In 2009 I went to Rome together with some friends. I had a great time then.
Because of safety (we were sleeping in a tent) I decided to not bring my
camera with me. After this trip I decided to go back to take photos of
Rome, I just had to find someone who would also go to Rome. My Mother
had never seen Rome and wanted to see the Vatican one time, so I asked
her. She liked the idea and we started planning the trip. The best time
to go was in the week of 26 July. We planned a trip were we had some
excursions and hotel, flight and transfer to the hotel from the airport.
A couple of weeks before this trip should started we got a telephone
that the trip was cancelled because of too few participants.
We decided to ask our money back and planned the trip by another
agency. Now we had a trip without the excursions for 200 euro’s less
and one day less but with better flight times so we could do more in
less time. The trip could start.
 On
the 24th of July the trip started on 5’-o clock in the
morning on Dusseldorf Airport, from this airport our flight started. The
flight (AB8840) started on 7:45 and landed on 9:50 on Rome Fiumicino. On 12 o
clock we were in the hotel after a very interesting transfer to Rome,
the bus driver showed us some parts of Rome and tolled some interesting
things about is. I can recommend this transfer. When we wanted to check
in to the hotel the last guests were still on the room, in one hour we
could have the room. We were hungry so we asked for a restaurant close
to the hotel. They showed us the way to the restaurant and off we go. By
the restaurant there was a group of Americans just in front of us who
were seeking for a place, it didn’t bother because we where helped as
fast as possible. After this restaurant we walked another route back to
the hotel, a very interesting route through a park. At the hotel we
could go into our room. After we placed our stuff in the room we went
back into Rome to see some parts of Rome. In the first day we already
had seen the Colosseum, the Monumento Vitorio Emanuelle, the Trevi
Fountain, the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona. After this we went back to
the hotel, it took a whole day for this trip and we were tired of the
flight. On the way back we found some other field
in Rome with a lot of ancient things, after studying this we found out
that this was a place where Caesar placed all kinds of Kats in, he liked
Kats and wanted a holy place for it. We called this the “Holy Cat’s
Box”.
The next day we went up early because we wanted to
see a lot, we wanted to go to the Forum Romanum, the archaeological
founding’s of the old Rome in the Roman Empire. This place is the
beginning of Rome. In the early days this place was founded by many
people to trade stuff. Therefore there came buildings on this site. At
the time of the Roman Empire the buildings were replaced by monuments
and buildings for all the people in the surrounding area. It became the
political, religion and commercial Centrum of Rome. It was used for
games and ceremonies, therefore there was a square in the forum placed.
After the Roman Empire this area was still used but not for long, the
area was fallen into decay. The area was never been rebuild, only
farmers used it. When the archaeologist came they found a well preserved
place of the old times, this area is still a source of many
archaeologist founding’s.
Next to the Forum lies the Palatinum, a hill on which
the emperors build their houses. Also the cave in which Romules and
Remus were bring up by the she-wolf is in this hill. The whole hill is
build by palaces of a couple of the emperors of Rome, such as Augustus,
Domitianus, Tiberius and Nero. The great Fire of Rome burned down the
palace of Nero, he rebuild a greater palace on the other side of the
Coloseum.
After this area we
went to the Coloseum which lies next to the Forum Romanum. We already
had tickets bought by the entrance of the Forum Romanum so we could go
in the Coloseum in no time. This is really a great building. Since the
build of it, it is one of the greatest buildings of Rome. In the
Coloseum was place for 50.000 visitors. To cover the people for the sun
there was a sunscreen placed over them, this was called the velarium. In
a later stadium there was a row added to the Coloseum and the labyrinth
under the stage was placed, by this the games in the Coloseum could be
made more exciting by adding people and animals from under the ground in
the games. After visiting the Coloseum we were going into the city to
see some more of the city and after this to the hotel for a beer and to
sleep.
The third day we went
to the Vatican Museum by Metro. When we arrived at the museum we had to
wait in the line for more than an hour. Inside we could walk very easy
but slowly through the museum. There are many statues and paintings in
the museum. Also the Sistine Chapel is in the museum, the only place in
the museum where you have to be quiet and cannot take photos and still
al lot of people don’t understand this and speak very loud while they
are taking photos. The museum was beautiful but the painting of the last
supper of Jesus was under restoration so we couldn’t see it. We spend
the whole day in the museum, after we went back to the hotel we searched
for a restaurant and walked into the city.
The next day we went
to the Saint Pieter in the Vatican. After waiting some time (not so long
as the museum) in the line we could go in to the basilisk. It’s a
magnificent basilisk with all kind of paintings painted on the wall and
roof. You can also go in the basement where the pope’s are buried. The
Saint Pieter was too busy but magnificent. After visiting this basilisk
we went to the Castel Sant’ Angelo. This castle is build as a
Mausoleum of emperor Hadrianus between 135 and 139. On Christmas day in
590 appeared the angel Michaël on the Mausoleum, after this event the
pope Gregosius I build a chapel on this place. Later the Mausoleum was
expanded to a castle were the pope could hide while he was in war or
attacked. This castle is now a museum. The price to go into this museum
was very high we thought so we walked further to the Piazza Navona were
we went to a terrace to drink something. The waiters were very kind and
offered us a large beer for the price of a small one. This offer we
couldn’t deny so we took the offer. In a while there was some street
theater starting in front of us, it was a very nice show. After this we
walked to the part on the other side of the river of Rome which is still
in the old style we where tolled, the Trastevere. But when we came there
it didn’t look that old. So we walked further and we walked over the
river again. At the other side of the river we came at the building of
the Maltese
Knights. After this we walked further in direction of the Coloseum. We
founded a lot of parks in the way to the Coloseum, some parks we visited.
One of the parks had a magnificent view over Rome. On the way further we
came at the Circus Maximus. Here we stopped for a while to rest and
enjoy the view over the Palatinum. We ended our tour at a restaurant
close to the Coloseum and after this meal in the park were we sat every
evening, the last evening in Rome.
While
we were staying in Rome we had found out that in the area our hotel was
placed the Catholic Church was founded in Rome. In this area of the city
were in the early years the churches build and they are still here.
Because we hadn’t visited this part of Rome we decided to visit
this art at the last day. We visited 2 churches, the first was a church
under which were the rests of 2 other churches of all kinds of religions.
The second church was one of the biggest in Rome. After this walk
through this part of Rome it was time to go home. After a very good
couple of days in Rome it was also nice to step in the aircraft of Air
Berlin to fly to Dusseldorf were we were picked up by my father.
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