Wed. 09-19-07 -- Rome, Italy
This morning we got up "early" so that we'd get to the National Museum of Rome at opening time (9am). We walked around and looked at all the ancient art... there were two bronze statues that were really amazing. They were so life-like and detailed that we actually went back to look at them again before we left. The other really cool section of the museum was their collection of tile mosaics. I REALLY like this type of art, so I thoroughly enjoyed walking through this section and looking at all the large wall and floor mosaics.
After the museum, we walked up to the Capucin Crypt, a church that is decorated with the bones of 1400 monks. It was pretty creepy, there were all these designs and patterns on the ceilings and walls made from jaw bones, ribs, tailbones, vertebrae, etc. They also had cloaked figures with skulls for heads (some still with mummified skin on them). Creepy!
After the crypt we took the metro and bus to a section of Appia Antica, the ancient Roman "queen of roads." We rented bikes and rode down the bumpy road for about 5 miles and then rode back (1.5 hours). The road has ancient ruins of giant tombs and monuments along both sides. We slowly pedaled down the road and looked up at these giant ruins.
When we turned our bikes in at 2pm, we were both feeling worn out from going non-stop in Rome for 3 days, so we decided to head back to our room for a siesta. We rode the metro back, and then slept, read, wrote, relaxed until 7pm.
We were getting hungry, so we headed downstairs to eat at the restaurant by our hotel. But when we walked up, they were hosting a big party, and they said they were full. :( So we decided to do a recommended night walk (actually I planned for us to do a combination of part of two walks, optimized for metro stops at the beginning and end) and we'd just look for food as we went.
So we took the metro to Piazza del Popolo, a carless square where an Egyptian obelisk is (Augustus brought it to Rome and it originally sat in Circus Maximus). We walked down Via Del Corso quite a ways (no cars, lots of people window shopping at lots of clothing stores) and made our way to Trevi Fountain. There were TONS of people here, but we wormed in to take a few pictures. Then we tried, unsuccessfully, to walk to the Spanish Steps, but somehow wound up back on Via Del Corso again!
We were really hungry by now, and were only finding expensive restaurants with tricky pricing (service charges, cover charges) so we caved and ate at McDonalds. It was pretty gross, the only burgers they had were either a BigMac or a McBacon Burger (which looked nasty even in the picture). So, I got the BigMac, which I don't really like...
We ate our not-so-fresh food then set out for the Spanish Steps again (this time knowing how to get there). Once again there were tons of people here! But there was enough room on the steps to climb around people, so we climbed all the way up to the top. From up there, we could see church domes rising about the buildings, and palm trees in front of the moon. Our last big glimpse of Rome before we leave tomorrow morning. We walked down the steps and over to the metro. A quick ride back and a short walk to our hotel. We packed up most of our stuff tonight so we'll be ready to go tomorrow.
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