S. P. Q. R.

I'm back. I'm so glad I actually said yes when my mom asked me whether I want to go to Rome a few months ago. It was a very nice holiday, and gave me time and space to forget about school, translation, you name it.

The flight was OK, even though I was a little bit scared because for me and my brother, it was the first 'solo' flight. We landed at 10 PM and found my mom without any real problems - she was waiting right outside the exit. We also caught the train to Trastevere, tram to Largo Argentino and bus to Ponte Vittorio Emanuele to arrive in our temporary home in a small apartment on Via dei Coronari just before midnight. The alarm clocks weren't set, and so we slept and slept and slept until about 9:30.

The slow start was just fine with me - the only thing we managed to do before lunch was to go shopping. Right after that, we set off for Castel Sant'Angelo. There is nothing of great interest in there, so we just took photos of the exterior and walked on. The next stop was Vatican - St. Peter's Square and St. Peter's Basilica. The square is really huge and very elegant indeed - not overdecorated, just impressive. St. Peter's Basilica is a bit different - it's huge, and every single bit is painted or sculpted. Someone must have had great talent and a perfect idea, because the basilica makes a very consistent impression. All the paintings, frescoes, mosaics and sculptures are sort of similar, but each one has something unique to itself (I hope you know what I mean). There are two things I didn't like about it. The ever-present crowds and the fact the Italians (or Vaticanians?) let the people only go around the side naves, but no-one is allowed to enter the main nave. That is so annoying. I hereby openly accuse the managers of stupidity. After spending about an hour and half looking around, we attended a holy mass in one of the side chapels. My mom said that there was supposed to be a boy choir from Belfast, and they were really good - at least what my anti-musical ears can tell. But the mass was in Italian, so I almost fell asleep during the sermon. When the mass finished, we left the basilica only to meet dusk outside on St. Peter's Square. That was perhaps the most beautiful part of the whole visit. Pics coming soon.

On Sunday, we decided to visit the Vatican museums. Therefore, we had to get up at about 6 in the morning - the museums were supposed to open at 8:30, and on that Sunday, they were free of charge. As it turned out, it was a very good move, because when we joined the line at 7:30, it was already about 300m long. They actually opened at about 9:15, and at that time, the line reached about 1km+ - we didn't actually see the end. The museums and collections are first of all very valuable. They are mostly renaissance sculptures, paintings, frescoes (including those from Raffael in four Raffael's rooms), tapestries and maps. They also have a large collection of ancient roman sculptures. And, of course, the Sistine chapel. That is a whole lot of things to see. But because we knew how many people there were and would be, we headed straight for the Sistine chapel (to reach it you have to walk through the whole length of the museums) and decided to see parts of the rest according to the time we would have left. It turned out to be a very good plan, as when we reached the chapel, there were even free places on benches around the edges. The Sistine Chapel is very astonishing and overwhelming. The work of Michelangelo (and other artists) surrounds you not only physically, but somehow also psychologically. Being surrounded by an unbelievably flawless piece of art is a very unique feeling. It is a little bit spoiled by security guards insisting on "no foto" "no pickcha" and "silentio - silentz". Also, at least for me, the place, after some time, becomes crowded by the painted persons - bodies and faces everywhere, no easy geometry to rest your eyes on. But that is a very personal thought. I guess people would be able to spend hours in there without coming to that conclusion.
As the chapel became more and more crowded with real people, we left to search for Raffael's rooms - the second biggest attraction of the place. Apparently, they are right next to the Chapel, but because you are in Italy (of course, in Vatican, but all the guards and evidently, museum executives as well are so very Italian), you have to walk back to the entrance and back again, but turn right one room sooner than to the chapel. Before we finished that phase, the place got significantly more crowded. When we finally reached the rooms, it looked exactly like the queue outside. At least we had time to stop and look at the gigantic works of Raffael, but the climate became more and more annoying. When we left the last room, it was clear we would head to the exit. But guess what - it was necessary to enter the Sistine Chapel again! This time, we wanted to just rush through, but that was utterly impossible - the place was unbelievably crammed! Only by using some moral flexibility did we get outside.
When we stepped out of the museums, it was just about time to rush to St. Peters Square for the Angelus - every Sunday, the Pope appears in the top right corner of his residence to deliver a short message to worshipers gathered on the square. Again, it was more crowded than Times Square at Christmas. The Pope really appeared, his speech was in Italian, he greeted attending congregations from all over the world, and it was over. More like a tourist attraction than a religious experience. But if you want to, you can flip it upside down, concentrate on the spiritual part. But it takes a lot of effort when the guy behind you is talking on the phone.
That much for Sunday morning and noon. I'll try to keep it short from now on.

We were really, really tired. Mom cooked us perfect Italian pasta and we enjoyed a true Italian siesta until about 4 PM. Then we woke up and left for the most beaten path of Rome - Piazza del Popolo, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. The Piazza was quite nice - dominated by an Egyptian obelisk, and guarded by an ancient gate on one side and two almost identical churches on the other. Sunsets in Rome are generally very nice, I recommend spending one of them above the Spanish Steps. Don't forget your camera, focal length 70 - 450 (both ends of the spectrum) recommended :) But again, the place was packed like hell (I'm running out of adjectives here - I mean the same thing as before). Same thing for the Trevi Fountain, which would have been beautiful, had there been less people. There was another fountain we saw - Fontana dei Tritone, which had significantly less people, but stood right next to a very busy street. Enough is enough, we had dinner in a very nice restaurant near Piazza Navona. Real Italian pizza tastes gooooood.

Monday was supposed to cover ancient Rome. Instructed by a good friend of ours, father Vojtech, we didn't actually go inside the Roman Forum and the Coliseum, but had a good look from the outside. The queues for both were very, very deteriorating.
But we did not start there - the route crossed Mount Capitoline, with the monument of Victor Emanuel II., the beloved emperor and consolidator of Italy. The monument is too big for one man. Then, we rested a bit atop the Capitol, looking at the Roman Forum. Next, we walked to Circus Maximus (nowadays just a long field of grass) and to Mount Aventine. After some time, it was the first place which wasn't crowded. We entered the church of St. Sabina, one of the oldest churches in Rome, which is very elegant and comfortable, and we also had a look through Rome's most famous keyhole - the Knights Hospitaller built the door to their gardens so that through the keyhole, you can see the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in the middle of a nice alley.
Even though I promised I'll keep it short, I can't miss out one story. As we were descending from Mount Aventine, a man in a yellow Fiat stopped next to us and asked for directions to the Coliseum. We helped him using our map, and he started talking about himself - that he is a manager of Calvin Klein, that he likes Prague (he asked where we were from), and gave us some sort of leather jackets, and said they are each worth 3300 Euro. Then, he complained about Rome (a moment sooner he said he was from Milano) and said he can't buy gasoline from his credit card and if we would give him some cash. After some hesitation, we offered him 5 euro. He seemed very dissatisfied, and when asked whether he wanted the jackets back, he agreed and left. Bugger.
The Coliseum was a classic, nevertheless I was surprised by the immense building - considering it was built two thousand years ago, it is just awesome. From there, we continued towards the church of St. Clement with nice frescoes and the tomb of St. Cyril, who created a whole new alphabet for us, Slavs, and brought Christianity as far north as Prague. The church closed for siesta at 12:30 PM, which changed our plans for the day as we left our guidebook inside :-(. As a result of that, we had nice and slow lunch (until they made it obvious at the lunch bar that we were using their chairs for too long) and a rest in Traian's park with perfect Italian ice cream - they really know how an ice cream cone should taste like. Well, St. Clement reopened after siesta (at 3 PM), we fetched the guide and left for the basilica of St John Lateran.
St. John is a very nice church. Most of all, I liked two things - one, larger-than-life-size statues of the twelve apostles. It is sort of hard to describe the statues - the only thing I can probably say is that they look very real. The other thing is the ambit. It is not very large, but it is decorated by little columns with beautiful examples of the cosmati technique. Also, not many people come there (at least when we were there), which kind of multiplies the impression of quietness, spirituality and meditation.
The last thing we visited on Monday was Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, another one of the five greater Roman basilicas (the other four being St. Peter, St. John Lateran, St. Paul outside the Walls and Sta. Maria Maggiore). It is not that interesting as the other four, because it is smaller in size and less decorated, but it has a chapel to it with parts of Jesus' cross, nails that were used in the crucifixion, a finger of St. Thomas and many other relics. Again, a place with a great spiritual effect. But it was almost dark, and so we left for a bus stop and fetched a ride home (it also started to rain). But that was not the end of Monday just yet. Partly by chance and partly by spontaneity, Monday night was dinner with Ondrej Spacek and his girlfriend. For those who don't know, he used to be a student at our school. His guidebook was much better than ours (Michelin > National Geographic, surprisingly) and recommended a nice restaurant (or should I say pub?) not far away from our place. We arrived there just in time to take the last table with five seats left, only to discover how lucky we were when they brought the food. They served pasta all right, but the meat afterward was delicious. And the price wasn't bad. But most importantly, we had a very good time together, spoke about our experiences from Rome, exchanged recommendations for Tuesday, and when the restaurant emptied, they left for a nice walk home (quite a long one, as it turned out, but I believe they didn't care) and we went to sleep.

And Tuesday, finally. Again, we got up early and walked through the old town toward Sta. Maria Maggiore, where we were to meet with Sister Monika, my brother's former class teacher. The weather was getting worse by the minute, but we managed to quite a few of the renaissance palaces and residences before finally setting off toward the basilica. Luckily, my mom was brave enough to step inside one of them which didn't look very inviting at first, but once inside the courtyard, we were truly awestruck. All over the inside walls were statues, ornaments, windowsills and other decorations which took our breath away, particularly because of the amount and flawlessness. And none of the tourists outside seemed like they were interested, so we had this place all for ourselves.
As soon as we arrived in Sta. Maria Maggiore, it started to rain. We also successfully met with Sister Monika, although it seemed quite unlikely after previous SMS conversations. We spent quite a lot of time inside, and because Monika's guidebook had much information than ours, we felt really informed. The basilica is very rich in decoration, using the first gold imported from America for the ceiling, but also for mosaics and other decorations. In contrast with St. John, for example, it is much more colorful, but slightly resembles the impression I had from the Sistine Chapel - nothing to rest your eyes on, just mosaics, paintings, altars and statues everywhere.
Still with sister Monika, our next stop was St. Prassede, an old church. Its mosaics are very valuable, but for me, all mosaics I have seen in Rome started floating around in my head and bumping in each other - so I don't really remember. Then, Monika left us and went to another church and we went to see the church of St. Peter in Chains, which is interesting mainly because of statues from Michelangelo, and mainly the one of Moses. Again it got very touristy, and so we left after just a few minutes.
Nearby is the Coliseum, and right under that is line B of the Roman subway, which also stops under St. Paul outside the Walls. Our next stop was there. St. Paul is smaller than St. Peter, but makes a much larger impression, because there is by far less decoration. I don't mind that - perhaps there isn't as much artistic value as in St. Peter, but it is very elegant instead. When visiting Rome, try not to miss it, even though it is five subway stops from the Coliseum and thus (almost) unreachable on foot. But it's worth it. Just sit down for a moment and let all the thoughts nibble your mind.
Our last planned sight was Trastevere, a not-so-historical part of Rome, but supposedly very interesting. I was very tired at that moment, but still tried to enjoy as much as I could. Anyway, I didn't find it as interesting as it was described. Went home, packed our things and fell asleep.

And finally. On Wednesday, we had to get up at 4 AM in order to catch our plane to Prague. Or we were advised so by the rental agency to which the apartment belongs. It was a bit too early, but I like airports without stress.

Overall, I must say I loved the stay. I used it very much as relaxation - the week before was very hectic. And some of the places left images and thoughts in my mind which will hopefully never fade away.