A Roman adventure - part 8

It was the final morning in Rome, Heidi, Laura and Clemence the bear were all packed and ready to travel home.

Heidi, Laura and Clemence with their bags. Clemence was a bit annoyed that he and Heidi did not go on any of the outings with Laura, they had to be content with seeing the photos.

There was time for one more short outing after she had officially checked out of the hotel (leaving the bags in a locked room).  Near Termini Station in Rome are the ruins of the baths of Diocletian - part of the complex was converted into a church by Michelangelo, part of the buildings are now a national museum.  Laura decided to visit the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli.  Another church with an immensely impressive interior.

Santa Maria degli Angeli has a large pipe organ in one wing of the church 

It wasn't nearly as big as St Peters, however like St Peters, Santa Maria degli Angeli had marble floors, enormous columns, capitals and decorated arches

After visiting Santa Maria degli Angeli Laura and her girl walked around the outside of the baths of Diocletian which is now a museum, there wasn't time to visit the museum however she found the gardens.

The gardens alongside the baths of Diocletian had lots of Roman statues and funeral monuments

It also had an enormous fountain - an ancient Krater in the centre formed the fountain - it was one of only 2 still remaining  in Rome apparently.  There were goldfish in the pond and Laura and her girl enjoyed dabbling their fingers in the water.

A pussy cat was living in the garden, Laura was amused when she found it sitting on one of the funeral monuments

 Soon it was time to collect suitcases and catch the Leonardo Express train back to the airport.  The train was very modern and included a display screen showing the progress along the route.

Roma Termini to Fiumicino airport

On the train Laura said goodbye to Rome

Laura watched out of the window as the train approached the airport

Laura was very satisfied with her holiday in Rome, she had seen some wonderful places and done some very interesting, fun things during her 5 days in the ancient centre of the Roman empire.

(see also Part 1 of Laura's adventures in Rome, Part 2 when Laura visited the Palatine Hill, Part 3 when Laura explored the Roman Forum, Part 4 when Laura discovered the Colosseum, Part 5 when she explored the narrow streets of Rome, Part 6 when Laura visited Vatican City and Part 7 when Laura visited Ostia Antica)

A Roman adventure - part 7

On her last full day in Rome Laura took a ride on the metro train then a train to Ostia Antica, the ancient Roman seaport which was key to supplying Rome.  The river and coast line have changed in 2,000 years so the ruined town is no longer right on the coast.

Near the entrance to Ostia Antica Laura discovered there was a large graveyard filled with funerary monuments.

This was the map showing Ostia Antica with the coast and river routes of 2,000 years ago marked on the map (in green) and the current river route (in blue)

A mosaic near the entrance was uncleaned

Laura poured some water from her bottle on the mosaic and the colours came alive

In the warehouses and family homes Laura discovered this marble pavement

The marble pavement was made up of many pieces of coloured marble

These ruined columns made Laura feel very small - can you see her

Yes, there is Laura standing on a broken column which stands beside the two which are still complete

Laura and her girl exploring a street in Ostia 

In another house (which no longer had a roof but did have walls) Laura found this interesting mosaic which had the word Artemi above the figures

Further along on the southern edge of Ostia was a temple complex

This fawn figure (with panpipes) was guarding the entrance to a temple

Under another temple complex near the main road of Ostia was a cellar area which Laura went to explore

In the small museum (beside a restaurant where Laura had lunch) she saw this sarcophagus for a young child

Near the museum was a room filled with large food storage amphorae, these would have been sunk into sand to keep them upright. Laura wondered how often they had been cleaned out when storing food, she hoped they didn't just refill them without cleaning them. 

After seeing many other buildings and temples Laura found a large building complex which had an amazing circular mosaic floor

The circular mosaic floor only had some damage and was an amazing, lyrical, lively design

Laura could not stop looking at all the patterns, animals, leaves and people in the huge circular mosaic

The bull on the large mosaic was particularly wonderful

Laura had fun copying the post of the figure on another mosaic in a nearby room

Laura walked back to the main road in Ostia Antica and found the magnificent amphitheatre.  It was the largest building in Ostia and was still standing.

In the late afternoon Laura decided she wanted to try acting Roman style

The amphitheatre was huge and Laura felt tiny in the stage but she held her nerve

She kept standing and imagined the amphitheatre filled with crowds of people watching the play.  It was a daunting thought.

She raised her arms and declared "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears"

"I love Rome"

"and I love Ostia Antica" she declared to her girl who sat watching from the stalls

Near to the Amphitheatre was a large bath and gymnasium complex.

There were steps leading up to a viewing platform (on top of a roof of the entrance to the bathhouse, which was closed as it was nearly closing time at Ostia Antica) so Laura and her girl went up the stairs to see the view.

From the bath house viewing platform they were rewarded with the sight of an enormous mosaic floor in the bath house, decorated with mysterious sea creatures and horses.  It was the most amazing sight and even bigger than the circular mosaic Laura had admired earlier.

The bath house and gymnasium complex was extensive and it looked like it has several mosaic floors

It was time to leave Ostia Antica, the sun was still shining though was starting to set and the day had cooled down from the 22 degrees it had been earlier.

As she left to catch the train back to Rome Laura took one more look at the information board and map about Ostia by the entrance.  She knew she hadn't seen everything there was to see in the old seaport and had greatly enjoyed finding out about the ancient Roman way of life.

For dinner that evening Laura dressed up in her new ball gown which she got at the Chat 'n Snap. It was a special family evening of celebration, tinged with sadness that the visit to Rome was nearly over.  Still there was one more morning in Rome to enjoy.

(see also Part 1 of Laura's adventures in Rome, Part 2 when Laura visited the Palatine Hill, Part 3 when Laura explored the Roman Forum, Part 4 when Laura discovered the Colosseum, Part 5 when she explored the narrow streets of Rome and Part 6 when Laura visited Vatican City)

A Roman adventure - part 6

After a dramatic thunder, lightning and rain storm in the night Laura's fourth day in Rome dawned bright and almost clear of clouds.  After breakfast she took a bus to the Vatican.  The queue for St Peter's Basilica was already starting to stretch across the square, however it only took 30 minutes from the time of joining the queue to getting into the church, which was a lot quicker than it would have been the previous afternoon.

St Peter's Square, Vatican City

Laura in St Peter's Square, Vatican City

Laura was glad it wasn't too crowded in the square.  She had dressed smartly for this visit, and was wearing a Vintage Sasha coat over her Union Flag sailor dress

Inside a side chapel in St Peter's Basilica was the very famous Pieta by Michelangelo

Michelangelo's Pieta was quite magnificent but was sadly behind bullet proof glass after a previous attack on the statue

One of the side domes in St Peter's with very detailed frescos, mosaics and gold leaf

Laura was overwhelmed by the number of side chapels, altars, paintings and sculptures in St Peter's

 One side chapel was reserved for quiet prayer, with no photos allowed (it was behind a large heavy curtain).  Laura did go in there, it was called Cappella del SS.Mo Sacramento Vaticano and you can find photos of it on the internet.

In the nave Laura gazed in amazement at the canopy and altar over the tomb of St Peter

The canopy over the tomb of St Peter was very high and richly decorated

Laura took a photo of the detailed decorations on the canopy

This dove and rays of light were over the high altar in the distance behind the canopy 

The underside of the immense dome of St Peter's was decorated in great detail with gold leaf, mosiacs and carvings, it looked amazing with the light shining through the clerestory windows

Laura saw the altar in the chapel which was only used for weddings, she took this photo through the closed gate.

The organ and choir stalls in the wedding chapel - there was a lot of gold

St Peter's Basilica is the largest church in the world, Laura felt very small as she stood in the nave on the marble floor, some of which once decorated the buildings of the Palatine hill and the Roman Forum.

After visiting St Peter's in the Vatican Laura bought a ticket for the Vatican Museums so she could visit the Sistine Chapel.  On the way to the famous chapel she saw lots of interesting Roman and Christian art in the long corridor.  Her favourites were the Roman mosiac and a large tapestry.

A Roman mosiac with still life, found in the Villa of Numisia Procula on the Via Ardeatina (Tor Marancia).  Laura loved the fine detail of the still life, all done with tiny stones contrasting with the bold border of black and white stones. 

Laura felt very small compared to the huge tapestry showing the ascension of Christ

Laura was really disappointed as she was not allowed to take photos in the Sistine Chapel of the famous ceiling paintings including God giving life to Adam, or the High altar wall showing the Last Judgement, both painted by Michelangelo.  The chapel was crowded, the guides not very friendly and whenever the quiet talking of the crowd raised above a certain level the guides shouted 'silencio' from a loud speaker which instead of preserving the preferred contemplative atmosphere of a chapel destroyed it.  The paintings by Michelangelo, Giotto and others were amazing but the experience was disappointing and Laura was not sad to leave the Sistine chapel.

On her way back through the Vatican museum Laura saw this golden model of a church

 After lunch in the Vatican cafe, Laura found her way out to the one part of the Vatican garden which was open to the public.  It was beside the Vatican Art gallery building which was only built in 1932 to house the incredible art collection of famous and not so famous works which belong to the Vatican collection.

The Vatican Art gallery

Laura was pleased to be out in the fresh air in the garden

She had her photo taken with the dome of St Peter's in the background

Laura took a photo of the dome of St Peter's from the Vatican garden

Laura in front of the Vatican Art Gallery

Even the outside of the Vatican Art gallery was richly decorated

Inside the Vatican Art Gallery Laura was able to get up close to a plaster cast of the Pieta

In the Vatican shop Laura bought a couple of gifts for friends. After leaving the Vatican, she walked all the way to the Spanish Steps.  The real Spanish Steps were unfortunately under scaffolding and not accessible to the public, however in a restaurant around the corner Laura discovered a mural of the Spanish Steps.

Laura admired the Spanish Steps in Rome

The mural of the Spanish Steps was covered in flowers, so Laura took her coat off as it felt like summer

There was even a model of the boat shaped fountain in front of the mural of the Spanish Steps

Laura enjoyed her pizza in the restaurant then put her coat back on and walked all the way back to the hotel for another well earned rest.  It had been a fascinating day at the Vatican.

(see also Part 1 of Laura's adventures in Rome and Part 2 when Laura visited the Palatine Hill, Part 3 when Laura explored the Roman Forum, Part 4 when Laura discovered the Colosseum and Part 5 when she explored the narrow streets of Rome)