Commodore in Spain: ...like a big pizza pie...

After catching a train to Rome (luckily, a rumored train conductor strike was postponed!), all eight of us quickly checked into our hostel and then embarked on a search for some authentic Italian cuisine. With our trusty guidebooks at our side, we found a “family-style” restaurant that served amazing (no, seriously amazing) pizzas. The pizza crusts in Italy are really thin and crispy, almost like a big cracker, and adding the sauce, cheese, and huge variety of toppings makes it a heavenly experience. What's more, you get a whole pizza probably about 15” in diameter for only six or seven euros. On a college student’s budget, it doesn’t get any better!

Seeing as the guys outnumbered the girls for the first time this entire semester, the obvious first choice of landmark to visit was the Colosseum, land of gladiators and the setting of Gladiator, quite possibly one of the best movies ever created. With the wooden planks forming the arena decomposed after nearly two millennia, the expected floor of the Colosseum gave way to the understructure, compartments once used to store weapons, scenery props, and animals (did you know that they actually fought elephants and rhinoceroses?!). While I’ve been impressed seeing grand buildings erected as far back as the Middle Ages, it was truly phenomenal to imagine Roman mobs, dressed in togas and cheering for their favorite gladiator, in the same place I was almost two thousand years ago.

The Colosseum by night

From the Colosseum, we headed over to the Roman forum, which was the heart of Rome in ancient times, where the government and many commercial activities were situated. Originally, it had been a marsh, but was drained all the way back in about 600 B.C. to begin development! During our meanderings through this huge area, I was constantly wondering if I was walking where a Caesar had once strolled two thousand years ago.

The (ancient) Roman forum

After a few hours in the forum area, we made our way to the Spanish steps where we were just in time to catch a beautiful sunset and then set off for the Trevi Fountain. Like we had seen at the Colosseum and at the Spanish steps, there was another newlywed couple getting their picture (who can blame them with such picturesque settings at every turn?).

A sunset at the Spanish steps

The next day we dedicated to the Vatican, which apparently is far too short a time to explore all of its offerings. Katy told us that the Vatican Museum has so many pieces that if you were to spend just forty five seconds looking at each one, it would take you twenty four years to emerge from its galleries! As a result, we did a very, very brief run-through (after waiting in the notoriously long line for about and hour and forty five minutes), with the main goal of seeing the Sistine Chapel (lecture 10/25-26 at Vanderbilt about "The Sistine Chapel Controversy"!). The ignorant American I am, it seemed to me like every other building we entered could have been the chapel, seeing as every ceiling in every building was unbelievably ornately decorated. Once we arrived to the bona fide location, though, the touch of the master Michelangelo was apparent at once and we easily spent twenty minutes in the room, just staring at the ceiling and at The Last Judgment.

The Sistine Chapel (taken in spite of shouts of "NO FOTO!")

To keep this entry from reaching a gargantuan length, I’ll leave it at that (neglecting St. Peter’s Basilica, the Swiss guard, the Pantheon, and yet more pizza).

Favorite picture from Rome: