Mike and I haven’t toured the Eternal City since our honeymoon, which was 21 years ago, and it was a new experience to be back with our child. As we were quite jetlagged on stop #1 of the world tour, and it was a sweltering +38C, not all exactly went to plan, but it still was a great touring the city at a slower pace. The city is heaving with tourists in high season, and for some reason you can always spot the tourist in the crowd, even a european tourist. Maybe it is because we are all covered in sunscreen, hats, sweat, and have all but melted into the occasional puddles found on the cobblestones from the over 200 drinking fountains found across the city. Here is a city where there is not a plague of disposable plastic water bottles everywhere, thank you Cesar. Moreover, somehow the Romans manage to look effortlessly elegant, as if sculpted by rays of sunlight so as to be unaffected by this blistering heat; we Canadians don’t stand a chance of that.
When in Rome, there are certain things you just have to do. One of them is to pay appropriate homage to the ancients and walking the Colosseum grounds is a mandatory activity. Perhaps in a silly parenting move, Laura and I watched Gladiator (her for the first time) and then we hit up the Hop On Hop Off Bus to go for a tour of the city, but it was when we went back there strolling at night was when I got a better appreciation of the structure without the crowds distracting me. My husband pointed out these square holes in the colonnade walls which I mentioned probably anchored a cladding finish, and yeah it turns out that once upon a time the structure was fully covered with marble, which was pretty interesting to me seeing some ancient techniques.
The second mandatory homage is to the art, sculpture, and architecture of the Renaissance. This is probably no better seen in Rome than at the Vatican Museums where the art styles of the ancient, renissance, and modern art collide in an explosion of coloured canvas and tapestry tempered by the solemnity and piety of white marble. The art historian in me started to nerd out seeing Michaelangelo’s Last Judgement, Pieta, and Sistine ceiling; Bernini’s baroque altar at St Peter’s Church, and Raphael’s School of Athens.
St. Peter’s Church never disappoints, and although it has been 3 popes since our last time here, aesthetically, very little changes. Thank you Rome for the wonderful adventure, my favourite moment of the trip so far has been when my daughter looked at me with wide eyes saying “Mom, we are like, actually in Italy”. We are headed to Naples today and looking forward to Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, and all the Pizza we can stand.
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