Day Five: Tuesday

We’d planned to head to the Gesu in the morning, but ended up taking another wrong turn and walked over a mile in the wrong direction. We’re cool like that. Our legs and feet were really unhappy with us. As I mentioned before, Stu could not resist ducking into every church we passed, so we did get a chance to check out two such gems on our “detour”.

The Sant’Andrea Della Valle, which was pretty amazing. Though I’m no Opera connoisseur, people who happen to be may recognize this church as the setting of the first act of Puccini’s Tosca. The façade is in pure Baroque style and the inside is just as beautiful. It also has the largest dome in Rome outside of St. Peter’s. Two Popes are buried here, one of which is depicted in a clear glass case as a man laying there. Freaky.

The other church we went into on our way back toward the Gesu was called San Lorenzo in Damaso. This one felt a little more eerie. It was much different than a lot of the churches we’d been in which were either light and uplifting feeling, or sullen and morose. This one was downright creepy and cryptic. A notable thing about this church was that is housed the libraries for the first papal archives.

See what I mean? Freaky!

We also wandered by the Area Sacra where the remains of four temples were found in the 1920s and are among the oldest in Rome. They are believed to be from the third century B.C.

We did finally make it to the Gesu and it was definitely worth all the hassle and detours. Kaden fell asleep right before we arrived so Mommy actually got a chance to really appreciate the details. We sat in a pew for a long time taking it all in which also gave Kaden a quiet place to rest while we took advantage of feet resting time.

The Gesu itself is the first Jesuit church to be built in Rome. It was designed during the Counter-Reformation Baroque period (I was thankful for the millionth time that I took that Art History class and I could actually appreciate what those words meant) and it epitomizes the typical Catholic architecture that has been imitated all over the world.

Reading to Stu about everything with my handy-dandy guide book.

This is San Roberto Bellarmino, by Bernini

We stopped by the grocery store on the way back to pick up some diapers (we were down to ONE!) and “fixin’s” for sandwiches for lunch. It was a much busier (and more on our feet) morning than either of us had planned.

In the afternoon we headed out to get some gelato (told you we couldn’t stop!) and then walked back down to the Capitol area. I wanted to get some more pictures of the Coronada (Michelangelo). Kaden had a great time playing in the rocks and giving Daddy all of the “eews” in the rocks (i.e. pine needles). We sat up there with the views of the city for a while, as we quickly learned the value of ANY time to rest the old feet. Then we headed back down the back side of the Capitol area by the forum once again.

This church is Santa Maria in Aracoeli. Popular belief has it that by climbing these steps on your knees you can win the Italian lottery.

The Corondata (Michelangelo), oriented the Capitol to the west.

We stumbled into yet another church: Chiesa S. Spirito in Sassia. It was much smaller than a lot of the churches here (especially when compared to the ones we’ve seen today) but I liked it a lot anyway. It was almost endearing. You know, I’m never going to be able to walk into another church in America again, with mere stained glass windows, and feel moved.

This church was on the modest side on the Roman Church Scale, but it had frescos and intricate sculptures nonetheless. Then we headed back to the hotel room to relax before dinner.

Side Note: Upon arriving here, we taught Kaden to say “Ciao” in greeting to people and has since been winning the hearts of all his Italian admirers throughout the city with his little voice, “Ciao!”

We had another absolutely fabulous dinner at our trattoria. Fabrizio served us Bruschetta , “a gift” he called it. It was so fantastic. Perfect crusty bread that was baked in a fire oven, superb olive oil, and vine-fresh tomatoes created pure bliss for the palate. Olive Garden has nothing on this place. We had our two favorite dishes again and finished our wine while Kaden colored and the sun set. Then we walked slowly back home as another amazing Italian day came to an end.

Day Four: Monday

We opted to buy the combination tickets for the Colosseum, Palatine, and Forum and save a few Euros, but they are only good for two days. So after breakfast we decided to head on down to the Forum since it was our last day to do so. We’d been very lucky up until that point with easily finding our way to the sights and stumbling into unexpected gems and destinations, but our luck stopped in its tracks on that morning. We ended up walking about a half-mile out of the way (all up-hill, I might add) trying to find the entrance to the Forum, so we had to backtrack. But once we did get into the archeological site, it really was pretty awesome.

We found the Temple of Vesta and the House of Vestal Virgins, two of the things I wanted to see, as well as the remains of the Basilica Julia, the Temple of Castor and Pollux and the Temple of Antonius and Faustina.

The She-wolf.

This is the Capitol piazza. The statue, floor and all the building facades were designed by Michelangelo.

The forum.

Kaden playing on some ruins.

He liked that cool-colored rock.

The Temple of Vesta.

Stu sitting on some ruins in front of the Temple of Antonius and Faustina.

Kaden was not being a very awesome baby, but luckily we were outside and not in a church, so it was better than nothing. We took the opportunity to walk back up the Palatine Hill to get pictures of the Forum from above, as well as too see the views of the city that the Hill has to offer.

Here he is walking up the steps like a big boy.

The House of Vestal Virgins.

On our way back toward the general direction of our hotel, we stopped into another church, Bascilica S. Coma E. Damiano, which has glass windows (opened to the public in 2000) that show the “Temple of Romulus the Divine”. It is the only Roman temple “that exists in full integrity” besides the Pantheon.

This is a Nativity Scene that is a masterpiece of Neopolitan from the 1700s. It depicts the birth of Jesus and also shows people going about their daily lives for the times.

Kaden took a short nap on the walk to our favorite trattoria, where we became well-known and welcomed by “Fabrizio” and another waiter, who was straight out of The Godfather, and they brought Kaden a stack of freshly washed tablecloths for him to sit on as a booster seat. He woke up to enjoy a sausage and mushroom pizza with Mom and Dad.

We both became practically crippled walking as many miles every day as we did. By this day in particular, I was sporting 5 blisters as we stumbled around town like gimps on our pained feet and legs. So we relaxed in the afternoon once again before heading out for the evening.

After another failed attempt at a nap for Kaden, we went to get some gelato and did some more walking around the streets. We went to the bus station to get information about a ticket to go out and see some catacombs. Then we headed back to the hotel and up to the roof where they have a little terrace set up so that Kaden could play in a different (and safe) area. He’s become not as fond of riding in his stroller after being in there so much on long walks over the past few days. We ended up back in our room before dinner, giving Kaden a chance to color and us another chance to rest the toesies a bit more.

A view from the roof terrace of our hotel.

We decided we were going to try to take some evening pictures of the Spanish Steps. We intended to find another hole-in-the-wall trattoria to eat dinner. Instead we ended up here:

Oh yes we did! Asian food in Rome, Italy! It was really inexpensive, which was nice, and after as much Italian food as we’d been eating, it was a surprisingly refreshing change. Also fun, with as many Asians as I regularly communicate with in UAE, I understand their accents much better than the Italians here who speak English since it is an entirely new sound to me. Up until right before we left, when a French couple came in, we were the only white people there in a sea of Asian faces. It was so funny because just outside the door, we’d just been walking through Rome with its white-folks galore, and suddenly it was as if we stepped into Asia.

We did make it over to the Spanish Steps after eating literally ever bite of our meal (walking works up quite an appetite). Daddy walked up the steps (another stroller fail) and took some pretty good pictures from the top while Kaden entertained the crowd at the foot of the steps. He was clapping and dancing and blowing kisses to everyone and being rewarded with applause and photographs from the onlookers. It was the highlight of his day.

A Roman sunset.

Kaden entertaining the crowd, much to their glee. Look at the faces of the onlookers.

We headed back to our hotel to call it a night but couldn’t resist the urge to stop for some gelato on the way. And Stu stopped to take some pictures of the street.

Airman Steener.

Another quick interruption of blogging about the trip (then, I promise I'll keep going :)).

I got to talk to Justine last night! Yay! She is officially an Airman now and we are all so proud of her. Of course we both had to be blubbery babies on the phone, but I haven't talked to her since before she left for Basic and before that, since we were there in August! So I miss her millions, but it was so great to hear her voice and hear first-hand what she's been up to and how it went and all that.

Anyway, I love you Steenie and I am sure Tech School will fly by and then you can go home for a bit.

Here are some pics of her at Graduation: (excuse the poor quality, Papa took them with his cell phone, which he sent to my Mom on hers, which she then emailed me. Thank God for technology!)

This is her graduation ring.

Papa with his cool rental car! :) Thanks Papa for being there for her and sharing pictures!

And since I'm posting pics from my Mom's camera, I might as well include the ones of their finished new living room! (I know of bunch of my childhood friends as well as family read this and will appreciate the amazing changes they've made!)

And my brother with hair, because truly, this was a bigger shock than the living room. Lol