Tuesday, February 23, 2010

History of the area of Rome that will be home for 28 days

The area of Rome that we are staying in is the historical center, an area that has been inhabited for thousands of years.  There have been artifacts etc. found dating back to 1400 BC.  The immediate area is called San Giovanni. 


San Giovanni in Lateran (also known as the Basilica of Saint John Lateran) is the cathedral of the diocese of Rome, of which the Pope is bishop.   The Catholic church has named it "the Mother of All Churches".   The church was initially built in the 4th century and consecrated in 324.   It remained the seat of the church until the early 1300's when the seat of the church was moved to Avignon, France.   In the 1370's the seat of the church was moved back to Rome, to its current site in Vatican City.   The Basilica, as it currently stands, has seen many reconstructions over the years as a result of fires, earthquakes, conflicts and vandalism. 

Also, in this same block is another church which purportedly has the steps from Pontious Pilate's palace in Jerusalem that Christ walked up when he was sentenced to death.   The steps were moved to Rome by Constantine's mother who was a catholic convert.   The wooden steps are covered by marble and Christians from around the world make pilgrimages here to climb up the stairs on their knees.   No one is allowed to place their feet on the steps.   


Another item of interest in the area is an obelisk that was originally brought to Rome in the 330s from the temple of Amun Re in Karnak, Egypt.   It was built in 1400 BC.   It would have been around for Moses to see.   It is the tallest obelisk in the world.   It was first brought to Rome and placed in the Circus Maximus where the chariot races were held.
It was damaged over the years, buried in a swamp then further excavated, restored and moved to its current site in 1588.


The last significant item that I know of, but I am sure there are many more, is a standing portion of the Aqueduct of Nero that carried fresh water to the city of Rome.


How cool is all that, and that is just what's in the one block immediately in front of our building!!!







Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Bookings complete

Well it's done, the last of it is now booked.  The flights from here to Calgary to catch the Lufthansa flight, the overnight hotel in Calgary, the overnight hotel in Frankfurt on the trip back and the return flights from Calgary to Campbell River.  Yahoooooweee!!  The pressure is off.   

It took a lot of work but it has been worth it - we have got a trip (the flights and accommodation for 4 weeks) for a very good price.  No more expensive than 1 week down south in Mexico, Cuba or the Dominican Republic would cost.


Now we can spend the next 6 weeks thinking about what we want to bring with us and how we may want to spend our time while in Rome.  I also want to find something that I can bring to give to people we meet along the way as thank you mementos of  our experiences with them.







Monday, February 15, 2010

Apartment Photos

 Here are pictures of our apartment home for the month.


                                          Living Room
                                                          Dinning Area and Kitchen  
Bedroom






Accomodations arranged

After many, many searches and emails we have gotten a place to stay.  It is the same building we stayed last time, just a different apartment.  We got an excellent deal for a one month stay.  It is on Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano (Saint John is the church that sits on the plaza).  There is a bus stop at the door, a Metro station a short walk away, the Coloseum and Forum are 10 minutes walk away, there is a grocery store, tobacionist, tratorria(restaurant) and pizzaria all right below the apartment.  There is even a portion of an aqueduct just down the block from the apartment (how cool is that!).


It has been a lot of hard research up to this point but we have managed with the benefit of using airmiles to travel to Rome and get the apartment for a month, for the same price that our airfare alone cost us 2 1/2 years ago (a savings of over $3000).   What do you know, experience does pay!!  Now we just have to fiqure out what we want to do and where we want to go while we are there.


Here are some pictures of the church, it's cloisters and the obelisk directly across the street from the apartment.






More to come later.







Thursday, February 11, 2010

The Starting Point

Well, the process has started. It took over 12 years but we have finally collected enough Airmiles points to travel to Europe, supplemented by a generous 25% off points needed offer from Lufthansa. 


We first looked at going to London, seeing some live theater, and touring around England a bit.  But with the Pound trading at $1.75 to the Canadian dollar and the cost of accommodation in London high, we just felt we could not quite afford it.  We then looked at other alternatives.  Paris, Rome and Barcelona were choices considered.  The Euro was trading at $1.50 so they were more favourable.   For various reasons Barcelona and Paris were ruled out.  Rome became the chosen destination.  


The flights were booked today on Lufthansa, flying from Calgary to Rome, April 9th returning on May 8th. We still have to figure out how we get to and from Calgary yet.  We still have not finalized our accommodation, but we have several inquiries out and will do so in the days and weeks to come.







Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Welcome to our Holiday Blog

It has been my practise in the past to keep a journal of any special holidays we take, whether it was on a an extended camping trip or a more formal holiday destination.  It is fun to review the trips later and plus, it makes it easier to track where certain pictures were taken (along with the greying of hair comes a loss of sharpness of the "little grey cells").  In the past this has been done the "old fashion way", with pen and paper.  But recently, having been introduced to this new high tech version of journaling, I thought I would try it for this trip and invite those I thought would be interested in seeing and hearing about what we are doing,  to follow us on our adventure.  So, if you're reading this, then I guess you've taken us up on our offer.


I will try to post everyday adding pictures as I go.   For those of you that endured the 3+ hour photo journey of 2007, I promise that this will not be nearly as painful, because you are in control this time.  If you wish, there is an opportunity for you to comment at the end of each entry.  Just click on the word comment and add your thoughts.  These first few entries are coming all at once because I actually started making this when we first started our planning in early February.


So, sit back, relax and I hope you enjoy the journey with us.