The Cougar Patrol

Ok, so we got done with a long day in the heat of Marseille and got back onto the boat by one, and spent the rest of the day drinking. Hey, the family that drinks together stays together, you know? Anyways, we were again out in the bar until 3 am, the up at 7 for the trip into the city.

First of all, Rome is on the Tiber river. It’s not on the Med. This of course meant that we were in for a nice long train ride into the city. Well, it’s a good thing I know how to navigate Italy and read Italian train schedules and all. Anyways, we made it to the train station in Civitavecchia, the small port town we docked in, and proceeded to hop on board the first train that was heading remotely near Rome. It actually ended up being a pretty fun ride in. Apart from not having to move around at all for an hour, the windows on the train opened up wider than a car door window, so I could hang my head out the train and catch a view of the countryside passing by. As well as the posts that held the overhead wires. All in all the countryside was pleasant to see. Here’s some pics:





We managed to get to Rome nice and early, and we ended up being pretty fortunate that the main train station, instead of being like Grand Central where it’s buried underground far north of the city center, it loops through the city and finally comes to rest a quarter mile form some of the main sights in town. Not too shabby from a transportation perspective. Although it should be noted: No A/C + lots of sweaty Italians with no concept of deodorant = quite a funk in the air.

Anyways, it’s was off to explore Rome. I don’t suppose I need to say too much about the city of Rome. It’s old. It’s big. It’s dusty. It’s HOT. It also has the oldest collection of antiquities I had ever seen up to this point. The Colloseum, the Forum, the Circus Maximus, and the Palaces of the Caesars are all located in one spot in the city. Basically, it’s been left permanently undeveloped and is now one big tourist area. Anyways, picture time:


The Colosseum:









The Palatine Hill area (the palaces of the emperor):





The Circus Maximus. Yes, it doesn’t look like much, but it used to hold 200,000 people. The part that looks like it’s a sloping hill is where the stands were, and there’s people walking the track where the horses used to run:



The Forum. Akin to the Times Square of ancient Rome, pictures don’t do this place justice, as it is HUGE. It took a while to get from one end to the other. Pretty impressive:








After finally walking through the really ancient areas, we proceeded down a hill to the front of a huge building with massive columns. I had no clue what it was, until I looked at a map. And then later at Google, as well. This is the Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland) which is a monument to a) the unification of Italy, b) King Vittorio Emmanuelle II (the guy who unified it) and c) The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Italian edition). They sure know how to successfully jam a bunch of stuff into one place, that’s for sure:



Well, it’s Rome. Obviously I’m going to get a slice of pizza. Granted, I did lose my wallet here:




This is the famous Trevi Fountain. Supposedly, tossing in a coin brings you good luck. I don’t think I threw enough $$$ in, personally. And doesn’t Luke look thrilled to be on this trip?





Something old!



The Pantheon: A building so famous that its name actually refers to something else in modern dictionaries. Yup, Bill Simmons’ Pantheon can’t hold a candle to the real thing, which is the oldest church in Christianity, having been converted from a Roman temple. The largest dome in the world until the building of later Christian cathedrals, it is quite a place to behold. There’s a hole directly in the middle of the roof that provides the only lighting in the entire place, so the interior shots are a little crappy:





Here’s the National Bank of Italy. See that guy with the M-16? Yeah, he had about 20 buddies hanging out around the building; we had gotten to it from the backside on the way from the Pantheon. Nice big plaza around it, though:



Something old AND fun!



The Palazzacio, aka the Palace of Justice. I imagine this is the equivalent of our either FBI or Justice Department. It’s a good thing we went past the building on this day and not the next one:



Castel Sant’Angelo is next down the river (by the way, we are at the river now, having walked across almost all of Rome). The only thing I can think of to describe this place is that I think in Angels and Demons that this is where they kill the Hassassin. Still, it’s a pretty imposing structure that was built back in Roman days and was part of the city walls for a loooooong time apparently there is a tunnel that ran from it to the Pope’s quarters in times of trouble, so I took a pic of that, too. It’s in the top part of the random wall shot:




And finally, The Vatican. Yup, we made it here for our last stop on the trip before heading back to the boat. We didn’t really have enough time to go in, so we hung out in the central square for a little bit and looked around. I imagine it’d have been cooler if we’d gone inside to see the Sistine Chapel (seriously who goes to Rome and doesn’t see that?) but you gotta make do with the time at hand, ya know? Pardon the appearance of the shots, I’m trying to capture the essence of a panoramic shot of the courtyard without a useful copy of photoshop to help me out.



The Abortive Panorama:























And that’s Rome, folks. Each day the cruise ship gives you a little pamphlet saying what’s worth seeing and all. It turns out I hit 6 of the 7 top landmarks to see in the guide without looking at it until the train ride home. Along the way, I had a solid slice of thick crust, a good beer, a really good sunburn, and roughly 200 photos overall. Good times.

(NOTE: video clips of various stuff will be going up tomorrow.)