Rome Trip, April 13, 06'

Rome, the capital of present day Italy and the administrative center of ancient Roman empire. This is a remarkable tourist destination in Europe that dotted with thousands years of historical monuments, temples, basilicas, arches and so forth. In every tourist mind, Rome is the must-see and must-visit place because of all the stories and fantasy we encouter in our daily life. I could remember a recent TVB drama series Triumph to The Sky that took place in Rome, where the beauty of Fontana Di Trevi, Monte Gianicolo and Piazza Di Spagna is presented prefectly. Besides, the movie Gladiator had captured my imagination of watching a fight in Colosseum. Well, to buy a gift for family and friends that is made in Italy by Italian, the best recommended choice is... neither any leather, suit nor shoes, but painting. One could get it easily and reasonably priced around Piazza Novano. Lastly, the neighboring Vantican City could be seen as the Mecca for Christians and converging point for art students too, thanks to St. Peter Basilica, Sistine Chapel and Vantican Museum.

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Day 1

This is Piazza St. Pietro, in present day English it is Plaza St Peter. To reach here, me and my travel mate had walked more than half and hour. Every step is worthwhile to see the grandior of Vantican City. The building in the center is St. Peter Basilica.



Can you see the queue of tourist, visitors or pilgrims to enter St. Peter Basilica? They are on the right hand side of the picture and look like ants...

This is what I rank first class panaromic view on the Cupola (dome) at the top of St. Peter Basilica. To take the picture, me, Jay and Faridz have queued more than 1 hour and climbed more than a couple hundred steps to the dome top. Finally, we have to beat the crowd surrounding the balcony to capture this incredible view with a not-so-spectacular Fuji digital camera (don't even have zoom function) by Faridz.

A view of the top of Sistine Chapel (the building on the bottom of the picture) and Vantican Museum. Well, it seems quite common just to look at the roof of the buildings. However, once you walk into the castle-like fortress,...it's just unbelievable. Scroll to Day 2 to see what I've seen.

The inner part of the Cupola (dome) inside St. Peter Basilica. The dome was designed by the ever famous Michaelangelo as the chief architect for the construction during Renaissance age. Until his death, the contruction for the dome had never finish and continued by other famous designer during the era. Michaelangelo's influence not only lmisted to the dome, his paintings were eternally preserved in Sistine Chapel too.

Check out the painting on the wall inside the Cupola.

The site believed to be the burial spot of St. Peter cruxificion. The columns around the altar were designed by Bernini and made of bronze taken from the Pantheon. On the ceiling, I could see a lot of Roman inscriptions. Frankly, I didn't know what is the meaning. Can check out the WWW to find the translation.

The painting on the wall was mesmerising under the sun ray shinning thru the windows. This is one of the corner in the main hall of St. Peter Basilica.

As the sun was setting, we walked to the second destination, Castel St. Angelo. Never able to visit it because it closed. I think just taking picture should be okay with this place as there were more place to cover in the coming days.

I was standing on the bridge in front of Castel St. Angelo.

The bridge that I posed for picture above... Idyllic, HAHA.

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Day 2

We supposed to get up early to beat the crowd. However,....

We managed to arrive about half past nine. The crowds were not too much. First thing we did is to buy admission ticket at Palatino Hill (this is an useful tip from Lonely Planet's Rome Guide). In front was the Arch of Titus we passed through before we bought our ticket.

On the ruins on the right side are Foro Romano or Roman Forum.

Now you are enjoying the magnificent scene of Foro Romano or Roman Forum from Palatino Hill. The big building on the right with columns in front is the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. Built on second century ano domini. The standing building on the left is Curia Hostilia or Roman Senate. Well, that was the "parliment" for the ancient Rome. According to a local tour guide (that is purely out of my effort to eavedrop what the guide presented), many of the building still stand today thanks to the contribution of Christian Institution after the fall of Roman Empire and during the Medieval period. It was told that the churches were wealthy enough to support the cause of maintaining those ancient building, thanks to the generosity of worldwide Catholic contribution. And because of the religious identity, most of those historical building could survive until today.

This is another view on Foro Romano from Palatino Hill. The Colosseum is just a walking distance at the from the Forum and the hilltop I was standing at. In fact, I thought the Romans emphasized a lot on politics, social and spiritual standpoints.

Behind me is the ruin of Augustus House or Domus Augustiana. Well, it should be once a very grand and beautiful attraction for the rich and famous. In this case, it was the Emperor who resided here. Years and years passed, now it left with dozens of fallen pillars and collapsed wall!

An interesting angle to enjoy the structure of Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. I overheard an Italian guide explained to her English tourist that Emperor Antoninus built the temple to commemorate his deceased queen, of course was Fautina.

Me and Faridz (the owner of the camera I used to shoot the magnificent roof-view on Piazaa St. Pietro at Vantican City) posed for the Arch of Septimus Severus. Just flipped thru some tourist information, this Arch, like many others, was built to commemorate something. In this case, it was the victory of Emperor Parthian and his sons.

Without having the famous dolce (dessert) like gelato, don't even say you have ever visited Italy. Not exactly cheap, price about 5 Euro for my cup of chocolate flavor gelato, it worth.

This is Fontana Di Trevi, or the Trevi Fountain. Actually, from the literature I read, this is the converging point for three roads. Once look at the picture, everyone could notice the distinctive three statues in the middle, namely the Virgine (the fountain sat on an ancient aqueduct called Acqua Vergine that supplied water to Rome around 1AD) on the left, Neptune in the center stage and General Agrippa on the right. Just don't be fooled by thinking there were very few tourists there. In fact, just scroll down you will know why.

I was pressed into this corner to take the snap because...

Even late in the evening (the time then was about 10 something), there were still big crowds relaxing by the fountain, flooding the night scenery with flashlight. Well, I was part of the crowd for sure!!

Next stop, the Pantheon. We walked from Trevi Fountain to this spot, which looks near on the map, but it took some effort to pull our foot after a whole day of walking. This building is another architecture marvel of Roman history. Imagine having a big hole on the top of the dome (ceiling) and could avoid the inner hall from rain entering. I asked the owner of the apartment we stayed about how to have a hole on top of Pantheon yet still not get wet during rain...

As we notice, whenever we open the door of our house or any enclosed room, there will be air rushing out to us. Similarly, the hole above the dome of Pantheon would behave like the opening of our door. The air from the inner hall will gush out from the hole forming a layer of protective shield to prevent rain (ofcourse not moonson rain) coming into the hall.

The word Pantheon means Shrine of all Gods. Mmmm, inside you won't see any god. In ancient time, the so-called God might be associated to the Emperors. Actually, the Romans was not as superstitious as ancient Egyptian about the idea of King is God. But, the fact is I really didn't see any God or God like figure in Pantheon. There were a couple of Italian Emperor tombs (King Vittoro Emanuele I, etc) and the famous painter Rapheal's tomb too. Again, from literature, Pantheon was built as a temple. Then, it was converted to a church and finally, the resting place of some VIP.

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Day 3

The Colosseum, have you seen any gladiator? The colosseum I visited today was the last remaining and "complete" colosseum I could ever find in Rome. I used the word "complete" because the colosseum actually is in serious renovation. There were scaffolding around the periphery structure and there is restriction to enter the basement (rows of vertical walls in front of the photo) , where the gladiators once waited their fate there before any match.

We were very lucky because the weather was perfect during our trip. Sunglass was a must, but we still need to wear our jacket since the wind was blowing quite strong. I was posing at the spot that suppose to be the main entrance for the chariots two millenium ago.

Looking to the top part of the photo, one could notice the ruin was sort of "chopped off". In fact, according to literature, the Colosseum was ceased from function since early 3rd century. In the following centuries, it was ravaged by earthquakes and fires. Lastly, the "chopped off" part was actually became part of what we see at St. Peter Basilica and many wealthy houses. Sad story!!

After visiting Colosseum, we tried to walk back to Vantican City to visit the famous Sistine Chapel. On the way, we passed by the builing in the picture, called Capitoline Hill. There were many historical events associated with this tallestof the seven hills in Rome. If you want to know more, go to internet and search for it. I don't really know much about it because we were on the rush to leave this part of Rome.

This is the main entrance into Sistine Chapel. Well, we reached here after walking for at least an hour from our lunch time restaurant. Even when we reach to the building, we were wondering whether to come in because of the expensive admission fee (almost 10 Euro). But, but, because of you, the ever famous Renaissance Italian Mr Michaelangelo Buonarroti, we paid and entered. In the following photos, we could explore why people called him a genius in painting and sculpture.

Between 1508 to 1512, Michaelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the vaulted ceiling of Sistine Chapel. The result from the laborious four years was a vast amount of magnificent, almost three-dimensional painting in the chapel. In fact, he had deep devotion of Chirstianity. His painting were depicting the biblical story of Genesis, Adam and Eve and the story in Noah. The color choice and saturation were so rich and coherent. I really felt it worth all the money we paid to visit here.

This sculpture is exhibited in the walkway of Sistin Chapel. That is a world-reknowned scuplture and was studied by many art student across Europe all the time. Indeed, it seems impressively realistic, especially the texture of the skin and the muscle composition.

That it is, the famous ceiling-painting inside the main chamber Sistine Chapel. The picture was captured secretly because photography was restricted in this part of the chapel. Visitors must maintain silence too. Very strict. Phew... HAve you seen the depiction of Jesus touching the god?