Rome - day 3 - part 2

Our tour of the Capitoline Museum continues back inside the building. Some day I'll actually go through the Forum and will post more about it.

Here is the Capitoline Wolf, conveniently located in the Hall of the She-Wolf. This of course is Romulus and Remus suckling from a she-wolf. The two brothers would go on to found Rome and Romulus would be its first king.

Sarah inspecting the anatomical correctness of a statue.

This is the head of Medusa by Bernini. She looks very sad to have snakes for hair, and is way prettier than the version in Clash of the Titans. Then mean old Harry Hamlin goes and cuts her head off.

Here is Commodus again, this time dressed up like Hercules.

Sarah is overwelmed by the art.

Here is the original of the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius. It was erected in 176 AD. The replica in the piazza was put up in 1981.

Sarah with the contemporary bronze version of Constantine.

These steps lead down to China. Wait, they're in Italy. So they lead down to the Pacific Ocean somewhere.

Sarah lets that dog know who's boss. It's important to let the animal know that you are the dominant one. I learned that from the Dog Whisperer.

I can't remember who this poor fellow is.

Or this poor fellow.

I just like that Saint Peter Martyr (on the left) has a sword in his head.

Sarah gazes in wonder at the real colossal statue of Constantine.

And his feet.

Sorry that I rushed through this one. We gotta go eat.

Rome - day 3 - part 1

Tuesday 8/5/08
Once again we walked over to the Flann O'Brien Pub for breakfast, but this time we went all out and spent the extra two euros for a hardier breakfast. I got an omelet. By the way, I must whole-heartedly apologize for making an extremely embarassing error on my previous postings. We did not stay in the Flann O'Bryan Rooms, as previously posted, but the Flann O'Brien Rooms as stated above. I have reprimanded myself severely. Feel free to do the same.

Our first objective of the day was to go to the Capitoline Museum, located in the Piazza del Compidoglio on the Capitoline Hill (one of the seven hills of Rome). Actually, we went to one of three museum buildings on the Capitoline Hill called the Palazzo Nuovo. Sarah had never been there before (neither had I) and there are some important ancient works of art there, so it was one of the things that we most wanted to see. Since there are so many wonderful things there, this visit will be stretched out over a couple of postings.

Above, Sarah can be seen checking out the fountain of Marforio and its giant inhabitant.

Here we can see the world's only surviving Roman era glass elevator.

This is the very famous Dying Gaul, a Roman copy of the 3rd century BC Greek work.

There was a party going on in this room.

This is the Hall of Philosophers.

And these busts are from the Hall of Emperors.

This is Marcus Aurelius (emperor 161-180). He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors" and is commemorated by an equestrian statue in the center of the Piazza Compedoglio.

Commodus (emperor 180-192) was the son of Marcus Aurelius. He was also made famous recently in the movie Gladiator. His reign is seen by some as the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire.

This is the Capitoline Venus.

This is the American Sarah.

The Capitoline Hill overlooks the Forum and the museum has a patio with some great views. Above is the Arch of Septimus Severus which was built to commemorate Emperor Septimus Severus's victories over the Parthians at the end of the second century.

On the right is part of the Temple of Saturn. It is the oldest surviving structure in the area (which is where the oldest structures in Rome reside), having been built between 501 and 498 BC. On the left is all that remains of the Temple of Vespasian and Titus.

To the left of the temples is the Basilica Julia, or at least the bottoms of columns that remain. It was named for and begun by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. It was reconstructed a few times after fires. At first it was a public space for meetings, then later had courts and shops.

The Capitoline Museum will continue...

Rome - day 2 - part 2

After we met up with the Wolavers and their group, we had lunch at a restaurant in the Piazza Navona. From there, the groups split and Sarah, Lindy, Steve, Sid (a friend from their cruise), and I went on for more sight-seeing.

Our first destination was the Pantheon. It was originally built as a temple to all the Gods (hence the name Pantheon) of Rome around 125 A.D., also during the reign of Hadrian. It was converted into a Christian church in 609.

The hole in the top of the dome is called the oculus, and it is 142 feet high.

Raphael is buried in the Pantheon.

From the Pantheon our group went to the Basilica Santa Maria sopra Minerva. It was built directly over the temple of the goddess Minerva (hence the name). It is the only Gothic church in Rome and is the main Dominican church in the city. Above can be seen the tomd of St. Catherine of Sienna under the alter.

Santa Maria sopra Minerva houses one of Sarah's least favorite of Michelangelo's works, the statue of Christ the Redeemer. I don't know, it looks alright to me.

I don't remember whose tomb this was. I just think it's really odd the way bodies and sculptures of the dead are propped up in a lounging position in a lot of these churches. As if they're watching you.

In the Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola there is an interesting dome. As seen above, it looks quite dark.

When seen from the side that the clergy would see it from, you can see that it is not actually a dome but a painting of one. Apparantly they ran out of money while building the church.

Oh, just a bunch of relics.

Our fourth and final church with the Wolavers was the Chiesa di San Luigi dei Francesi. It was built in the 16th century and in the national French church of Rome, whatever that means. It is dedicated to St. Louis IX, king of France (hence the name San Luigi dei Francesi). I never think about the meanings of the names until it is pointed out to me what they mean. Then it seems so obvious. I was impressed that Sarah's uncle Steve guessed that it looked French.

Of interest in this church was the Contarelli Chapel which had some paintings by Caravaggio, including The Inspiration of Saint Matthew. It is of special importance because it is a great example of the gesture that Kellin is researching.

After all that we headed back to their hotel to relax a bit. Later Sarah and I went out to diner with the three Wolavers then took a cab back to our hotel. We were exausted from so much walking.

Rome - day 2 - part 1

Monday 8/4/08
On our second day in Rome we took advantage of our hotel's free breakfast. Our room was actually in another building a couple of blocks from the Flann O'Bryan Pub, so we had to take a little trek to get there. Since it is an actual restaurant and there were quite a few average Joe's there having their morning espressos, or whatever those Italian coffee drinkers drink, we had a pass that allowed us to get a typical European hotel breakfast for free. For a couple of Euros more we could upgrade to a little more exciting breakfast, but we decided to stick with the free stuff.

Our first objective of the day was to go to San Pietro in Vincoli (or St. Peter in Chains). We had to walk up through the tunnel above to get there. It was first built between 432 and 440 but underwent a number of restorations and rebuildings.

San Pietro in Vincoli is best known for Michelangelo's statue of Moses on the tomb of Pope Julius II. Moses has horns. It's in the Bible.

This is the sexy Pope Julius II, lounging after death.

In a reliquary underneath the main alter in the basilica are the chains that bound St. Peter.

Supposedly, when the chains that bound St. Peter in Jerusalem were brought together with those that bound him in Rome they fused together. It was a Christmas miracle.

On our walk from San Pietro in Vincoli to the bus stop we happened to see some minor bits of historical architecture. One of them is seen above.

Here's the other. Looks like a mess to me.

The Colosseum and the Forum will have to wait until another trip. I still have only seen both from the outside. Sarah said we'll go to the Colosseum later. We were actually going to walk through the Forum at one point, but we were walking against the flow of traffic and arrived at the exit. We got some great views of it the next day.

Our bus (and about 700 others) have a centrally located stop next to the Monument of Vittorio Emmanuel II. So we got a closer view of it (and its construction) than we had the day before. We got on the number 44 bus to Trestevere on the southwest side of town and on the other side of the Tiber. There were a couple of churches that Sarah wanted to see over there, but unfortunately on of them was closed. They were up on top of a hill, and we got great views of the city.

We did get to see the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trestevere. It is one of the oldest churches in Rome, having been built in the 340s. It may have been the first church in Rome in which mass was openly celebrated. There was actually a Christian house church that was built on the site in about 220.

These mosaics are from the 13th century.

We walked a long way from Trestevere to the area just north of St. Peter's and Castel Sant'Angelo to meet up with the Wolaver clan (Sarah's aunt Sue, uncle Steve, and cousin Lindy) and others from the cruise they just left in Greece. Above you can see round Castel Sant'Angelo by the beautiful Tiber River. The castle was used as a refuge for the popes, notably in 1527 when Emperor Charles V sacked Rome. It was originally a mausoleum commissioned by Hadrian.

This was as close as we got to St. Peter's on this trip.

This court building was right next to the Castel Sant'Angelo and just south of the Wolaver's hotel. Sarah's uncle (the judge) was very interested in learning more about the Italian legal system but was not allowed in. Apparantly he didn't look like a judge in his shorts.