Rome Adventures

Rome, the city with a lot of broken things, and then some really big
fancy stuff. Officially, it seems to be known as the eternal city, but
my goodness, a great deal of it is falling away, and fast!

Joking aside, I really need to do more reading about Western Culture
and our history. I should have done more reading about Roman history,
in particular, before coming to Rome. I keep finding myself asking
people questions that I probably should know the answer to or being
surprise by things that to most are probably common knowledge.

Case number one:

I was in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican and looking up at the
ceiling where all the most famous Michelangelo paintings are. While
looking around I realized that I had no idea what the paintings were
about (mostly), but I noticed a Japanese man sitting next to me
reading a Japanese guidebook that I could see described all the famous
ones, so I leaned over and asked him about the big famous picture in
the middle. Who were those two and what were they doing? He laughed
and laughed and said, "That's god making Adam..." Yup, the most famous
Michelangelo and I had to ask...

Case number two:

I'm all excited. I am at the Colosseum. I'm standing outside and
thinking, wow, this is a place I have heard of before and know a tiny
bit about. I was so eager to get in. I bought my ticket and quickly
climbed the steps to see inside. But to my surprise, it's mostly
broken. It's ruins. Ya I know it's almost 2000 years old, but I
thought there was more still intact than that. No central floor left.
No stands. What was I thinking?

I thought, well, it is old and big so maybe that is to be expected,
just how did I miss that in history class? I guess I slept through a
lot in school.

But, being the eternal optimist, I had high hopes for the Circo
Massimo. It looks so big and restored on all the maps (drawings,
remember), and then of course there's my images from the movie Ben
Hur. I eagerly climbed the Palatine Hill to get a good look. Um, Circo
Massimo is now mostly a large parking lot looking space with very
little to remind you of its former glory....

Oops.

Then there is the big stuff, the fountains, the monuments, the
churches. Where did the money come from? Everything is huge, extremely
ornate (to the point of garishness sometimes), and made of substances
that are pretty hard to find these days. Again, their old, but still,
the Vatican, for example, must have cost more than the GDPs of all the
African countries combined! The upkeep alone these days must as well.
I guess it is an independent entity (not a country per say but
almost), but where does the money come from?

Ah Rome... So interesting, but I gotta do some more research before I
head out tomorrow!