Roman Holiday

Any visit to Italy must include a trip to Rome. Our five day stay there gave us the opportunity to visit the must-see Roman sites as well as a one day train ride to Pompeii. With a European cold snap driving down the boot of Italy, the weather was quite brutal. The occasional heavy rains added to the rough weather experience, but we were on vacation…..

The first tourist stop was the Colosseum. Of course, no visit to the Colosseum is complete without a spouse being threatened by a gladiator. The antics of these costumed modern day Romans outside the Colosseum are surely reminiscent of the festival atmosphere that accompanied the games that took place on this very location centuries ago.

Our guided tour of the Colosseum included Palatine Hill, the home of Roman emperors. From the heights of the Palatine Hill amongst the ruins of the once-palatial quarters of the imperial family, we could gaze down upon the Roman forum, a former market and meeting place. It was here all the news fit to speak was spoken. “Friends, Romans and countrymen….” as Bill Shakespeare would romantically imagine for us the drama that took place on this very ground.

Imagining the drama of that fateful day in 79 B.C.E. in Pompeii was quite different. The beauty and the ordinariness of this city were tragically preserved by layers of pumice and volcanic ash. Homes and shops, mosaic art, murals and frescoes, urns and plaster cast impressions of the last moments of the former citizens all combined to give reflection that, many generations ago, people walked across the stones in the narrow roads just as we did.

When back in Rome, we tossed coins into Trevi Fountain (to ensure that we’ll return again!), wandered among shops and stalls on many palazzos, marveled at the grandeur of the Pantheon and took photos of street performers. When we came to the Spanish Steps we looked at each other and wondered, “What’s the big deal here….?” That’s one piece of history we missed.

Upon our arrival at the Vatican we were greeted by a young tour guide who asked, “Do you speak English?” With an agreeing nod to her query if we wanted to join a tour, she double-timed us in a march to the head of the line that proved to be even longer than we could have possibly conceived. In the end, we had to wait about 90 seconds before entering the Vatican. We couldn’t believe our good fortune!

Each member on our guided tour was given a small radio receiver with headphones that allowed us to hear our guide without being next to him. We visited the Vatican museum where we gazed upon a zillion pieces of artwork from paintings to mosaic to tapestry and sculptures. The Sistine Chapel was awe-inspiring. St. Peter’s Basilica was numbing in size and mass. In the evening we headed back to our hotel room where we could gaze upon the chandelier in our tiny bedroom. What a holiday!