Adventures in Rome: Modern Rome

Previously on Adventures in Rome...

Jamie and Henri explored a country within a city and had their minds completely overloaded with history and stunning artifacts and artwork. Now, they decompress in Villa Borghese before exploring the Esquilino and Trastevere neighborhoods and finally heading home.

Day 4: Villa Borghese
Though Henri and I had only been in Rome for three days (not counting the night we arrived) we felt like we'd been there for weeks. We'd had our heads stuffed full of incredible history and seen some of the most beautiful architecture and art in the world. We both agreed we'd loved every minute of it, but we needed a day off.

Henri and I got a late start that day and walked the now-familiar route to Piazza del Popolo. Instead of continuing down Via del Curso as we had the first day on our way to ancient Rome, we turned east and headed up a sharp incline. At the top of the hill was Villa Borghese. Henri had been here the last time he was in Rome, and he described it as a park. I don't have a better descriptor for it, but it was so much more than a park!

First off, the place was huge. We spent the entire day wandering around, and we never covered the same ground twice. Scattered throughout the open spaces were art museums, a zoo, and a horse track and stables. There were several stands in the park renting bikes to people, and I can see why you'd need a bike to get across the whole thing. One section had marble busts interspersed with the trees, and another was left as a meadow where people picnicked on top of little rolling hills. It was a Sunday, so the park was full of families and groups of friends hanging out.

Henri and I spent some time sitting near a large fountain, just talking. We had been so busy looking at all of the things and listening to our tour guides that we hadn't had one of our three-to-seven hour conversations yet. (And yes, we did talk for seven hours straight one weekend. It was great fun.) Our topics ranged from high school requirements to family vacations to our impressions of Rome to the food we missed most from home. It was fun to sit and watch parents playing with their kids, absorb some sunshine, and just sit. Three days of walking after months of sitting at a desk studying will wear you out.

When we decided to move on from the fountain, we found one of the many stands selling salami paninis and ate them as we walked. They were simple, but they were delicious. We wandered through hollows filled with pine trees and wild grass and past ruins surrounded by lawns and gardens. We were still in Rome, of course, so there had to be a ruin somewhere! We found the Villa Borghese itself, which is an art school in the center of the park. Art students from all over the country compete for scholarships to attend there. We found a small lake with rowboats and lots of ducks, where we stopped and sat again, watching children run around playing make-believe.

Eventually the sun started to set and Henri and I headed down towards Via del Curso to get some dinner. Compared to our previous three days in Rome, it was simple and uneventful, but I loved it just as much as I had every other day.

Day 5: Esquilino and Trastevere neighborhoods
On the morning of Day 5, Henri and I pulled out our trusty map of Rome and looked it over. Of the city within the walls, there were two big neighborhoods we hadn't managed to wander into yet. In a slight departure from our normal planning style, Henri and I picked two points and decided to wander in a triangle instead of from point A to point B and back as we had the first three days. We did cheat a little, and we took the metro from the Esquilino neighborhood to the Trastevere neighborhood, but I think at at point we'd earned it.

Our two favorite finds from the Esquilino neighborhood were the Santa Maria Maggiore and the Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri (St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs in English), both beautiful basilicas. Santa Maria Maggiore is one of four major basilicas in the world; the other three are St. Peter's Basilica, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and St. John Lateran. St. John Lateran is the seat of the Papal throne and the oldest, although St. Peter's is more widely known. All of the other basilicas in the world technically are minor basilicas.

We first found the Baths of Diocletian, the largest public baths built in Ancient Rome. What we didn't expect to find was the Santa Maria degli Angeli inside the ruins of the baths. The outside is crumbling brickwork, and the inside is marble equal to that of St. Peter's. While St. Peter's marble is mostly white in contrast with dark colors, Santa Maria degli Angeli is decorated mostly in pink and pale gold marble. It gave the interior of the basilica a definite feminine feel to it, and it made the whole place seem very light and airy.

After we left Santa Maria degli Angeli we accidentally found Termini, the central train station in Rome. We'd been here that very first night we arrived, but since it was dark and we were delirious we were glad to find it again. (We'd be needing it on the morrow when we had to catch the Leonardo Express to the airport.) Continuing on from Termini we found Santa Maria Maggiore. This basilica was again different from everything else we'd seen; my first impression was "shiny!" The ceiling is gilded with gold, so I wasn't too far off. The colors of the marble was similar to that of St. Peter's, but the shape of the Basilica (and the scale) was very different.

After we left Santa Maria Maggiore, we went back to Termini and took the metro to the Piramide stop, named for the Piramide Cestia. Built around 15 BC, the pyramid was the tomb of Gauis Cestius, a magistrate of a religious organization. It's thirty meters square and thirty-seven meters high. The reason it's so well preserved is that it was incorporated into the Aurelian Wall, which was the outer-most wall ever to surround the city. While our hotel was just outside the wall to the north, this was the first time we'd been outside the wall on the south side of the city. (Remember the beautiful marble gateway I went through the very first day into the Piazza del Popolo, just before I saw my first Roman Church? Yeah, that was the Aurelian Wall on that side.)

Not long after that Henri and I decided it was long past lunch time, so we found a place for lunch. I had more of the best gnocchi on the planet, and feeling satisfied, we continued to wander through the Trastevere neighborhood. We found a seemingly endless number of churches dedicated to St. Mary, and Henri did his best to explain that there were different ways of worshipping St. Mary, depending on which of her characteristics you were looking for (forgiveness is the only one I remember). My favorite was Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the oldest basilicas in Rome. It's been restored several times, but the original church was built in 220. It is perhaps the first church where Mass was openly celebrated, though the records aren't super clear. This basilica seemed to be somewhere between Santa Maria degli Angeli, with its lighter marble, and Santa Maria Maggiore, with its gilded ceiling.

Henri and I also found lots of narrow windy streets to get lost in, though we were sandwiched between the Tiber and a steep hill, so we were never really disoriented. We did find several dead ends before we crossed the river below the Vatican on our way home. Our wandering feet somehow took us back to our favorite gelato place, and we again had some of the best gelato ever before continuing on our way towards dinner and home.

Day 6: The Journey Home
Finally the day had come to leave Rome and return to our Scandinavian home. Our flight didn't leave until one, so we had just enough time to wander our way to Termini before catching the Leonardo Express to the airport. I stopped Henri in the small market a few blocks from Piazza Mazini and our hotel, and bought my souvenir from Rome. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what it is yet, because I got two, and one is Mom's birthday present.

As we wandered we said goodbye to our bridge and the Tiber, to Piazza del Popolo, and to the churches we'd visited on our very first day. It wasn't long before we were again exploring the narrow side-streets off of Via del Curso; even though we'd done it once we didn't see hardly anything the same this time. We also stumbled upon the Quirinale, which is the official residence of the Italian President. Like everything else in the city, the site has a long and colorful history; it's housed temples to various ancient Roman gods, a complex of Roman baths, Papal apartments, a palace, and now the home of the President. Rome couldn't let us go without showing us one last splendor.

Soon after we passed the Quirinale, we found Termini, though it took a little bit of looking. I still laugh when I think about all of the wonderful things we found without looking, and the difficulties we had finding the things we were actually looking for! We had plenty of time to catch our train. Henri dozed during the ride to the airport, and I watched Italy go by. A half-hour later we were at the airport, doing the usual check-in-passport-security-find-gate gig. We also found foccacia for lunch, and then we were taking off over the Atlantic Ocean. I did fall asleep on the plane, but Henri woke me up when we flew over Austria to see the Alps spread out below us. The pilot even announced when we flew over Innsbruck! (It's a major stop on the alpine world cup circuit, so I was thrilled.)

It was fun to land at Arlanda in the daytime this time around, though it was only about an hour earlier than the last time I arrived here. The multitude of lakes and evergreen trees made me feel more at home than I thought possible after only two months and a bit of living here in Sweden. Henri and I walked quickly through Arlanda (we were both trying to make it back in time for our Swedish lesson at six that evening) and after hurridly buying our train tickets descended into the train tunnel below the airport.

The train station at Arlanda is pretty simple: one platform for trains heading to Stockholm and one for trains heading to Uppsala and Gävle. When we burst onto the platform, out of breath and rushed, we realized we had no idea which of the many train lines we'd bough tickets for, nor which platform we should be on. After carefully researching and managing the public transportation in Rome, we were now disoriented in what was supposed to be our home airport! I blame Henri; the first time I arrived I took the bus.

After using my (severely limited, but better than Henri's) Swedish to read the departure boards, our tickets, and catch several announcements, I think we got on the right train. At least, we got on a train that stopped at Uppsala, and no one checked our tickets and said it was the wrong train, so I'm going with it was right. We arrived at ten til six, so I hopped on my bike and pedaled over to Swedish. Henri had three physics reports due that Friday, so he walked home to start writing. Oh, the joys of real life.

Our trip to Rome was a fantastic whirlwind of history, wandering, and really wonderful pasta. Turns out the Eternal City, always something of a fairytale to me, is as real and as colorful as the rest of the world. Someday I hope to go back, this time hopefully armed with a better grasp of Roman and Christian history. But for now, I'm glad to be in my Scandinavian home.

Speaking of my Scandinavian home, it's been quite some time since I've given you an update about it! As you can see, my writing bug has returned with a vengeance, and I hope to have something about my time since I returned from Rome up tomorrow.

Until then,
Ciao!