Day 3 in Rome

October 14, 2011

Woke up at 6 freaking 30 this morning, which normally would have sent me into a rage. However, seeing as I went to bed at 10:30 last night, it actually is a fairly reasonable hour to awaken. Watched some Bleach, got dressed, had breakfast with a nice German woman and her daughter, then started my day.

My first goal was the Domus Aurea, Nero's Golden House, which was supposedly the epitome of lavish overspending of public funds. It wasn't open last time I was here, and sadly it wasn't open today either. Still, I wandered around the park, saw the massive ruins of Trajan's baths, and generally bonded with nature.

Now, the Domus Aurea park leads straight to the Coliseum, so that's where I went next. Not inside, as it's rather on the expensive side, but it was just as impressive as I remember it. Even half crumbled away, it's still a marvel of Roman architecture. Plus it makes for a great photo backdrop.

There's more parkland south-west of the Coliseum, so I wandered over there in search of something interesting. I discovered a church, which wasn't overly exciting, and a library full of really old maps. The coolest item was the big globe that was so old, both Americas were simply water – by which I mean they hadn't been discovered yet.

During my exit from the park, I happened upon a huge church with flying buttresses so wide that you could actually drive down the road they built between the arches. Halfway down Flying Buttress Alley, I discovered a door. This turned out to be a museum, and the museum was basically a Roman apartment complex that was discovered under the church... after it had been built. Somehow they just didn't notice that they were building on top of a multi-story building. Anyway, it was dark and crumbly and awesome.

Continued out of the park, crossed a crazy-busy intersection, and found myself at the Circus Maximus. This is the first time I've actually gone down into the field, and sadly it's not very exciting. It's basically a big, empty field with sloped hills running along the side where race-goers presumably sat to watch the chariot races. Still, it was pretty cool to walk down the middle of the track and imagine I was Ben Hur, racing down the path while thousands of people cheered me on.

Following my Ben Hur flashback – challenging, considering I've never actually seen Ben Hur – I.... well, I got lost. I became hungry, and figured that I could just wander the back alleys and I'd eventually run across a restaurant. Ha! It is my personal opinion that restaurants do not exist in Rome unless they are in close proximity to a tourist attraction. I eventually collapsed inside a pizzeria that didn't serve pizza, but by that point I was lost.

Luckily for me, Rome is much smaller than you'd think. Utilizing all my cartographic skills, I put away my map, guessed which direction the forum was in, and started walking. Jump five minutes into the future, and I'm standing in front of the Victor Emanuelle II monument. Yay! I proceeded up the Via del Corso aka Shopping Street, although I popped off for a moment for a delicious side quest. I noticed people with very large gelato cones all pouring out from the same alley. Following the trail, I discovered a very fancy gelato boutique, where I acquired a pistachio-chocolate-creme cone. And it was only 3.50 euros! So worth it, although my stomach protested afterwards, as it is wont to do.

Various churches were visited along the way, including the Chiesa del Gesu, S. Ignatio di Loyola, and a couple more whose names I don't remember. I think I read somewhere that there are a thousand churches in Rome. I have no idea if that's true, but I also know that it's impossible to walk through central Rome without encountering at least one church per block.

I took another detour to go see the Ara Pacis, which was closed. Then I crossed the Tiber and walked along the bank a bit. The Tiber isn't a terribly magnificent river, but it's picturesque enough.

Oh no! I forgot the highlight of my day! So on my tourist map, there's this giant ad for the Time Elevator. It's a 5D show about the history of Rome – 5D here meaning the seats shake and they spray water and air at you. And it was delightful. The special effects were terrible, the acting over-the-top, and the motion seats loud and jerky. I couldn't stop laughing pretty much the entire time. My favorite part was when the time-travelling professor revealed his secret identity to Michelangelo in an attempt to motivate him to continue painting, after the pope forbids him from painting pagan imagery in the Sistine Chapel. When Michelangelo doesn't believe him, the professor shows him a holograph of all the future statues Michelangelo will create. This does get Michelangelo back on the painting bandwagon, but the show doesn't address the obvious consequences of the professor's rash actions – namely, the lifetime of therapy Michelangelo will have to endure, as well as the whole issue of what happens when you mess around with the past.

I ended up at Piazza del Popolo, where I took some pictures and then spotted a pizzeria. Pizza! I contemplated ordering salad, but I figure that after a year of not eating salad, I should probably ease my body back into the leafy greens. The pizza was spicy but good, although – and several people will probably kill me for saying this – I do prefer greasy Canadian pizza. Maybe it's because I grew up with it, but Italian pizza is just too... fresh. That sounds crazy, and it is, but there you have it.

Oh wow, totally forgot another thing I did. I also went to the Galleria Doria Pamphilj (pronounced pam-feel-ee). This is the Pamphilj family palace converted into an art gallery. The rooms were opulent, the paintings gorgeous, and the audio guide long-winded and pompous. There were a couple of Caravaggios, the main reason I went in, but they were from early in his career and therefore lacking the chiaroscuro for which I love him so. More impressive was the palace itself, which featured crystal chandeliers, velvet wall hangings, golden cherub tables, etc.

I was wide awake all day... until I climbed onto my bed and was hit with a tsunami of exhaustion. I fell asleep at... wait for it... 9:30 pm. How the mighty have fallen! Although I console myself by remembering that it's better to wake up early when in Rome in October, as things are mostly open during the day, not at night, plus it gets pretty darn chilly once the sun sets. And that is how I rationalize going to bed at grandfather-like hours.