Standing on the Metro

Friday, May 18th - Breakfasted again in our rooftop garden cafe. The espresso is surprisingly good from the pod machine. Had a two pod shot, scrambled eggs, hard roll, fruit salad and yogurt. Have to stop eating like this or consequences will be dire. We decided to visit St. Peter's Basilica this morning and beat the crowds, so we took the subway to Vatican City.

Metro Subway Train Arriving

Lines to St. Peter's Basilica

Beat the crowds??  The line to enter the Basilica serpentined around the square in what appeared to be a near endless twist of human bodies. Had we the energy to stand in line for what was likely a two to three hour wait, we could not have discovered the end of the line to join.
 We settled for a few pictures and moved on to --

The Pantheon.  Built originally in 27 B.C. by Augustus' son-in-law Marcus Agrippa, it was destroyed by fire and completely rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian in 120 A.D.  A Roman temple dedicated to all of the gods, it was later converted to a christian church.  The dome remains a wonder even to this day, and looking at it from within the structure it is truly awe inspiring.  The Romans invented concrete and this was an incredible use of the material, its as high as it is wide, 142 feet from floor to rooftop and from side to side.  23 feet thick at the base reducing to 5 feet thick at the peak to conserve weight, and each panel is coffered to further reduce weight without giving up any strength, and this done 2,000 years ago (and still standing!!) 

The portico columns too are miraculous in that they are 40-foot tall and made from single pieces of red-gray granite quarried in Egypt and shipped down the Nile, across the Mediterranean and to Rome. How they were stood into place must have been a marvel in itself, but then Rome at the time had a limitless abundance of slaves, and their engineering was, and remains, phenomenal.

We walked back to the hotel, taking our time and spent a few hours resting before heading out by cab to Friday night services at the Synagogue in Trestevere.  Services began at 8:00 pm and we had to present our passports and leave our cell phones with security at the entry gate. We were wanded for metal objects and finally allowed to enter. 

Synagogue

The girls were directed to the balcony as they were not permitted in the main sanctuary during services.  Several types of prayer books were provided, including Sephardic.  It was pretty obvious who were members of the Synagogue as it was nearly impossible to follow the service.  Acoustics were abysmal and the melodies unrecognizable.  The Shamos was constantly walking up and down the isles, tapping on wooden pews to keep whispering and talking down.  He wore a black suit and bowler hat, never without his hand on his tie making sure it was straight.  The lay leader at the start of services, the choir and the cantor were excellent, and the melodies reminiscent of Gregorian Chants. We were told that the only Jewish sect in Rome is orthodox -- this was like nothing I've ever seen.  Services lasted almost exactly one hour, and I could not distinguish a single prayer, including the Sh'ma.

The girls left early and were waiting for us outside.  We walked to our restaurant, Ristorante Al Pompiere (which translates to Restaurant Fireman.  Why, I have no idea.)  It's on the second floor of a Trestevere building very near the Synagogue. Fortunately both Daniel and Karen have much better senses of direction than I and my Garmin GPS has not been particularly useful yet taking far too long to find satellites.  With buildings so close together, GPS reception has been spotty.

Few if any tourists (perhaps tourists who spoke Italian) in the restaurant. We ordered appetizers of pastas, rice balls, fried zucchini blossoms, fried artichokes and a couple of bottles of a Montepulcino wine. We've been surprised at the quality of the wines at such reasonable prices. Our waiter quickly took our "starters" order and we expected him to return for our main course order. He never did, and it was a good thing. The appetizers were so large that none of us could have consumed more. WE left full and happy campers. While we half-heartedly looked for a cab, it was late, the evening was beautiful, restaurants crowded with diners well after 11:00 pm, and we ended up walking back to our hotel. It was a leisurely stroll that took about 35 minutes, even including the walk up the Spanish Steps to our hotel.  Tomorrow we're heading out of the city for a day trip to Ostia Antica, but that's another day.

View Looking Down Spanish Steps