Italy, Day 2

[ladysprite]

We woke up fairly early on our second day in order to make it out in time for our walking tour - not a particularly challenging thing to do, since we were still somewhat time-shifted and crashed at an early (for us) hour. Breakfast was the hotel's free continental buffet, which was worlds better than any I've ever had before - in part because it included 100% more Nutella, as well as fresh oranges that I'm pretty sure had been picked within the past 24 hours.

The shuttle bus left the hotel with us and another couple (young and aggressively hung over, so not very chatty) and picked up a few more couples on the way, including a very friendly older couple from the DC area with whom I struck up a fairly quick and enthusiastic friendship; between them and a handful of other cheerful, outgoing folk I was in heaven chattering, trading travel stories, and generally sharing my excitement and fun with like-minded folks.

Once the group had assembled, our guide led us on a walking tour of some of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. We started at the Trevi Fountain, which still blows me away with its incredible beauty every time I think of it. I love waterfalls, and this is a fountain that manages to somehow transition from ornately carved marble sculpture to what looks like natural rock, and I spent about as long as we were allowed just staring at it and grinning like a fool....


This doesn't truly do it justice, nor capture all of the details, but it's the best picture we got - it's really too big to catch all in one shot.

As we wandered on from there, I realized that around Every Damn Corner in Rome, there are thousand-year-old obelisks that just happened to get lost for centuries and then rediscovered, ornate fountains, and marble statues. Just... everywhere. Like we have plaques proclaiming something to be Ernest Q. Dorkington Square, they have giant ancient obelisks. It's a bit more impressive than our choice.

Our next stop was the Pantheon, which was also built by Hadrian, lost for a few centuries, and then turned into a church that is still in use to this day, with minimal changes. It is huge, and breathtaking, and ancient, and full of marble columns the size of redwoods that were carved in one piece and transported over from Egypt around the time of Cleopatra. It is also in more or less perfect condition, which is mind-boggling.


Once again, the picture doesn't quite do it justice....

From there we walked to the Piazza Navona, which was bright and sunny and beautiful and filled with yet more pristine, ornate white marble fountains. It was also the first place I spotted a street vendor selling roasted chestnuts, which one of the vets I work for (an incredibly avid traveler) informed me I needed to try, so I bought a cone and shared them with umbran and one of the other guys in our group. They were tasty enough, but the smelled even more heavenly, leading me to wish there was a way to make a smell-album to bring home and share with our friends.

The true highlight of the Piazza, though, was the true realization that I was in a different world when our tour guide, walking us past an impressive fountain of Neptune, shrugged and informed us that she wasn't really going to talk about it because it was new - the carving was, after all, only 18th century; only the base was 15th century. So, you know, barely even around long enough to put on the maps. Or, as we like to say here, older than my entire country.


Oh, that? That's just the new fountain....

From there the tour ended up at St. Peter's Basilica, which we had seen before. The plan was to stay there for an hour or so, watching services - complete with Pope, since it was a special occasion and several people were being canonized. But since we had been there before, and didn't feel any particular need to stay and be blessed, not being particularly faithful, we decided to continue wandering on our own.

On the way out of the square, a handful of Spanish girls randomly stopped me as I chatted up a passing carriage horse and demanded that I let them take a picture with me. I'm still not sure what the heck was going on there, and can't shake the feeling that it was some sort of joke, but... it's a thing, that happened. (I have pictures of this, too, but I figured I'll save the space here for more Ancient Awesome.)

We grabbed lunch at another little outdoor cafe - white pizza with ham and zucchini blossoms - and wandered in the general direction of the Colosseum, at which point I realized it was possible to go into Ruin Overload. Between the Colosseum, the Forum, and the excavation of the Palazzo on Palatine Hill that we toured, I wound up falling into a bit of an existential crisis - it was a bit overwhelming to realize at once how very LONG 2000 years is, and how very long it isn't, and how the hell can you lose an entire palace for so long that you forget you lost it? And if we're losing things and forgetting we lost them, what are we losing from our lives and our worlds now, that 500 years from now we won't know that we lost? And what have we forgotten and not re-found yet?

Luckily, I was able to soothe my short-circuited brain with nutella and coconut gelato as we finished exploring.

The Colosseum was a bit disturbing to me, honestly. It's one thing to think about the place and its purpose in an abstract way; it's another thing entirely when it's just hanging out at the end of the street, or when you're actually walking around inside it. I know I can't actually feel the deaths and suffering of everyone and everything that suffered and died there, but it sure as heck felt like I could. It's grand, and impressive, but at the same time... it was not a good place.


Oh, hey, look - block party; enormous ancient ruin. Why am I the only one impressed?


Big. Old. Creepy.

It was fascinating to me to realize that the Pantheon and the Colosseum are contemporaneous, and, honestly, it left me with the thought that karma is kind of a bitch - the one dedicated to reveling in pain, death, and suffering is quite literally falling apart at the seams, while the other is still a thing of nigh-undamaged beauty....

We wandered from there through the archeological site on Palatine Hill, which was even more impressive in its age and in the glory of rediscovery, and from there through the Forum, where I boggled a bit at the fact that I was, essentially, walking through the set of a Shakespeare play.


Just... on the side of the road. Ancient palace. No big deal, right?

And then, because I am me, I had to climb a tree to process it all. Because I was in the land where dryads come from. I tried not climbing; it didn't work.


The Common Redheaded Nature Spirit, in her natural habitat

Eventually we wandered back to our hotel, impeded slightly by the hordes of other people also going walking - apparently it's A Thing. It seems like the entire population of Rome was out for a walk, overflowing sidewalks and stuffing streets, occasionally stepping slowly and grudgingly out of the way when a car came down. It was impressive, if a bit crowded, and after a few minutes we decided to just slow down and let ourselves be carried by the crowd.

Once we got back to our home area, we walked from there to one of the restaurants on the Piazza Del Popolo that we had found during the block party the night before, for one of the best dinners of the entire vacation. We started with grilled vegetables, including marinated mushrooms that were good enough that I ate them voluntarily in spite of my deep dislike of all things fungus, and then I had something milanese that I am telling myself was chicken but acknowledge probably wasn't, and umbran had life-changingly delicious pasta alfredo - I think this was the first time either of us ever tasted properly al dente fresh pasta. By the time we finished it was dark and late, and we had walked the length and breadth of the city, and decided to turn in for the night.

Monday we had plans to see the Vatican Museum, and I was hopeful that it would be as fun as our first Official Tour experience....