Going to Rome: any suggestions for things to do?

[icekid]

Gwen- so glad you had a great time! Care to add any of your own tips now? Hubby and I are going in early March (soooo excited), and have never been either.

pictures?

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 1/19/2008 6:55:16 AM
Author: icekid
Gwen- so glad you had a great time! Care to add any of your own tips now? pictures?

Ditto, I would love to hear more and see some pics sweetie!!!

 

[DaniGirl]

*bumpittybumpbump*

gwen?

 

[gwendolyn]

Oh, sorry to be late to this thread, ladies! Grad school started up again on Monday and before that, J and I were enjoying our last week of break together before he went back home (which is 200 miles away from school).

I''d love to share some photos with you, although sadly most of the trip it was raining and cold. We still wandered somewhat, but especially the first day when we were in Vatican City, it was just ridiculously rainy and wet. We did the climb to the top of the cupola of St. Peter''s (which is AMAZING!!!!!) and were up there on the top of the dome when a thunderstorm rolled in! Ah well, it was still absolutely incredible. I took over 200 photos, but I will see if I can upload just a few to give you an idea of what we saw. I will need to resize them, so give me a few minutes (although this may already be too late for you, DaniGirl, since you are leaving today!! Sorry!!!!).

 

[gwendolyn]

Ok! Here goes--all photos taken by me, except for the one of the forum (no one picture of mine gives the right amount of scope for how big an area it is, so I''m borrowing this one off someone).

We started out at the Vatican Museum, where the Sistine Chapel is, but I wasn''t allowed to photograph that, so this is a picture of the very impressive ceiling in the Gallery of Maps:

 

[gwendolyn]

Next up is the weather! Oh, what a beautiful day...

Ah well, we still had a great time! And if you look carefully, you can see the dome of St. Peter''s Basilica in the distance, which is where we went after the Vatican Museum.

 

[gwendolyn]

We had lunch when the rain was REALLY bad, and then walked over to St. Peter's Basilica. First we walked through this, though, the Piazza di San Pietro, which is where the Pope does all his talks and things. They had big TVs set up so the folks could see him well when he spoke. You can see one just behind the fountain. And that big building on the left is St. Peter's itself.

 

[gwendolyn]

The inside of St. Peter''s is amazing--it is HUGE and everything in it is incredibly impressive. We decided to climb to the top of the cupola (which is 520 steps all together I think, although we bought a ticket to take a lift for the first 200 which is good because otherwise I would have DIED), and we saw this view of the interior of the basilica on our way up, at the base of the dome. Amazing place.

 

[gwendolyn]

After climbing never-ending steps through the tightest, curviest, most claustrophobic stairway you can imagine, we got to the top of what I think is the highest cupola in the world and were rewarded with some gorgeous views of Rome and Vatican City. A thunderstorm blew in just before I took this and a few other photos, so I''m glad we got up there when we did!

 

[gwendolyn]

The next day, we did Rome itself, starting with the Colosseum. I took quite a few photos, but this one is pretty cool because it shows both the upper levels, where the people sat, and the two underground stories of the hypogeum, where animals and bits of scenery were stored and complex elevator/pulley systems were in place to move them up onto the amphitheater floor during performances/fights/shows (I''m not sure what they called them).

 

[gwendolyn]

After we did the Colosseum, we wandered around the city (dodging into shops when it rained very badly), and eventually found ourselves here, at the Trevi Fountain, which is huuuuge. There were lots of dudes trying to sell things and "give away" flowers (in expectation of being given money, otherwise they just stand and stare at you or nag you to death), so we didn''t hang around too long. Just long enough to partake in some absolutely delicious gelato in a shop right there next to the fountain.

 

[gwendolyn]

On the last day, we saw the Forum, which is AMAZING. It is so huge, and there are so many ruins to so many different interesting buildings. It was just incredible to walk down the same streets as the ancient Romans, and see what''s left of the buildings where they worked, did business, ran the government, paid their taxes. It made the past come alive, you know?

As a note, this is the only photo I did NOT take myself. I would not want to mistakenly get any credit for it--I wish we would have had time to get over to that side of the Forum so I could take this shot myself, but we didn''t. Anyway, it gives the scope of the size of the place much better than any of my photos of it, so I''ve borrowed it.

So, that''s the whirlwind tour of what we saw! I actually took sooooooo many more photos, but I think those show the highlights. Thanks for looking!

 

[Skippy123]

Wow, thanks for sharing!!!

Great pics

I toured St. Peter's but never went to the top; I am claustrophobic so that wouldn't work for me. hehee I could see my hubby climbing to the top; he did that at the Duomo in Florence and said the views were amazing. I just took his word for it; I like that you took pics when you reached the top!!!

 

[gwendolyn]

Date: 1/25/2008 10:57:17 AM
Author: Skippy123
Wow, thanks for sharing!!!

Great pics

I toured St. Peter''s but never went to the top; I am claustrophobic so that wouldn''t work for me. hehee I could see my hubby climbing to the top; he did that at the Duomo in Florence and said the views were amazing. I just took his word for it; I like that you took pics when you reached the top!!!

Skippy, dahlink, thank you so much for checking back to see my photos! Oh my goodness, I am so glad for you that you didn''t climb to the top of St. Peter''s if you dislike small spaces--the stairway got so short and narrow and dark that I felt myself getting freaked out and I normally don''t have an issue with small spaces!