Continuing with the theme of "can we get 100,000 steps in four days in Rome?" ... we move to day two of our trip to Rome. Preview step counts: Christine's undercounting band: 23,268. Tim's iPhone: 27,256. I don't want to know how many miles...
We started by taking the metro to Piazza del Popolo. We grabbed some breakfast in one of the (fancy, famous, and, it turns out, expensive) cafes right on the square.
After breakfast, we spent some time in the square. In the center was the first of something like four or five obelisks we saw, carved with Egyptian hieroglyphics. Obviously, when the Romans conquered the known world, they started pilfering (and sometimes commissioning) Egyptian artifacts. For instance, the Flaminio Obelisk, which stands in the center of Piazza del Popolo, was brought to Rome in the year 10BC by the emperor Augustus. The obelisk was originally from Heliopolis from the time of Ramses II. When it first came to Rome, it stood in the Circus Maximus but was moved to Piazza del Popolo by Pope Sixtus V in 1589.
Then the girls ran some races in the square while Tim took some photos. Piazza del Popolo is just inside the Porta del Popolo. This gate in the city walls was built in 1475 (a Jubilee year!) by Pope Sixtus IV on the site of an old (run down) roman gate. It is supposedly inspired by the Arch of Titus.
This is Saint Peter (or maybe Saint Paul); these statues were rejected after being commissioned by a nearby basilica, given back to the sculptor without payment, and now they're here. I don't know if the sculptor (Francesco Mochi) was paid.
This is Santa Maria in Montesanto.
In the Piazza del Popolo, there are four allegorical statues of women representing the seasons. This lovely lady is spring.
This is the view towards the Altare della Patria. We went there later in the day. So more later...
This is a view of some dome in the distance. (I'm kidding... I mean, it is a dome in the distance, but it's specifically the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.)
We found these pretty princesses and decided to take them with us for the day.
In addition to the Egyptian obelisks all over town there are many other Egyptian themed statues and artifacts. Back down in the Piazza del Popolo, this is a piece of the Fontana della Dea Roma (the Fountain of the Goddess of Rome), obviously flanked by some sphinxes. These were created by the designer of the piazza (Giuseppe Valadier) to accentuate the Egyptian obelisk at the center.
Hieroglyphs on the Flaminio Obelisk.
This is a random sculpture atop a building on Via del Babuino, just off of Piazza del Popolo.
From Piazza del Popolo, we walked down the street until we reached the Spanish Steps. They were, unfortunately, under renovation. But look! Another obelisk atop the steps, in front of the Trinità dei Monti. This obelisk is actually a (reduced size) copy of the one in Piazza del Popolo. There were 136 steps up to the top (we counted!).
These photos are of a fountain in the middle of Piazza di Spagna, at the base of the Spanish steps. Before the engineers got a handle on the situation, the city of Rome used to succumb to some terrible flooding (more on this later, too). In the Piazza di Spagna, after the terrible flood of 1598, residents returned to find an abandoned boat in the middle of the square. Pietro Bernini and his son created the Fountain of the Old Boat to commemorate the find. You can stand on the boat's "dock" and have your picture taken.
These are views from the front of Trinità dei Monti. The streets were beautiful from up here.
We took a little break for a (very) quick game of Simon Says, which always devolves into simultaneously rubbing one's tummy while patting one's head. Obviously.
Piazza di Spagna is quite elongated; it extends down in front of the Spanish Embassy (not the embassy to Italy, but the embassy to the Vatican) and runs into the Piazza Mignanelli. Here, we find the Statua dell'Immacolata Concezione,
Another reasonably short walk away was the famed Trevi fountain. Maya and I each threw a coin in; apparently this means we are destined to come back to Rome some day.
We learned about the Ace of Cups, which was specifically designed and situated to the side of the fountain to block the view from the street. This, Maya's scavenger hunt told us, was because the barber who owned the shop at this point of the street was continually annoying the workers, so they designed a way for him to not see the fountain at all. (A counter story to this one is that the barber's sign was ugly and he refused to change it, so they added the Ace of Cups to block the view of the sign when looking at the fountain from the front.)
This is the Piazza della Minerva, and, yes, that's right, another obelisk, this time placed on top of a Baroque carving of an elephant. Obviously.
Around the corner again, and we're in the Piazza della Rotondo, home to the Pantheon. Inside, we saw the graves of King Vittorio Emanuelle II, along with his wife and son (who was also, incidentally, king). We learned, and I'm quoting Maya, "he was the king of Italy who made Italy Italy." Basically, it was King Victor who brought together the disparate states into a single country. We also learned that the girls' favorite pizza, Pizza Margherita, is named after his wife, the queen, and that the ingredients (tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil) represent the colors of the Italian flag.
This is the "oculus" in the ceiling of the Pantheon. It's open to the elements (we also found the drain holes hidden in the beautiful floor).
Marcus Agrippa is recognized on the outside of the Pantheon; he was responsible for building a temple on this site (but it unfortunately burned to the ground). When Emperor Hadrian completed this temple, he wanted to honor that history.
Maya hugged one of the columns; each one is 40 feet tall and weighs around 60 tons. They came from a quarry in (and this will not come as a shock to you) Egypt. Quite a difficult journey!
Back in Piazza della Minerva, we spotted these signs commemorating the height of the historical floods. It's hard to make out the perspective in this picture, but that top one marks a four meter (13 foot) flood.
Selfie!
We went from Piazza della Minerva to da Francesco for lunch. This place had some AMAZING pasta. Luckily, we called before we walked over. They made a reservation for us. We still had to wait about 20 minutes after we arrived, but it was totally worth the wait. Though they didn't have coffee. Which turned out to be ok... later...
After da Francesco, we went to Piazza Navona. This is a beautiful piazza, centered on the Fountain of the Four Rivers, which contains four statues depicting four world rivers in human form.
This isn't that fountain, though; it's one of the two fountains at either end of the piazza with other animal inspired statues (we found crocodiles, (scary) dolphins, horses, and lions).
Obviously, the Fountain of the Four Rivers has an Egyptian obelisk in the center. It's actually a pretty interesting fountain. The man representing the Ganges river holds an oar to demonstrate how easy it is to navigate that river. The man depicting the Danube is about to touch a papal crest (because the Danube was the closest of the four rivers to the pope's home). The head of the man depicting the Nile is covered with a cloth because, at the time the statue was created, the source of the Nile was unknown. And the man depicting the Plata river is sitting on a pile of coins to signify the riches Europe expected to receive from the colonies in Argentina and Uruguay.
It threatened to rain on us. But then decided against it.
Oh, yes, and snakes, too.
The Agonalis Obelisk is a copy of one that was commissioned by Emperor Domitian to be erected at the Temple of Serapis in Alexandria.
From Piazza Navona, we walked to a delicious local coffee shop. We found this poor soul along the way...
After being fortified with caffeine (I don't know how Maya accomplished these walks), we went to the Altare della Patria, a.k.a. the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II, a monument built to honor that King Victor we talked about before.
This is the Goddess Roma again. She stands over the tomb of the unknown soldier. We walked up, fortuitously, just at the moment of the changing of the guard. Which was nice.
We also went up on top of the monument as well for some very nice views in all directions.
The entire trip, Cora was enamored with the sea gulls. She made Tim take pictures of them for her.
This is a view back down the street we'd basically spent the day weaving up.
There's that big dome again...
There were great views back down into the Roman Forum.
The Coliseum and beyond...
Artsy Roman Forum
Piazza Venezia in the foreground... the city in the distance.
More seagull...
This is the Quadriga dell'Unità (a chariot drawn by four horses) atop the monument.
This is a view of a "minor" Roman ruin, the Teatro di Marcello, which is still used for concerts and other events in the warm months.
After the monument, we took a walk to get some gelato. Seemed only fair. We walked past the Largo di Torre Argentina. Historically, this place is famous for being thought to be the actual site of the "Et tu, Brute?" scene. These days, it's famous for housing a colony of something like 250 feral cats.
OK. I'm losing you now. Here's another fountain.
This is a random building. Research tells me that it's called the Casa dei Crescenzi (that's a family name). The Crescenzi were tasked with keeping watch over the Ponte Emilio, an entrance into Rome. They built this solid house and guard tower, and, well, it keeps standing. It's apparently used for city offices now.
This is the tower of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. This church houses, in its portico, the Bocca della Verità (the mouth of truth).
Supposedly, if you stick your hand in the mouth of truth and tell a lie at the same time, the mouth will bite your hand off. There was a REALLY long line to try this so we decided against it.
From here, we walked up to the Giardino deli Aranci (the garden of the oranges... and there really were oranges all over the place) for great views back across to the Vatican and out over the city.
Some nice strangers took our photo. It was either that or a selfie stick...
Just down the street is a famous keyhole. If you look through the keyhole, the dome of Saint Peter's is perfectly aligned. It was incredibly beautiful. Impossible to photograph, but, alas...
We went to dinner at Flavio al Velavevodetto. It was quite delicious. Cora discovered her love of (my) oxtail (a Roman specialty). More notably, however, this restaurant is built into the side of Monti dei Cocci, a hill made out of the broken remnants of ancient roman terra-cotta olive oil jugs. You can see them in the background out the window.
We headed to the metro in the dark. This SPQR sign was on the gates of a firehouse. SPQR is Rome's official symbol; it comes from the Latin "Senates Populusque Romanus" which means "The senate and people of Rome." Tim insists it basically means "For the people, by the people." Maya's scavenger hunt book says that it sums up "the belief that the Roman people, not a king, controlled Roman society."
Finally, unfortunately not well-photographed in the dark, the Piramide di Caio Cestio. This is an honest to goodness ancient pyramid. It is 100 Roman feet square at the base and 125 Roman feet (37 meters) tall. This was the tomb of Gaius Cestius (tombs were not allowed inside of Rome proper), raised around 12BC. It has later been incorporated as part of the city walls and stands adjacent to the Porta San Paolo.
Whew. To bed for everyone.
Scavenger hunt score for the day: 48
Running total: 101
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