Well, I'm behind the power curve on this one! It's late January and I haven't put up our Thanksgiving trip yet. I guess we've been busy and/or lazy. We flew Ryan Air down to Pisa for next to nothing. We originally planned to see Pisa for one day, then hike the rugged coastline of the Cinque Terra, picturesque Italian cities on the northern Italian Riviera. However, the forecast was for storming rain after the first day. So, we hopped a train and headed to Rome for a few days of sightseeing and wine sampling.
When we got to Pisa, we were all surprised that not only had they built thier bell tower crooked, but it was only about 10 feet tall. Andrew figured he could straighten it right out:
Katie was next to try. She had a good idea--to use her legs--but I think she was pushing too low and not getting the leverage she needed. I guess it's going to stay leaning:
We decided to "get small" so we could fit inside the tiny, still leaning, tower. Here's a view from the top, looking back at the church that is actually served by the bell tower:
I include this shot below to demonstrate the size of the church and the tower. This church is without any doubt in my mind, the single most beautiful one I've ever seen. No pictures of the inside do it justice. The ceiling is about 12-15 stories high and done in squares of royal blue with golden trim and flowers. The interior is sort of dark, with lots of mahogany and renaisance paintings, amazing pipe organs, etc. It has the feeling of a rich wooden study--more cozy and warm tones than any church I've been to:
We saw Pisa's "Square of Miracles" (above) then hit Trenitalia for some quick rail srevice with a change of trains in Florence:
We found a comfy quad room with a big bed and bunk beds for the kids in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome. It was raining the whole time, as forecasted. Here's Katie at the Forum. If you look to the right of her umbrella: you'll see a bell tower--along it's left side is the Colosseum:
We visited the Vatican, but it was really crowded and we've already been, so we took some pictures and filled up our water bottles from its fountains (does that mean we drank holy water?):
We've been to Rome as a family twice now, but we had to come to the Trevi Fountain and throw in our coins (expensive with the Euro!) to make sure we'd come back again someday. I still have fond memories of my trip here in 1983 with my family and my grandmother Elouise soaking her feet in the same fountain. No soaking today, it was about 32 degrees:
This is the Castel San Angelo, the fortress of popes during times of war in the middle ages. It lies about 4 blocks east of the Vatican. See that cylindrical center part? That was originally Emperor Hadrian's Mausoleum, built in 138 AD, at the height of the Roman Empire. The top had dirt on it back then with trees and a garden. Later it was used by the Romans as part of the city wall fortifications, then by the popes, who added rooms and made it into a true castle.
Katie found this huge crossbow (like you shoot arrows with) in the rear upper courtyard and decided to give it a shot:
The castle keepers were even kind enough to leave spare ammo laying around. They were heavier than a bowling ball and I think she was able to shoot them about 1mile, narrowly missing the Colosseum (I think she hit something called the Forum, because the buildings are now in ruins!)
This is the dorway to Pope Pious III's chambers. Andrew is decidedly taller than the pope was, especially if he were wearing that pope-hat:
We tried to get Katie some McDonalds as there used to be one right where I'm standing taking this picture of the Pantheon. However it was closed down. The Pantheon is really awesome, even without Mickey D's. It was originally a Roman temple and is one of the masterpieces of ancient architecture. It is a cylinder with a dome top that is open at the top. The opening is about 10 or 15 feet accross. It is now a Catholic church.
This is a look inside through the giant doors of the Pantheon. You can glimpse the geometric pattern in the ceiling and even see the hole at the top through the mesh above the door. This is Jeff's favorite building in Rome. It was raining, so it naturally leaves a little rainy/wet area in the center of the gigantinc room, which is cool. Standing in the middle, looking up, it is hard to imagine how the Romans could have built such a perfect dome, so high and heavy. I added afish-ey picture from the internet to show the inside. Amazingly this building is not a ruin, but still a working church today:
Nightly we ate our fill of spaghetti a la carbonara accompanied by 1-2 bottles of local Cesanese wines, which are amazing reds. We saw the movie Twilight while here, too, in English. On our last night we made it back by the Vatican to catch our bus. Katie has a "thing" about goofy pictures, in which she kneels down and makes a silly face, so Dad played along...
The trip was short but good. It was great to be back in Rome, Jeff's favorite city. We had so much good food and good wine and enjoyed the historic surroundings, that it is hard to imagine any city being a better place to visit.
