Viva Italia Part 5 of 5: Roma

Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered). Last installment to the Viva Italia series and I can't believe I finally made it!

The Roman Colosseum

The weather in Rome was so much warmer than the other parts of Italy we visited. This was definitely a welcome change from almost freezing my ears off at the start of this journey when we first hopped to Vienna before moving to Milan.

Rome was also very busy, congested, just a bit more polluted than the other regions, but it was undeniably beautiful. Mind you, it wasn't pretty like Tuscany was, but it had a strength to it that screamed "I am here." You really can't expect anything less from Italy's largest and most populated city, 2007's 11th most visited city in the world, and the 3rd most visited city in the European Union.

The city, apart from the sights, feels like an attraction itself. Wherever you go it feels like every corner of Rome was touched by Gods. There would be bits of modern buildings here and there and then giant chunks of history all around. It was like the ancient Colosseum, the temples, and the monuments never ceased living. They just aged with time and the tiny modern edifices surrounding them are like the moss that grows around the ancient oak tree.

We arrived late afternoon on our first day, so after checking in, we quickly looked for an Internet cafe to book our tours with Viator then we were off to dinner. At this stage we were getting used to the pizza pasta only diet to the point that PIC has started craving it and isn't as woeful of the fact that he misses his Filipino rice staple.

Our hotel was very close to the train station and many amenities. It offered good service, was clean, and we got a big enough room with breakfast for a reasonable price. That said, we all know that being this close to a transportation hub also means that the area surrounding your hotel may not be the most savory of sorts. So it felt a bit like walking around Gandara or BF at night. It was safe enough, but you still need to be wary.

While we made sure to pour through Rick Steves' suggestions on what to see in Rome, I guess the main highlights of our trip was our tour through the Vatican City and the Colosseum itself. Rome doesn't take very long to do a circuit of and these two sights are so prominent that its guaranteed that you pass them at least twice a day through your sightseeing even without meaning to.

The Vatican City was so much larger than life. It was ginormous and had more passages and secret tunnels than you can imagine. From the minute you step through the doors, you notice three things - its size, the security, and the explosion of art and color once you're through the intense security check. Again, this is one of those times when it is good to book a guide as you are normally allowed to skip queues and the more hassling checkpoints.

Once in, the congestion of Rome continues. There are groups after groups of tourists moving from one display to the next but the guides still manage to complete their routine that magically means the tourists get to see and hear about everything, ask their questions, not bump into the first group, or be rushed from behind by the next.

The whole tour was sight after sight of amazing artwork that pop out like they were alive even if they were made hundreds of years past. A common style used is trompe l'oeil (French for deceive the eye) where the art appears three-dimensional and almost leaping out of its canvas or frame. There were also endless tapestries that tell the history of Italy, the Roman empire, the Catholic Church and so on. And of course, because this is the Vatican City, we also had the chance to visit the tomb of JPII and even in death you see how much he is loved compared to the final resting places of the other popes before him.

Later we moved on to St. Peter's where I was a bit surprised to see no pews, and but mostly just a hollow building framed by art and huge statues. It was majestic beyond words but it didn't feel like a church to me anymore. It felt more like a Catholic museum. But in this building, you can see so many treasures - the pieta, one of the nails that was used to crucify Christ, and St. Peter's tomb. Standing in the middle of this cavernous basilica you feel you are in the presence of holiness but feel a slight hint of melancholy to see it overrun by so many people milling about.

The Sistine Chapel was another empty room, but man if walls speak, this room shouted from the rooftops. Every inch of wall and ceiling of this room is covered in art and it was just WOW. No wonder Michaelangelo took his time with this thing -- it wasn't the biggest room ever, but it was tons to cover with a tiny little paintbrush. I think what was most impressive of all in this room was how each element of the art in that room were all part of the big picture. It wasn't a story here, and a story there just painted side by side, the room told a story you could follow just by staying rooted in one spot and slowly turning around.

the Sistine Chapel

We saw many more sights after the Vatican City, but I guess the next one that left me in the same mad rush for breath was going through the Colosseo. Now, it wasn't exactly the same rush of ooos and aaahhhs from how beautiful and bold everything was. The Colosseum actually impresses you with its history instead. You stand there in the middle of its well preserved ruins and you think to yourself, people from hundreds of years back actually used this place for their gladiators to run around and chop their heads off. Its Araneta Colosseum super-sized and aged a few hundred years or so! Be warned though, this is probably THE busiest sight in Rome and you would be better off booking this in advance and via tour group vs braving the uber long queues at the ticket line and for getting in. If you've been to Disney, basically booking tours is like Fast Passing your way to everything, plus the great commentary. There are also several staircases to be climbed that are long and steep, so make sure you wear comfortable shoes and haven't had too much vino that your knees might be wobbly.

The lines to the Colosseum were ridiculously long

Inside the Colosseum

For when you are going to Rome or anywhere in Italy, there truly is so much to see. My one advise? Don't miss out on anything. Also, I highly, highly recommend Rick Steves' "Italy" travel guide. It does not only list the sights, but tells you at least a 100 ways to get a proper tour of them, whether you want to do it via tour guide or on your own. It gives you all the tips and tricks of Italy, like where to get last minute bookings, places to go for midnight cravings, Italian idiosyncrasies that you wouldn't normally catch unless you asked and all these 10,000 things that will make yourself just that extra bit confident with what you're doing and add that extra oomph of enjoyment to your trip. Seriously folks, of all the travel books I've invested in, this is probably the best written and most helpful of them all.

So I guess this concludes my Italian adventure. What I've posted so far isn't the absolute guide, it wasn't meant to be that way... its just my way of sharing those moments with you as closely as I can without actually taking you there and having you with me for these journeys. I hope you enjoyed the trip as much as I did, and here's to many more adventures ahead!