Recently in A Week in Rome Category
Click here for previous installments of A Week in Rome.
Well, after a couple of months and hundreds of photos, Susan the Human will cease to be All-Rome-All-the-Time after today. You might say I was ahead of my time, given that the news networks went All-Rome just in the last week. But that's the kind of cutting edge photojournalism you've come to expect from our little blog. Yes sirree. I've got lots of non-Roman pics on tap, but let's get that last batch of Rome out of our system right now, capisci?
Click here for previous installments of A Week in Rome.
Rome is a big city, too big to wrap up in just one post. For all the places I've shown you, there are dozens of little pictures and tidbits that just didn't fit. So it'll take two photo-filled posts to finally get The Eternal City out of my system.
I don't know where to start. So let's just hop randomly through the week, shall we?
The Pope's death this week brought millions to Rome, and according to today's New York Times, 4 hundred thousand in the last two days have visited St. Peter's Square. All I can say is thank you, John Paul, thank you for not taking your bow while I was in town. Because St. Peter's Square photographs so much better when your dearly faithful are not in it.
A lone monk wanders by the fountain in St. Peter's square, looking for his cloister.
Click below for the rest of this second-to-last swing through Rome...
Click here for previous installments of A Week in Rome.
On our last day in Rome, we had a bit of extra time, and the rain was coming down, so we dove into the closest museum to Termini station, The National Museum of Rome. Modest on the outside, the museum's modern interior features several levels of diverse attractions ranging from a massive fresco collection to a genuine treasure vault that would make any pirate drool. But first we must admire the discus man.
Click here for previous installments of A Week in Rome.
From almost anywhere in central Rome you can see them, the flying horses on top of the Victor Emmanuel Monument. Well, ok, the horses aren't flying, the Hermes-type-guy is, but from a distance you can't see him, and it looks like flying horses.
Emmanuel was the first king of a unified Italy. The country is now a Republic, its dysfunctional royal family banished from its borders, but the monument remains, a shining white palacial expanse of marble, horses, more marble, and more horses, capped off by an enormous fat king sitting on an enormous fat horse. While locals call it a set of dentures, tourists enjoy it and the lovely views from the top of its many steps.
The dome in the background is St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City.
Click here for previous installments of A Week in Rome.
Atop Capitoline Hill is a museum sadwiched between the enormous wedding-cake Emmanuel Monument and the stunning remains of The Forum. In a single day it's easily possible to do the Collosseum, Palatine Hill, The Forum--
--the Capitoline Museum, and the Emmanuel and still have time to walk into the heart of the old city for dinner.
The Capitoline's appeal is in its irreverent (perhaps unintentional) exhibits, such as this fine collection of disembodied parts:
Click here for previous installments of A Week in Rome.
It's one of the best sights in Rome, and must be seen after dark to be truly appreciated. It's not by Michelangelo or Bernini, and you won't find it in most art history textbooks. But it is one of the most memorable sculptures in town. It's the Trevi Fountain, nestled in rabbit-warren streets in the heart of old Rome.
Click here for previous chapters of "A Week in Rome".
A long subway ride from the old city, deep in the Roman suburbs, is a massive but ordinary-looking outcropping of the Vatican known commonly as St. Paul's Outside the Walls (of the city of Rome). One of the largest churches in the world, it is about as far from any other tourist attraction as you can get and still be roughly inside Rome. On the blustery November afternoon when we took the trip, we thought we'd see the peaceful columns of a stately cathedral, good for a picture or two. We got a full-blown religious experience.
Introduction
The Colosseum
Palatine Hill
The Forum
The Pantheon
The Vatican Museum
St. Peter in Chains
Imperial Lion
St Peter's Square and Basilica
Atop St. Peter's Dome
Castel Sant' Angelo
Florence Day Trip
I ran into some technical difficulties last week posting the remainder of my Castel Sant' Angelo pics, but I think I've got that all ironed out. So here at the ones you missed. We'll start out with a 2,000 year old bridge--yes, the three arches in the middle are original:
Introduction
The Colosseum
Palatine Hill
The Forum
The Pantheon
The Vatican Museum
St. Peter in Chains
Imperial Lion
St Peter's Square and Basilica
Atop St. Peter's Dome
Castel Sant' Angelo
Europe's high speed train systems redefine the day trip. Instead of a traveling a dozen miles out of town, we travelled 200 in less than an hour and a half, from a train conveniently located near our hotel. After flying through dozens of tunnels--which made the tracks almost like a thread stiched in and out of fabric, the train a needle flying at a relatively leisurly 130 mph--we landed near downtown Florence, and easy walk from all that makes this city the world capital of the Rennaissance.
Click the link below for the rest of the story, and lots of photos of Florence.
Introduction
The Colosseum
Palatine Hill
The Forum
The Pantheon
The Vatican Museum
St. Peter in Chains
Imperial Lion
St Peter's Square and Basilica
Atop St. Peter's Dome
Sometimes, being the Pope isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes you just can't get love from The People the way you do from the Big Guy upstairs. And when the little people get ornery, sometimes you just need a conveniently located heavily fortified castle in which to flee their pitchforks. You need Castel Sant' Angelo!
That's right, this many bedroom, no bath riverfront property with a full dungeon located near downtown Vatican City is just waiting for a savvy but unpopular Pope to make it his own.
The place was originally built as a mausoleum for Hadrian, but some business with Pope Gregory and a visit from the archangel Michael, or maybe just some moldy bread, made it a choice spot for Popes under siege. In any case, it's not very attractive on the inside--one of the big reasons to go there is the view. The other is that it's a short walk from St. Peter's and a good stop on your way back into the Old City of Rome.
