Wednesday - November 19, 2008

Arrivederci Roma

The only problem with our great plan to catch an early train into Rome is that half the ship decided to do the same thing. At least it felt that way as we scurried over to the station to find a line for tickets that wound out the door and along the street. I tried bargaining with a taxi driver but was only able to get him down to 170 Euros from 200 and we thought that still too much. Then Mike had the bright idea of going out onto the train platform to see if there was a ticket machine there. Sure enough there was, and we managed to purchase 4 return tickets for less than 40 Euros. The only problem was that the next train was sold out, so we had a nice cappuccino while we waited for the next train.

The trip was pretty short, even though we weren't on the fast train, and our plan was to stay in the Rome terminal area to do our sightseeing. This worked out very well and our first stop was about two blocks away at the Palazzo Massimo museum, which is part of the National museum consortium. This museum is a treasure trove of roman mosaic floors, frescoed walls from ancient Roman villas, Greek and Roman statues, and Roman coins. Their most important pieces were all on our "To See" list - the walls of the dining room of the the Emperor Augustus and his wife Livia, the statue of the Discus Thrower, the reclining statue of The Hermaphrodite (yes, you read right), the bronze statue of The Boxer, and the statue of Augustus. 

I had been to this museum before on a previous trip to Rome with Diane Bodwin, but I was still overwhelmed by the beauty of these objects and the skill of the artists, as were the others. David couldn't get over how beautifully preserved everything is. And we were all intrigued with the statue of the Hermaphrodite. He/She reclines on a couch in a twisted position so that when viewed from one side the viewer sees a breast and the beautiful curving back of a woman, but when viewed from the other side, one sees the genitals of a man. (The statue reminded me of a person who eats in our dining room, but you will have to watch the "QE2 Characters" space under Life Aboard for more information on that.) 

And I just love the statue of The Boxer - everything about the figure screams of exhaustion, from the body language to the look on the face. And when one walks into the room that is completely decorated with the frescoes taken from the house of Augustus and Livia, you can't help but feel a connection with this couple that lived centuries ago. The frescoes are incredibly beautiful, with birds flying in the sky and sitting in the branches of orange and lemon trees. I could imagine having my breakfast in such a room and being delighted every time I entered. 

We then decided to have a bit of lunch and a glass of wine at a small restaurant looking out onto the massive fountain of the Piazza della Republica. Our waiter was a very cheerful fellow who made conversation as he served us. When he asked where we came from, Sarah answered by pointing to herself and then each of us saying "Scotland, England, United States, and Canada". The waiter then responded by pointing to himself and saying "Egypt". We all laughed at that. 

We then decided to walk a few blocks after eating and strolled over to the Piazza Barberini to see the Triton fountain by Bernini, walked past the Palazzo Barberini which is now a very good art museum, and then entered our final destination, the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria. This church is famous for another of Bernini's works, the "Ecstasy of Saint Theresa". The scene takes place in a side chapel. Imagine that on two sides of the chapel, Bernini sculpted two balconies containing four men each who are all leaning over talking to each other or looking out to the central scene on the back wall which is a sculpture of a cupid holding a golden arrow which he has plunged into the breast of Saint Theresa who lolls back on a cloud with an expression on her face that can only be described as orgasmic! In describing this piece of art, one guide book author says "No wonder they call Rome the Eternal City - Saint Theresa has been in the throes of an orgasm for over 300 years!" What could I possibly add to that.

After that "moving" experience, the day was about done and we headed back to the station to catch our fast train back to Civitavecchia. Our carriage was hotter than Hades so we all promptly fell asleep, but woke up in time to get off about 35 minutes later at our stop. I made the mistake of mentioning that the last shuttle left from the dock gates to the ship at 6:00 pm but that we had 20 minutes to make it. And with that, Sarah was off like she had been shot from a cannon and we were all running behind in her wake, trying to keep up. Needless to say, we were back on the ship with about a half hour to spare before the "all aboard" call. 

After all that air and exercise, I think I was in bed by 10:30 that night and we have two more ports ahead of us before we get another relaxing day at sea. Tomorrow we arrive in Naples.