International Auggie...Rome!

In April we went to Europe again, and we traveled so much while we were there.  We went to two different countries and four different cities!  Our trip began in Rome where we spent three days exploring.  From there, we took several trains north to visit Florence and Torino, and then on to Paris.

Little Auggie was such a trooper for the entire trip.  The flight to Rome was nine hours, and he did so well!  He played for several hours, took a couple naps, and then fell asleep like a champ for the last five hours.  The airline gave us a little bassinet to put underneath our seat on the floor, and he loved it.  Once we arrived, we navigated the airport and taxi without too much trouble, and made it to our airbnb by late morning.  As soon as we got settled in, we headed out to begin sightseeing.

Day 1:  

Our first stop was the Piazza Navona, which was originally used for ancient games by the Romans.  Later on it became a public space, and during the 17th century the courtyard transformed into sort of an epicenter for Baroque sculpture and architecture.  This transformation was heavily influenced by Pope Innocent X, whose family palace sits along one side of the courtyard.

The Piazza is famous for its fountains, one of which was sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini...the artist credited as the creator of Baroque sculpture!  Whoa.  I knew a little bit about Bernini from my Art History classes in college, but not nearly as much as I thought.  What Gaudi is to Barcelona, Bernini is to Rome.  Well, that comparison is a bit of a stretch.  But it certainly seemed like Bernini was everywhere.  

Just a couple blocks away from the Piazza Navona is the Pantheon.  The Pantheon is one the most well preserved of all the Ancient Roman buildings.  It is significant mostly because it's so cool.  But, also because of how incredibly advanced the dome was for its time.  Historians estimate that the Pantheon was completed around 126 A.D.  

Not only that, but how the dome was constructed is a bit of mystery.  How intriguing!  Architects still study this thing because it is such a marvel of human creation...the walls of the rotunda are 21 feet thick!  

Needless to say, the dome of the Pantheon basically became the blueprint for #allotherdomes.  St. Peter's Basilica was patterned after it, Brunelleschi's dome in Florence, The Rotunda designed by Thomas Jefferson, the U.S. Capitol, and the list goes on.  

Pretty close to perfection, no?

After the Pantheon, we went in search of Trevi Fountain, one of the most famous fountains in the world!  It is said that if you throw a coin over your left shoulder, you will one day return to the "Eternal City".  Of course, we would love to go back to Rome.  So, we all tossed in a coin for more travels.

I looked it up just for kicks, and on average, an estimated equivalent of $1.7 million dollars is tossed into the fountain each year!  The money is donated to a Catholic charity that helps the homeless and poor of Rome, so our coins will go to a good cause.

In the afternoon, we met up with Harald and Elke at the Spanish Steps.  We didn't know this at the time, but apparently the Spanish Steps have a long history of being the meeting place in the city.  Looks like we were just following tradition by picking the steps as our landmark.

In the evening, we walked through the Borghese Gardens on our way to the Borghese Museum.  Chock-full of Boroque art, this was my favorite museum that we went to in all of Italy.  

What little I knew of Bernini from my art classes was this:  Bernini's David is a big deal, and it was the rival to Michelangelo's David.  Nothing came close to Michelangelo's David until Bernini sculpted his own version.  Many people still argue that this piece proves Bernini's mastery over Michelangelo as a sculptor.  Either way, my art heart took a leap when I turned the corner and unexpectedly saw this!

{Bernini's David}

Day 2:

The next morning, Don and I woke up at 5 a.m. to run while Michelle and Dan watched Auggie for us.  This is by far one of my favorite memories from the entire trip.  The city was so perfect and so still.  We ran by some of the sites we'd visited the day before, but to see them in the quiet early morning was almost surreal.  During the day, we probably spent fifteen minutes shoving through the crowds to get to the front of Trevi Fountain.  On our run, we went straight to the edge of the pool with only the company of two other early bird adventurers.

Then it was off to the Spanish Steps, where we sprinted to the top in the darkness.  It was awesome. 

{View from the top of the steps}

On our second day in Rome, we went to Vatican City.  We spent almost a whole day there until the afternoon, which I feel like we needed to really see everything!

We walked around inside St. Peter's Basilica, and then hiked the stairs up to the very top of the dome.  It was a little claustrophobic up there, but the views were worth it!  My only regret here is that we somehow missed seeing Michelangelo's Pieta.  It was so difficult to keep all the major art pieces straight in my head (which city they were in, which museum they were in, etc. etc.)...I didn't realize that it was inside the cathedral!  Argg...we were right there!  We probably walked by it without even seeing it.  The good news is that we threw our coins into Trevi Fountain, so we'll be back someday, right?

{Inside St. Peter's Basilica}

{Views from the top of the dome}

We did an audioguide through the Vatican Museums, and it was great.  The Vatican Museums are home to some of the most famous Renaissance art in the world, including the Sistine Chapel!  Raphael also painted large portions of several rooms leading up to the chapel.  One of the most exciting pieces of art for me was Raphael's School of Athens.  I learned so much about this in college, and I still can't believe I got to see it in person.  

There is no photography allowed in the Sistine Chapel, so I don't have any pictures of that.  It was absolutely incredible though.  What is even more amazing is the fact that Michelangelo felt he wasn't a very skilled painter.  He considered himself a sculptor first and foremost, and he lacked confidence in his abilities to paint.  Nonsense, Michelangelo, nonsense!  

{Raphael's School of Athens}

In the evening, we met up with Harald and Elke again.  We just walked around and got dinner in a cute little neighborhood called Trastevere.  I didn't take any pictures of the neighborhood, but here is a picture us at an overlook point in the city.

Day 3:

The next morning, we went on another exploratory run, with Dan this time.  We ran by the Pyramid of Cestius and the Altar of the Fatherland.  Seeing this miniature pyramid makes me all the more excited to visit Egypt one day.  

The Altar of the Fatherland is a huge building that was built as a symbol of the unification of Italy.  It was completed in 1936.  We didn't have time to go inside either site, but it was still fun to run by them.

After our run, we hurried back to get ready for our guided tour of The Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum.  This was the heart of Ancient Rome!  Everywhere we looked there were ruins, or broken columns, or pieces of marble floors edged into the grass...I've never seen anything like it.  

The Colosseum was unreal.  It's pretty mind blowing that the ruins that still stand today are just the bare bones remains.  This structure used to be completely marbled and decorated with colorfully pristine facades.  I can't even imagine what Rome was like at the height of its power.

{Super tourists}

The Arch of Constantine.  Like, the Constantine.  Gotta love those triumphal arches!

Palatine Hill is the oldest part of Ancient Rome and the hilltop where Rome is said to have begun.  From that time onward, it became the neighborhood of the Roman rich and famous.  There isn't much left of Palatine Hill, but you can just imagine what it looked like.

 {Random sections of marble floors}

The Roman Forum was the heart of the ancient city.  It was the center where all the action happened.  The soldiers would march down the hill from a victorious battle and follow the road to the city center, much like a parade.  

{Views from Palatine Hill down to the Roman Forum}

One thing we learned on our tour is that the city has a really hard time building a subway system (currently, there are only a handful of lines) because every time the try and dig underground, they discover more ruins!  They have to stop construction on the subway system and start excavating.  What an amazing place to live.  

After seeing all of the Ancient Roman temples, it was pretty cool to switch gears and see the new LDS temple.  We spent a couple of hours at the visitor center, and then we took some pictures outside.  I do love how every church and temple feels the same...so happy and familiar. 

Until next time, Rome!