The Snells: Rome

This past weekend we left the wonderful city of Berlin to go visit Rome. Arriving in Rome quite late Friday night we took the train and subway to arrive at the Best Western Hotel where we were staying. We were very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the hotel as we had heard that a number of hotels/hostels were quite sketchy in Rome. Saturday morning we got up early and went to see the city. St. Peter's Basilica was the first location that we went to visit since we expected it to get really crowded later in the day. Upon arriving in St. Peter's Square we were awed by size and extravagance of the area. After getting into the basilica we decided to take the long hike to the top of the dome to enjoy the great views of the city. As can be seen from our pictures below the climb was worth the effort. Descending into the basilica was amazing for both of us as we agreed that we had never seen any man made building or object as impressive. After St. Peter's basilica we headed off to see the Vatican Museum. The wealth of artifacts and the decor of the museum itself was a bit overwhelming. As part of the museum tour we went through the Sistine Chapel and saw paintings by Michelangelo among others. As fun as it was to see the chapel, with tourists packed into the chapel like sardines we didn't mind moving onto the next stop. Castle de San Angelo, originally built to be the tomb of the emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD, was just a short walk away and was thus our next destination. This castle had been redesigned a number of times through the ages and served a variety of purposes such as military defense of the city and a safe place for the pope to go in times of trouble. Currently the building is a museum and was pretty fun to see(for some who enjoy museums more than others:)). After all the walking for the day we were ready for a break. Therefore partaking in a stereotypical Italian meal seemed like the correct thing to do. Finding a little restaurant in an alley near the Spanish steps we enjoyed some good homemade pasta and bread. With bellies full of food we walked over to see Trevi fountain and then the Spanish steps. Both were good to see and fun to saunter around. At this point it was starting to get late so we returned to the hotel and retired to bed. The next morning we started our day by going to the Colosseum. It was a pretty impressive structure making it fun to visualize what it must have been like in its prime. Next to the Colosseum was the Foro Romano. These Roman ruins were fun to see and it was surreal to know that we were walking at the center of an empire that so greatly influenced the world over a number of centuries. After Foro Romano we headed towards the Pantheon but on the way stopped to see the Piazza Venezia while having a bite to eat and partaking in some R&R. The building in the plaza is a monument to Vittorio Emanuele II celebrating the unification of Italy. Moving onto the Pantheon we were both greatly surprised by the good condition of the building and that something that impressive was built so long ago. After taking in the Pantheon, we headed off to the well known Piazza Navona for yet another pasta dinner. It was quite pleasant to people watch while enjoying good food. After dinner, feeling a bit sleepy, we headed back to the Best Western. The next morning we went to see the Basilica San Clemente before heading off to catch the plane back to Berlin. Both of us agreed that this was one of our favorite things we saw in Rome. The basilica allowed for a great demonstration of the history of Rome. First we saw the current beautiful church. However, descending down some dark stairs we found ourselves in the remains of a 4th century church that had only been rediscovered and excavated in the 19th century. Being one of the only relatively non-refurbished historic sites we had seen, it was pretty awesome to see original paintings on the walls and tombs that had been forgotten for many centuries. Incredibly under this 4th century church another building-a Mithraic temple- had been discovered that dated from the 2nd century. We climbed down a couple of more flights of stairs to ~60 feel below ground and saw the temple and house of Romans from nearly 2 thousand years ago. There were even remains of a spring-still running-used for water. While the visit was kind of creepy at times it was very worth the time. We enjoyed our trip to Rome.