It occured to me as our driver zipped us back through the narrow streets of Rome that there are times in life when you need a head cam because it's capturing moments in life that words can't adequately describe. Although, I'd have to edit out the parts where he was leaning over, studying my map and suggesting additional sights WHILE HE WAS CAREENING THROUGH ROME'S TRAFFIC. That's the closest to a violent video game my life has ever come, and I was in the passenger seat. (If I had done that in the driver's seat -- in Rome mind you -- my normally calm wife would have issued an immediate verbal veto.)
Warren Miller should take his crew and just shoot from the front seat of cars racing around Rome. (The motorcyclists are like Star Wars "Tie Fighters" -- they come flying out of any direction, maneuvering with both ease and peril around the bigger Death Star, I mean cars.)
On a totally unrelated note, Torie's keeping count of the number of nuns she sees. Last I heard she's somewhere around the 22-25 mark. We saw three earlier in the day and I thought her head would explode in excitement.
Back to the trip info -- I got excited simply driving in the car down the Appian Way, pointing out that this was probably the most famous road of its day, sort of like a DC Beltway for its time. One road led to corruption, while the other encircles it. One road was built in 312 BC and extended in 190 BC. The other was built in the 1960 and under repair since.
It's not far to the catacombs, but there's no easy way to get there except by car or bus.
We went to two catacombs -- San Callisto and San Sebastiano. In San Callisto, there are 12 miles of tunnels and trails, and over 500,000 people were buried there on four levels. The bones are all gone, with the exception of two sarcopighi (I don't think my spelling is EVEN close!) that have non-bone remains. Ashes to ashes.
It's still an amazing experience. San Callisto is a slightly longer tour, but the smaller number of people on tour, combined with the quality of the tour guide made San Sebastiano more interesting. (The San Sebastiano tour guide is Indian, so I felt like I was on tour with a particularly helpful tech support person based in New Delhi). Frankly, both are well worth doing since they are not at all far apart.
Upon return, we hit the nearby Patisserie for well-earned Gelatto before a rest in the hotel room.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment