The Eternal City, Day Three

Our final day in Rome was kind-of a hodgepodge of activities. As Jason observed to me over lunch, we had been moving slower since arriving in this great city. Rome is marvelous, but it can be grueling. So we took the day at a slower pace and didn't beat ourselves up by trying to see too much --- and Jason is already planning our next trip back. :)

After toast, cereal, juice and some darn strong coffee at the B&B, we made our way to the Capuchin Crypt that sits below one of Rome's many churches. It may sound morbid (and I suppose in a way it is) but the crypt consists of five vaulted rooms decorated in the bones of over 4,000 Franciscan friars. Using only human remains, the men created light fixtures, crucifixes, and oddly beautiful wall "murals". We purchased a little postcard that had explanations in English of each of the rooms and marveled at the ability to use bones in such a manner. The final vaulted room has a little sign that issues a message to visitors: "What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be." Chilling? Not really. Their acceptance of our fate was kind-of affirming. In death, beauty --- and new life --- will be found.

After visiting the vault, we walked to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, only to discover it was closed to visitors due to the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. After getting over our temporary disappointment, we trudged on. Jason stopped to fill up our water bottle at one of Rome's many fountains --- some of these are simple, some of them are quite ornate, all of them offer cooling refreshment from the heat. We decided to eat lunch again at the train station --- the food really was quite good --- and then we headed to our next stop.

The National Museum of Rome showcases this city's history, from its small start to being the most powerful empire on earth, and finally to its sad but inevitable fall. It had a great collection of statues, and we followed Rick's reading tour in our book. To carve what these people did out of marble just floors me. It is really amazing. We also saw some original Greek bronze statues, which are apparently really rare. We toured the upper floors, where we saw remnants of mosaics and frescoes from Roman villas. These places must have been SPECTACULAR in their day. The final visit was the basement, where we saw some examples of Roman jewelry (quite beautiful) and a massive coin collection.

After the museum, we considered visiting the Baths of Diocletian across the street, but after reading that much of it has been turned into a church and other (what we felt were) non-interesting things, we headed home to do some laundry and take a siesta. We knew we had a night walk ahead of us, and wanted to be rested for it.

Rick has a walk you can follow in his Rome book called "A Night Walk Across Rome". Before we started, we stopped at the Largo Argentina ruins, which is now home to a cat hospice. I LOVED it there. The ruins cover about half a football field, and cats are just laying around, sunning themselves on the remains of a great civilization. We got there after the hospice had closed, but it was still fun to watch the action. Jason commented on how I took more pictures there than I had at a lot of other places. I can't help that I love cats. :)

Our walk started at Campo di Fiori. We ate at Ostaria da Giovanni ar Galletto on Piazza Farnese, and besides being delicious Roman food (our waiter was very pleased that Jason ordered the carbonera) it was entertaining, as the owner Angelo (a sweet Italian man) told his waiters what to do, found tables for customers, and sung to the women as he seated them. After our meal, we headed from Campo di Fiori to Piazza Navona, where we saw all the night action. Struggling artists had their work out, vendors hawked their goods, and a man with a Michael Jackson puppet on his hand and a massive crowd around him did the moonwalk to "Beat It". From the piazza, we walked past the gloriously lit Pantheon and took a detour to eat gelato from Rome's most famous gelateria, Giolitti's. As we walked and ate, we made our way to the beautiful-when-lit Trevi fountain (which was packed with people) and each threw in a coin to ensure our return. The last stop of the night was the Spanish Steps.

After some wandering, we took a bus back to the station and walked the rest of the way home, arriving back at 11:30 --- late but worth it, as it was a good farewell to the city.