October 25 - Monday - Rome

Having walked along the eastern boundary of the Villa Borghese yesterday, we thought we had enough courage today to catch the 910 bus to the Termini where we could catch a HOHO tour. Our HAL representative at the hotel, who seemed to weary at our novice Rome questions about how to do this and how to get somewhere, sold us two bus tickets from her own stash. It was easier than directing us to a newsstand where we could purchase them ourselves. We hadn't seen a newsstand anywhere near our place. Maybe they don't have those in the elite area where we were lodging. The problem is, you must have your ticket before you board the bus. Buses here are cashless and don't sell tickets.

Everything worked as planned, although we met a further challenge at the Termini when we were accosted by some young fellows (maybe mid 20s), one of whom pulled some brochures out of his bag, and they started promoting the Green Line bus. Both fellows had blue plastic badge-like affairs hanging from a string around their necks. The badge said they were official something or others who could sell HOHO bus tickets. That badge looked suspiciously like it could have been pulled out of a self-badge-making press just that morning. But then another couple guys came up, too, and they all had the same badge.

We gave in and bought the Green Line tickets - nothing ventured, nothing gained. As we made our way to the Green Line bus, we wondered if we had been scammed. We were amazed that we were able to board. They even gave us a receipt when we boarded, a receipt which we were to carry all day so we could hop on and hop off.

It was cool and rainy, but there was a break in the rain at that time, so we climbed to the top deck and rode around, taking pictures, listening to recorded commentary (sometimes before and sometimes after the site), spoken in a New York accent,  through green ear buds, and trying to take in as much as we could.

People everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. Cars and motorcycles everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.


The Termini



Cars, cars, cars

Rome, with a population of 2.7 million people, as an annual tourist destination for over 4 million people, has no parking. The thing is, explained our HAL representative, every time they started to dig for a parking structure, whether above or under ground, they came across evidence that there used to be a building there, or some pottery, or other archaeological possibilities, and the construction is halted immediately. Not only is Rome filled with visible history which surrounds these modern people, the possibility of invisible history has a choke hold on them.

Some of the things we saw on our HOHO trip ...


There are no plain buildings in Rome



The Colosseum, right in the middle of everything



Bell tower

The highlight of today's touring, though, had to be St. Peter's Basilica. It's the only place we got off the bus to have a look around. There were a number of people there, but I'm sure the lines were small compared to some days because we're at the tail end of tourist season.

St. Peter's Basilica

The line to St. Peter's was long but fast. There's no fee to visit, so there's no need to go through but one line. That helped, I'm sure. Immediately when we walked in, I was in awe of the place. The lighting is perfect for the immense space which holds some of what must be the most beautiful art work on the planet. The interior of the basilica is so large that the gigantic statuary looks small. Color is everywhere, but it's subdued. We saw the Pieta, but I didn't take a picture of it, preferring to remember its perfect glow only in my mind.

Wikipedia has some good history and photos that do far better than I could do, but we did take a few photos just to remember a few details that were meaningful to us.


Inside St. Peter's

We're not Catholic, so there was much religious symbology that was lost on us. What impressed us was the sheer perfection of the art, the lighting, and the colors. Amazing!

Our flickr pictures of Rome are posted at: Rome