Museo Nazionale Romano

High on our list of priorities, something we had not visited before, was the National Roman Museum. Indeed we have seen plenty of Roman history and art, and not just in Italy. But the National Roman Museum has some of the best specimens, some truly unique holdings, all beautifully displayed (and in English too, mostly).

Augustus as Pontifex Maximus (chief priest)

Bronze copy of a Greek boxer

Venus

Vicki and Rick Steves; we probably have

owned and used most of his books, and do own

all the DVDs, and have used his stuff almost

daily since coming to Europe in April of

2009; so it was a special thrill to run into him;

he and his photographer and videographer

were shooting in the MNR, "freshening up"

some of his previous PBS shows on Italy;

later on he asked us to pose for some incidental

shots, which, as Vicki says, will probably end

up on the cutting-room floor; but maybe not;

and no, I did not call him Rickie Stevie...

The discus-thrower, very famous

Bronze Dionysus

In addition to the hundreds of statues and busts, then

there were entire rooms of frescoes and mosaics, the

frescoes particularly intact and vibrant

A gorgeous Nile scene

Fresco dining scene

Throughout Rome's glory days, there were four and four

only major chariot-racing teams (Nero tried a league-

expansion but it didn't take): the Green, the Red, the White,

and the Blue (the Romans were definitely into the whole

brevity thing); anyhow, this mini mosaic is one of the few

representations of chariot-racing, their most popular mass

entertainment

The basement of the museum is mostly the coin collection--

something we generally don't get much into--but this one, and

the various apparati for examining the coins close-up, was

extensive, special, and well worth the time; after the "fall" of

Rome in 476, the Goths ruled, under the auspices of the

Eastern Emperor in Constantinople (the Empire didn't really

fall until 1453, but that's another story) and were authorized

to mint their own money; this is an example with Alaric

pictured

Incredibly fine gold work, with an illustration from Pompei that

we saw at the Naples Archaeological Museum

It's an incredible museum, but for us the most impressive

sight was this room, four walls of which were from a large

garden fresco scene in a villa, no doubt, the palette suggestive

of Monet, the subjects and perspectives nearly east Asian... 

Thus

And thus

Roman Roamin' IV

So Vicki arrived at Ostiense station, from Fiumicino,

per my directions, at about 13:30, Sunday, May 8; I

had been waiting at Binario 11, per our understanding, since

13:00; thrilled to be re-united, we took the Metro and bus back

to Laurentina and the campground, where, after valiantly

unpacking following a 20 hour trip, and 9 hours off schedule,

she crashed...

Next day, however, in jet-lag denial, we were out in central

Rome; she wanted to see the Pantheon again, something

I am always willing to do...

And the church of St. Mary Supra Minerva,

with an elephant obelisk (just like in Sicily) out

front; we conjecture the "supra" meant built

over a temple to Minerva; but it might mean

Mary superceding Minerva, which also fits

With its very, very forgettable Christ Bearing the

Cross, by Michaelangelo

But a moving scene of devotion

Not moved for long, we are back at the priestly

vestments store

Priestly undies (if you have ever wondered

about such things)

Marcus Aurelius' column; another of the good

emperors

Another detail of which

Every town has its eyesores; most  towns are nothing but

eyesores; but in Rome even the eyesores can look good in the

right light

Pantheon

I'm no architect nor historian, but I have always thought that the Pantheon, the temple to all the gods, is the greatest and oldest of all extant buildings, the most ingenious of the classical era, begun by Augustus and completed by Hadrian, who, some say, designed the great dome himself; the grandeur of Rome all in one place. No photo can capture it. But it is worth many.

From the back side it's not all that impressive--ignoring the fact it's 2,000 years old

The facade, begun by Augustus and his chief architect and son-in-law, Marcus 
Agrippa, is more promising

It's when you stand at the great 20 foot original bronze doors and gaze up at the 
sunlight blazing through the oculum, 140 feet overhead, and understand that the 
width of the rotunda is exactly equal to its height...that it begins to overwhelm you

As I said, no photo can do it justice

1500 years after the Pantheon was built, Brunelleschi--
who was attempting the great dome in Florence--was 
permitted to drill into the Pantheon's dome to see how 
it was done; here, I think, are the holes he left 

Rafael's tomb

Another exterior view

Roman Roamin' III

Ruins of a podium temple in Hadrian's Forum

And rising among the columns, the greatest of

them all, Hadrian's Column, chronicling his

reign and conquests

Closer up for a smidgeon of detail

Moving right along, across the Piazza Venezia and up the

stairs of the Capitoline to the Piazza del Campidoglio; we'll

return in a week or so for the Capitoline Museum

Looking from the Campidoglio into the Foro Romano

Theatre of Marcellus, an example of building right over the

ruins

And just down the road, another Ionic/Corinthian/Baroque

Temple/Church, St. Nicholas in Prison

Interior

Campo di Fiore by day

And the Trevi Fountain

Closer-up

And the Spanish Steps, now in bloom

Roman Roamin' II

Another day's roaming.... By this time I had mastered Rome's Metro and bus systems and had purchased a week pass, allowing me to hop on and hop off all over the city.

Our campground--actually a camper-stop adjoined to a

camper storage site, more about which anon--is in southwest

Rome, a bit beyond the Laurentina station, in the EUR

suburbs of the city; the EUR, Exposizione Universale Roma,
was one of Mussolini's experiments in urban/suburban
planning, pushing Rome southwest of the old city; it was
to be home of the 1942 World Fair, but, alas, World War II
intervened; the EUR continued development after 1946 and
today is one of the city's newer if not nicer business/residential
areas

The Palazzo della Civita Italiana, EUR's major

landmark

Monument to the Universal Exposition Rome

that never was

Moving right along (on the Metro), the Circus Maximus, with

Nero's skyboxes overlooking (seriously)

The Piramide, a minor general's monument to

himself, an instance of Rome's 1st century BCE

infatuation with all things Egyptian

Driving past the immense Baths of Caraculla (been there,

done that)

Out on the Appian Way, the oldest and most famous of Roman

roads

Shrine on the Appian Way

The famous Domine, Quo Vadis? church

"Jeez, what are you doing here?!"

Another of the seeming hundreds of Egyptian

obelisks in Rome, this in the Piazza San

Giovanni; originally from Karnak, later in

the Circo Massimo

And, at the end of the day (before being stranded in the bus

strike), the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, oldest and most

important of the four papal churches in Rome (or anywhere in

the Roman Catholic world), officially, the Mother Church,

seat of the Bishop of Rome, aka, the Pope; it's way old, going

back to Constantine

Roman Roamin' I

Most of my time in Rome, awaiting Vicki's return, was spent in non-touristic activities: assorted repairs and maintenance of the Grey Wanderer, washing and waxing it, finding a lavanderia a gettone (coin wash) and doing the wash (finally, near Basilico San Paulo), dealing with my dead Asus eee 900 computer, trying to repair it, bussing to the internet shoppe to maintain connection with loved ones, dealing with jet-lag (the worst I have experienced; don't know why), trips to the grocery and other places. I have almost felt like I was becoming a resident, especially after working through a couple or more transportation worker strikes. (I had to take the taxi home from the Metro station one night.) Nevertheless, I did get out now and then to see bits of Rome. My first trip out was to get to the Beatification of John-Paul II at the Vatican. This was, of course, a very big deal in Rome. Alas, I did not actually get to the Mass, but somehow they carried on without me.

J-P2 mementos and souvenirs were everywhere;  Saturday

night a candle-light procession passed by the campground at

4AM; way out on the most distant edge of Rome

The whole city was covered in placards and

banners

At Piazza Reppublica the morning of the Beatification Mass

Transportation plan notices on the Metro that morning, in

Italian, English and Polish (he was Polish, bishop of Krakow)

J-P2 Event Staff at  the Lepanto Metro stop near (somewhat

near) the Vatican; this was as far as I got; unbeknownst to me,

and to other travelers and pilgrims, the transit system had

pulled busses off the outlying routes in order to provide

continuous free shuttles from Termini (grand central station)

to the Vatican; thus, despite waiting for a bus from 6:30AM, I

did not actually arrive in the Vatican area until after 11, when

the Mass was over (well, I was up that early because of jet-lag,

not devotion)

I could have been part of this

But I wasn't; I did admire the man, nonetheless, for his
international work, and particularly for his courageous
aiding and comforting the Polish revolution that overthrew
the communist regime there and led, fairly directly I believe,
to the overthrow of communism throughout eastern Europe