Week Eight: When in Rome (and Pompeii)!

We made it to Rome!

And were greeted by the funniest taxi driver ("Mama Mia!") and a downpour of rain.

First order of business: groceries!

The next morning, we got to see our new view. 😃

And got ready for church. We took a taxi and arrived in time to get situated. We are in one of the three wards here in Rome. This was the first time we felt like fish out of water, with most members not speaking English. We were so thankful for kind smiles and our interpreters!

We did pretty well singing as we sounded out the words in the hymn book.

It's always such a rich and wonderful experience going to church!

When we got home, we had dinner around the huge dining table (this Airbnb has so much space)! I snapped this picture of Norah because I thought she looked so beautiful.

Monday, we headed out! Our goals were the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps

The streets, buildings, everything feels larger than life, and out of a movie, it is hard to capture in photos.

The Pantheon. Again, pictures don't even give you a sense of how massive this building is.  It is not visible to the naked eye, but the entire structure of the Pantheon is a perfect sphere. The measurement of its height is equal to the diameter. Externally, it looks “bare” because the gilded bronze that covered the dome was removed in 655 by Emperor Constantine II. The only remains of the original bronze are found on the oculus and on the frame of the monument.

Front doors

King Agrippa built the original building between 25 and 27 BC as a temple dedicated to the Gods and the living Sovran. However, it is believed that the present building is the result of the radical reconstruction by Hadrian between 118 and 125 AD. The huge concrete dome is crowned by a central oculus, highlighting the incredible engineering skills of ancient Romans. In 609 AD, it was given to the Catholic Church by Emperor Phocas, who was the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople (born in Cappadocia, Turkey!). While the church left most of the exterior and interior marble decoration intact, they removed the pagan sculptures from the inside.

The Pantheon is known as one of the best-preserved Roman monuments and is called the most beautiful remnant of Roman antiquity.

Today it is a working Catholic church holding mass on Sundays.

It is also the final resting place of many kings and dignitaries. And one person that means a lot to us: The artist Raphael.

The words on his tomb say, "Here lies Raphael, by whom Nature feared to be outdone while he lived, and when he died, feared that she herself would die." He was deeply revered in his time and, of course, still is today.

After we were finished looking around, we stopped for a panini at a little shop nearby. And then headed to...

Random, ridiculously beautiful door on the way....

Trevi fountain! Oh my goodness, I tried so hard to capture its grandeur in photos, but I just couldn't. It was massive and so overwhelmingly beautiful! The fountain's name derives from the Latin word “trivium” which means three streets. For this reason, “Trevi Fountain” translates as “Three Street Fountain,” which explains the location of the fountain at the junction of three separate roads. But, Trevi Fountain would not exist if not for the Aqua Virgo aqueduct, which was built in 19 BC by Agrippa – the son-in-law of Augustus. Aqua Virgo was initially built to supply water to the Roman Baths in Ancient Rome, so the fountain was positioned at the very end of this aqueduct.

Standing under the arch at the center of Trevi Fountain, Oceanus and his chariot are being pulled by two sea horses. One is docile, and the other wild, which represents the moods of the sea.

To the left of the arch, Abundance holds a horn and stands over a toppled vase that lies at her feet.

To the right of the arch, Health wears a wreath crown and holds a cup in her hand, from which a snake is drinking.

One of two tritons in front of the sea horses, this triton is announcing the passage by blowing through a seashell.

I asked someone to take our picture so we could all be in a shot. He did a great job getting us but not so good at getting the fountain. Oh well, maybe this gives you an idea of the real size of it. I swear pictures make it look smaller than it is in real life.

Here's another shot. So much more symbolism that I didn't go into. If you're curious, here's a great place to learn more.

Next was our first real Italian gelato experience.

Oh my goodness! Gelato, where have you been all our lives? So yummy!

After gelato, we started heading back to the Metro but stopped at the Spanish steps on the way back, and some of us even got to see a couple get engaged right behind us! The steps have an interesting history, but you may know them best from the 1950s film "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck (one of my favorites)!

Then home to do school and work...

I made Italian pasta using fresh spaghetti (never dried, just refrigerated), pasta sauce (just tomato sauce with salt and mushrooms), and shaved parmesan. It was different, but everyone said they liked it.

The twins gave me a late-night concert.

The next morning, we headed back to the metro to go to a Leonardo DiVinci hands-on museum.

It was pretty cool to have time to learn more about his paintings, inventions, and genius.

Lots of models to try out and learn about.

They had copies of all of his paintings with an audio tour that explained the symbolism of each one - hopefully, good prep for seeing the real ones in Paris in a few months.

Then we had authentic Italian pizza. It was...fine. 😆 We've decided we like the American version better.

We rushed home so the twins could meet with their teacher, Mr. Lund, via Zoom. He was one of their beloved teachers at TVCA in Idaho and offered to keep working with them while we travel this year. I'm so thankful for all they are learning from their studies with him.

The next day was Valentine's Day - Valentine's Day in Rome! We only had a half day to really celebrate since Jeff still had to work in the afternoon and evening (he is the hero of this trip, just in case you forgot), so we decided to make it special by getting haircuts for the boys and a signature perfume scent for the girls. I did a little bit of research and found a bunch of positive reviews for Katia Cesetti, the store manager at Olfottorio Via Vittoria. I crossed my fingers that she was there, and to my delight, she was! Here, she is explaining all of the different scents to us.

She even gave us chocolate and because it was Valentine's Day after we picked our scents...

We each got to pick a flower that she made into a personal bouquet for each of us

Such a wonderful memory we will always cherish!

The boys coming back from their haircut. So handsome!

We ate lunch and then, of course, more gelato!

Gosh, I love this handsome Valentine of mine. It really was a perfect day.

We put all of our flowers together, and we've enjoyed this beautiful centerpiece all week.

That night, Maisy decided she wanted bangs. We watched a bunch of YouTube videos, and I felt sure I could do what she wanted. Here's Laurel trying to fix the job I did. 😏 Laurel cut some long bangs on herself, too. Both woke up the next morning with serious regrets.

 Luckily, there is a hair salon right downstairs in our apartment building, and we could get some help from the professionals!

Here they are. I think they turned out so great! We spent the rest of the day catching up on school and work.

Saturday was our long-awaited trip to Pompeii and Jeff and the kids' first official European train ride.

A quick shot of one of the pretty parts of our ride. I didn't get a picture of the citrus everywhere. It reminded me so much of my childhood in Mesa, Arizona, to see rows of citrus trees bursting with fruit in February. Also, we saw a lot of big apartment buildings with laundry hanging and graffiti everywhere.

We made it! Pompeii has been on my list of things to see before I die. The twins and I saw a traveling exhibit in Salt Lake City years ago that explained what had happened there and showed artifacts and the famous plaster bodies of men, women, children, and animals frozen in time. If you haven't heard of it, here's a quick explanation: "Pompeii, a flourishing resort city south of ancient Rome, was nestled along the coast of Italy in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, an active volcano. Its most famous eruption took place in the year 79 A.D. when it buried the city of Pompeii under a thick carpet of volcanic ash. The dust 'poured across the land' like a flood, one witness wrote, and shrouded the city in 'a darkness…like the black of closed and unlighted rooms.' Two thousand people died, and the city was abandoned for almost as many years. When a group of explorers rediscovered the site in 1748, they were surprised to find that beneath a thick layer of dust and debris, Pompeii was mostly intact. The buildings, artifacts, and skeletons left behind in the entombed city have taught us a lot about everyday life in the ancient world." source

Our first order of business was to get to the base of Mount Vesuvius so we could climb up and see it for ourselves. We paid for a big van to take us. It was like riding with one of the crazy cab drivers in Istanbul up a skinny, corkscrew road with music blaring and horns honking. I only feared for our lives about eight times.

We felt like we were in the Mountain West again. The weather was perfect, and the crisp air was clean!

The hike reminded me of when we hiked BYU's Y Mountain. Steep but doable. I was glad we did it in the morning hours.

Right at the crater of the still active volcano!

Its current activity is just sulfur-rich steam from vents at the bottom and walls of the crater. But it was pretty cool!

The other side looked out to modern-day Pompeii and the sea under clouds. We felt like we were on top of the world!

After climbing down and having a quick bite to eat, we headed to the ancient ruins of Pompeii.

Pompeii remained mostly untouched until 1748 when a group of explorers looking for ancient artifacts arrived in Campania and began to dig. They found that the ashes had acted as a marvelous preservative: Underneath all that dust, Pompeii was almost exactly as it had been almost 2,000 years before.

Later, archaeologists even uncovered jars of preserved fruit and loaves of bread. Most of the city’s buildings were intact, and everyday objects and household goods still littered the streets.

An over 2,000-year-old loaf of bread!

An outdoor gymnasium where men and boys trained and then took thermal baths and had massages daily. According to our guide, thermal baths and massages were available to everyone every day, from the most wealthy to the lowest of slaves. Bathing was a big part of the culture.

Next, we saw the amphitheater.

White plaster is still on the walls of the long hallway inside

Our guide told us they had signs like our stadiums today with sponsors. This is the name of a politician (they had elections every year) telling everyone that he sponsored this part of the building.

They had sliding doors. This is a shop. You can see where the sliders were

Sidewalks and even big rocks for people to keep their feet dry. You can see deep rivots in the rocks made by carriage wheels.

Murals everywhere

Steps leading up to a second floor. We learned that many of the second stories were destroyed in an earthquake that had happened years before the city was covered in ash (probably a precursor to the eruption).

A beautifully intact courtyard

And the most beautiful, well-preserved mosaics everywhere.

Pots filled with ash

Ovens

Plumbing. They even had a sewage system.

This is the plaster mold of a young woman. Bodies of men, women, children, and animals were frozen right where they’d fallen—many of the bodies uncovered later were still clutching valuable household objects they’d hoped to carry safely out of the city. Some bodies were found with their arms poignantly wrapped around children or other loved ones.

When the skin and tissues of these bodies eventually decayed, they left voids in the layer of ash around them in the exact shape of their final moments. It wasn’t until the 18th-century excavations that Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli came up with an idea for reconstructing the bodies. After discovering the air pockets that indicated the presence of human remains in a street dubbed “the Alley of Skeletons,” Fiorelli and his team decided to pour plaster into the voids. They let the plaster harden, then chipped away the outer layers of ash, leaving behind a cast of the victims at their time of death. These plaster outlines preserved the voids left by the bodies, giving a glimpse into the tragic destruction that took so many people at once.

I couldn't get over the details of their faces and the sandals and the draped clothing.

They had graffiti, too. They wrote and drew all kinds of things all over their walls. Side note: We later learned that Pompeii was also a prostitution hub (our guide asked if we wanted to see what I understood was a bath house...I realized later he was saying "brothel"). Let's just say we got some practice in averting our eyes from X-rated ancient murals.😳 After doing a bit of online research, I found this: "The truth of these Pompeii brothels and the prostitutes within was, in fact, harsh and quite heartbreaking. The majority of the sex workers within Pompeii were slaves who lived a harsh life until they were of no further use to the brothels. They were given only the basic essentials, with all the payments from their clients going to the brothel owners. It is suggested from the city’s remains that a large number of slaves were of Oriental or Greek origin, ripped from their families, and taken into the slave trade when Romans or traders invaded their land.

As well as not being paid, their living conditions and those in which they worked were depraved. The small, intimate rooms the brothels portrayed were, in reality, cramped and windowless cells inside which the workers spent the majority of their time. So small they could only contain one single stone bed, the rooms were far from comfortable. Confined to the premises, the workers rarely saw the outside world, being under complete control of the brothel owner at all times. By being completely closed off, the slaves had no other distractions from their work. Despite this cruel lifestyle, the workers were meant to put on a smiling face, with punishments if they misbehaved.

Lastly, although sex was an accepted and natural experience for the Pompeii men, prostitutes still lacked respect. Stigmatizing women that made them ineligible for any alternative and respectable work, committing them to the lower class of society." source

On a lighter note, we learned they had take-out restaurants, too (they've discovered over 200 of them)!

Details from a large bathhouse

Pompeii was known for its vineyards and rich soil for agriculture. It was a bustling hub for all things luxurious and delicious.

As we were leaving, Jeff noticed this wall and asked our guide about it. He told us that there were three bombs dropped on Pompeii during WWII. The restoration team wanted to show what was originally there and made a line distinguishing the original from what was reconstructed.

The sun was setting, and it was time to make our two and a half hour train ride home.

The sun and sea gave us a beautiful show as we neared Naples. What a day! What a week!

Until next time, love to all of you!