ROMA – Day Four

Sunday confirmed that in some ways the gods conspire against me. The previous night I swung by the basilica of San Clemente to see if I could get into the archaeological site. My ancient history professor, Jay Bregman, told me that below the church was a Mithraeum, a shrine to the sun god Mithras, whose cult gained wide popularity in the second and third centuries CE. It was closed, so I decided to go there first thing the next morning. I forgot it was Sunday. The site didn’t open till noon. So after a nice rest in the Parco Traiano, I made my way to the edge of the old city and to the church of St. John Lateran, the seat of the bishopric of Rome (while the Vatican is the seat of the whole world).
Again, it was Sunday morning. I walked in on the middle of a church service, conducted in Latin! The music was also very nice, with a male choir. Like the Vatican, the interior was richly decorated.
From there it was getting toward noon and I finally got into San Clemente, only to discover that photography is forbidden in the whole place. It makes sense because the excavation also includes a fourth-century church with delicate paintings, but the Mithraeum had no paint. I had to hide my camera to sneak a couple shots of the cult shrine. This was especially difficult because there was an electric fence in front of the gated entrance which detected any cameras trying to peer between the bars. When the threshold was crossed, a large buzzing noise went off. Why???
After that, I grabbed more pizza and beer by the Colosseum, then crossed the Tiber to Trastevere, the charming district across the river. From there was a somewhat arduous climb up the Janiculum Hill. The monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi provided a spectacular view of the whole city.
Climbing back down the hill put me in Vatican territory yet again, so I made another swing by the Castel St. Angelo and the angel bridge, where I got a better shot straight out of Angels & Demons.
From that point I had only one more place on the map I hadn’t seen, the Campo di Fiore, which turned out to be a large piazza where it was market day. I took this opportunity to sample numerous Italian cheeses. I had done it. I had seen all of Rome in four days, thanks to non-stop walking and the determination to make the most of the best vacation ever. Before I tell of the nightmare of Day 5, here’s my best shot of the Vittoriano, a monster piece of architecture dedicated to Victor Emanuele II, the first king of a united Italy.
The next day was long and insane. I was misinformed about when my train left and how much it cost, which was later and more expensive. I got to the airport 45 minutes before my flight, and only got my boarding pass because I wasn’t checking any luggage. I got to the gate just as it started boarding. The flight was pleasant, and when I got to Boston, I ran to the curb just in time to catch a bus up to Maine. I was very lucky that day. So here I am back in the states, and so concludes my story. Hopefully I’ll travel again soon, to Istanbul or Athens, or even back to Rome. I can’t wait to go back.