When in Rome - (Lunedi -- il terzo giorno)

A beautiful, clear, blue-sky Monday morning on the Via di San Martino ai Monti! 

The Hotel Tirreno (in the distance)

After breakfast, I pull out the tourist book and decide how to spend my Monday morning.  I've got the afternoon planned at the Vatican, but my morning is free.  I decide on the Spanish Steps and the Fountain of Trevi, so I hop in a cab and head out.  

Okay, fine, I get to the Spanish Steps, get out of the cab, and take a look.  I see steps... I see tourists... I think Spanish... and that's all very nice!  But I get back in the cab and go on to Trevi.  

Maybe the "Three Coins in a Fountain" place will grab me differently.  I know once it gets in my head, that song grabs me (almost as much as does "It's a Small World" at Disneyland).  As I hum along with Dinah Shore -- "  ...which one will the fountain bless...which one..."  , we seem to be driving forever.  This Fontana di Trevi is pretty well off the beaten path; not in some big public square.  We twist and turn our way down some fairly small streets eventually finding it tucked into a clearing where a bunch of little streets come together.  

Fontana di Trevi

And it's jam-packed with tourists (like me!).  " ...make it mine...make it mine..."    I find it's difficult to back up far enough to take a full photograph.   But alas, there's the little Church of Saints Vincenzo and Anastasio nearby whose steps afford a vantage point for some photos -- and a place to sit, out of the sun for a bit.  After taking a quick look around the pretty church and viewing the fountain from every angle (all while paying tribute repeatedly to Jule Steyn, Sammy Cahn, and Frank Sinatra), I'm off on foot down one of the small streets, heading out of 1954 Hollywood and back into the present-day wonder of this Eternal City.

I find a cab and make a fairly long trip across Rome to Vatican City.  I'm greeted with the sight of several long lines -- ticket-holders, non-ticket-holders, those with reservations, those without reservations, etc.   Since I've got my ticket, I'll wait 'til closer to my scheduled 1 p.m. admission time to get into a line.  I find a place right across the street for lunch.  The cheese plate is perfect and the obligatory after-lunch-gelato comes with a memorable scolding from the Gelato Lady.  You see, I pointed to what I wanted and spoke the word "limon."  Shamefully, it seems the gelato to which I pointed was not "limon" but was "crema."  Thank you dear Gelato Lady, I've learned my lesson:  I shall not ever forget what "crema" looks like.  Actually everyone within earshot around me will probably never forget what "crema" looks like!

Time to go across the street and be within the walls of the smallest country in the world -- the Vatican.

The Vatican Museum

With all the people standing in lines outside, I'm amazed how speedy the entry to the museum is.  I just walk up to the door since everyone else with 1 p.m. tickets is already inside and I am left to start my wandering in these endless rooms unimpeded.  

Before I embark on my artwalk, I visit the gift shop, looking for something small yet meaningful for Laura and a gift for Dana and Tom who are having me to their home for dinner this evening.  While in the shop, Emma pops up in front of me and says hello.  She, Debbie, and Charlie were about to begin their guided tour of the museum.  It's the last time I will see them as tomorrow they leave for home and I go on to Vienna and Frankfurt.

I start out with paintings -- lots of paintings...of Madonnas, of the Deposition, of various saints.  My mind is a blur after an hour or so.  And I later learn my flash shows up in each and every photo of a painting.

Madonna and Bambino c. 1500 by Mariano di Austerio da Perugia

I then come upon the fantastic Faberge eggs and other Russian miniature things.  The egg below, with tiny family portraits and important events, was presented by Emperor Nicholas II to his wife Empress Alexandra in St. Petersburg on their 15th Wedding Anniversary in 1911.

The Anniversary Egg

I now enter many rooms of sculptures -- gods, saints, popes, Jesus, noblemen...

  Then we have a couple of rooms of animal sculptures.

Outside in this courtyard there is the beginning of a spring shower.  I'm following signs for the Sistine Chapel so I enter the long low building pictured below where I find this very long, very busy ceiling.  Here, thankfully, there are open windows along the way.  The thick humid air here is unlike what we have in northern California and I need air.

Then, after many left hand turns, right hand turns, up many stairs and down many other stairs, I reach the Sistine Chapel...along with, it seems, 5000 others.  Down some final steps I join this HUGE crowd, all standing shoulder to shoulder, and all looking upward. 

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

It's dark and hot and humid in there.  I notice that the recently restored colors are quite bold and the ceiling is jam-packed with scenes, and that surprises me.  But I'm about to freak out.  I manage to snap just 3 pictures and then make a beeline towards the opposite end of the space and begin to look for exits.  I'm close to having my first-ever anxiety attack.  My mind is racing, conjuring up all the danger inherent in being in this small overcrowded, unventilated space with no easily identifiable exits.  After I do find a small exit, I follow the path to get out.  It twists and turns, up and down really narrow passageways for several minutes, until I'm finally deposited at the door to the outside.  People are huddled around the door, blocking egress because it is raining very heavily now.  I squeeze my way past everyone, get out, buy an umbrella from a street vendor, and look for a cab.  Since I'm just not in the mood for more walking, either in the rainy gardens or in St. Peter's, I get a cab and go back to the hotel.  St. Peter's will have to be seen on another trip to Rome.  Right now it's time for this aging tourist to rest some hips a bit before heading down to Dana and Tom's for dinner, the account of which will appear in the next chapter of this blog.