates of heaven).
While we were in Rome, we stepped out of the country for a few hours into Vatican City. We went to the Vatican museum and entered into room after room teeming with stone statues and ceilings covered with dozens of paintings. The Vatican, as well as most of Rome, is a complete sensory overload. There are so many hundreds of paintings and statues and monuments and tapestries and domes that it is impossible to appreciate every single one. We would walk down long corridors where the ceiling was painted with hundreds of different individual pictures but I was only able to soak them in as a whole, as one massive canvas hosting dozens of artists who all blend together. I think it is interesting which paintings and statues are seen as famous. Michelangelo's David statue is really well known, but I saw hundreds of statues of sculpted young men that were no less impressive yet less appreciated. Similarly, there are hundreds of paintings that are underrated and overlooked when they rest close to a famous piece. The Sistine Chapel is completely not overrated, however. All the images tell a story and if you look up and spin, it's like a biblical picture book. Taking pictures is interdit (not allowed), but of course I sneakily snapped a shot as evidence that I stood under Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. We stayed in the Sistine Chapel long enough to "awe" at each separate painting, and then we passed through it three more times just for fun. We also passed through Raphael's rooms which, like most of Rome and the Vatican, was unreal, and I again had to remind myself that he actually stood in the same room and painted everything on the walls.
We made some good friends from the Netherlands in our hostel (I have said it before, but it is so cool how you can find people you completely mesh with all over the world) which had a really hip and young vibe. For my trips so far, the hostels have only made each city even more enjoyable. Of course we ate pizza and pasta and gellato for every meal during our stay in Rome. I would not say that it was especially better than italian food anywhere else, but of course the Italian accents make the atmosphere more genuine. I had always assumed that the stereotypical Italian accent was completely exaggerated, but it is pretty much right on target. We stayed in Rome just long enough so that we had a few busy days packed with sight-seeing but also a few relaxed days to take our time and just wander. It was a great treat to have a mediterranean weekend!
Ciao!
