Palm Sunday
So we arrived in Rome today (via train from Venice - which we almost missed, but we will tell you more about that and Prague and Venice tomorrow hopefully) and realized that today is the start of “Holy Week” and thus probably THE busiest time of year in Rome. Lots of streets are so packed with people that it is hard for cars to even drive.
After finding a hotel and getting settled we set out and saw that lots of people were carrying around olive branches. A symbol of the palm branches that were laid down as Jesus made His way into Jerusalem. We made our way to the Spanish Steps (which actually aren’t Spanish - they’re French) and to the Church at the top (sorry forgetting the name). Where we also participated in the tradition of walking the streets with olive branch in hand (or in backpacks and purses as we saw lots of tourists doing).
From there we made our way to Trevi Fountain which was PACKED with tourists throwing coins over their shoulder. Tradition has it that throwing one coin means you will return to Rome soon and throwing two means you will fall in love with an Italian man. (Three means you will marry one). We didn’t participate because we can’t afford to come back to Rome to soon and Gina is already in love (and married to) a Canadian man. We did feel bad for those unknowing tourists who would later kick themselves for throwing the coin over their right shoulder when tradition says you must do it over your left.
From there we made our way to a pizzeria Lonely Planet had recommended for its famous Nutella calzones. It was in a back alley we probably would have had quite a hard time finding without our trusty GPS. We got there just in time too because soon there was a long line up waiting for a table. The menu was only in Italian though and we didn’t know a lot of the words and thus we both ended up getting something a little different than we expected. Gina thought she was ordering a pepperoni pizza but she was really ordering a pizza with peppers on it. I (Chris) am not sure what I thought I was ordering, but when it came it had beans and no cheese on it - none the less they were both good and we certainly enjoyed the dessert and the experience.
We’ve also just finished uploading some more pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8742418@N07
That’s all for now.
Love
Chris & Gina
Hey you two,
I am excited to hear you are doing well. I don’t know how long you are in Rome, but if you have the chance you should check this out:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/uffscavi/documents/rc_ic_uffscavi_doc_gen-information_20040112_en.html
It is the Necropolis (City of the Dead) found underneath the Vatican. Set it up for the day that you are going the see St. Peter’s Basilica. The excavations are pretty interesting and since they only allow 200 people a day it is pretty exclusive. They even show you the remains of the church Paul was buried and how the basilica was built on top of it.
Also, if you want to see some more art/scuptures, I was blown away by the bernini works found here:
http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/edefault.htm
I still remember how I stared at the Apollo and Daphne statue for almost half an hour. Oh, lastly, if you are going to the Vatican Museum, spend the extra few euroes and sign up for an hour walking tour through the museum beforehand. It allows you to bypass all the lineups to get in and you get a tour.
Anyways, take these for what their worth. I’m sure you have your days already planned out!
I think I left my comment in the talkback…do you check those?
Hey Shaun,
Thanks for the suggestions. We did our best to follow them. However, to our great dissapoitment the day we had planned to visit the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel everything was closed except for St. Peter’s Basillica. Very dissapointing we were really looking forward to seeing the Sistine Chapel but we will have to miss it.
Chris & Gina
I’m so sad for you that you missed the Sistine…when I was there, because of sharelle’s passport issues, i didn’t get to go to the Vatican until the last day of my stay in Rome. When I arrived before it opened, there was already a three (or more) hour line which would have caused me to miss my plane. I managed to find a really nice tour guide and begged my way into joining their group for free…so I actually got to hear a little bit of the museum tour that Shaun was talking about.
That’s amazing that you got to be there during Holy Week. That would certainly make the Easter story more real…to be able to walk amongst buildings that were standing when those events were occuring in the Empire in which they were occuring…crazy.
You will be happy to know Gina that although Sharelle had no desire to return to Rome after her passport incident, I certainly knew about the proper shoulder over which to throw my coins.
And I’m quickly finding out that if I ever need information on travelling, Shaun is an incredible resource.