Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Arrival in Rome (2006)
When I first told Zachary about the possibility of heading to Rome for Christmas, here's the conversation that followed:
Fortunately, by the time we packed up and moved out for our trip, he didn’t think it was torture. I think he just needed time to get used to the idea of being away from home over Christmas.
We arrived in Rome the evening of Dec. 23 and checked into our hotel. The next day, we ventured out into the city. Our first stop was to the Bocca della Verità -- the Mouth of Truth -- in the portico of the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. This strange river god has been there since 1632, but is believed to have been part of a Roman fountain or even a 4th century drain cover. In any case, it’s been serving as a lie detector since the Middle Ages. It was believed that if you told a lie with your hand in its mouth, your hand would be bitten off.
One of the most famous scenes in the movie “Roman Holiday” is when Gregory Peck puts his hand into the mouth. In the film, when he pulls his hand out it is missing, causing Audrey Hepburn (as Anya Smith) to scream. He then pops his hand out of his sleeve and laughs. Hepburn's shriek was not acting -- Peck decided to pull a gag he had once seen Red Skelton do, and didn’t tell Hepburn beforehand.
Fortunately, MacKenzie is an honest person and still has both hands firmly attached. And none of the kids pulled Gregory Peck's missing hand stunt.
This fountain was just across the street from the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. I like how it seems to be holding up the pine trees behind it. I really liked these pine trees -- they aren’t anything like the pine trees that we have in South Georgia!
Below are more Umbrella Pine Trees (or Stone Pines) with remains of the Imperial Palace on Palatine Hill behind them. These palaces are where ancient Rome began.
A short distance up a hill from there is the Palace of the Maltese Knights. I took this photo looking through a keyhole in a door there. What you can’t see is Saint Peter’s Basilica on the horizon, between the hedges. It was a beautiful view that I wasn't able to capture with my camera!
From there we went to the nearby Orange Garden where we had another beautiful view of the city.
Of course, Benjamin had to lay on the wall to get a better look of the city below...and the street directly below!
The photo below shows the garden with more umbrella trees. The garden was also full of orange and lemon trees.
Benjamin was more intrigued with walking on the railings in the garden than with anything else. He’d definitely have a shot at a junior tightrope walker in a circus with the way he enjoys balancing on railings and curbs!
Above is a closeup of Saint Peter’s Basilica, and at left is the back of the Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II (king of Italy from 1861-1878), both taken from the Orange Garden.
Bonus trivia: Rome was founded on April 21, 753 B.C. -- which makes the city almost 2,761 years old!
Zachary: “Mommy, you like to travel. Me, I'm a homebody. I like to stay home and don't like to travel.”
Me: “But since I like to travel, guess what that means for you.”
Zachary (while rolling his eyes): “That you're going to torture me and drag me with you.”
Fortunately, by the time we packed up and moved out for our trip, he didn’t think it was torture. I think he just needed time to get used to the idea of being away from home over Christmas.
We arrived in Rome the evening of Dec. 23 and checked into our hotel. The next day, we ventured out into the city. Our first stop was to the Bocca della Verità -- the Mouth of Truth -- in the portico of the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. This strange river god has been there since 1632, but is believed to have been part of a Roman fountain or even a 4th century drain cover. In any case, it’s been serving as a lie detector since the Middle Ages. It was believed that if you told a lie with your hand in its mouth, your hand would be bitten off.One of the most famous scenes in the movie “Roman Holiday” is when Gregory Peck puts his hand into the mouth. In the film, when he pulls his hand out it is missing, causing Audrey Hepburn (as Anya Smith) to scream. He then pops his hand out of his sleeve and laughs. Hepburn's shriek was not acting -- Peck decided to pull a gag he had once seen Red Skelton do, and didn’t tell Hepburn beforehand.
Fortunately, MacKenzie is an honest person and still has both hands firmly attached. And none of the kids pulled Gregory Peck's missing hand stunt.This fountain was just across the street from the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. I like how it seems to be holding up the pine trees behind it. I really liked these pine trees -- they aren’t anything like the pine trees that we have in South Georgia!
Below are more Umbrella Pine Trees (or Stone Pines) with remains of the Imperial Palace on Palatine Hill behind them. These palaces are where ancient Rome began.
A short distance up a hill from there is the Palace of the Maltese Knights. I took this photo looking through a keyhole in a door there. What you can’t see is Saint Peter’s Basilica on the horizon, between the hedges. It was a beautiful view that I wasn't able to capture with my camera!From there we went to the nearby Orange Garden where we had another beautiful view of the city.
Of course, Benjamin had to lay on the wall to get a better look of the city below...and the street directly below!The photo below shows the garden with more umbrella trees. The garden was also full of orange and lemon trees.
Benjamin was more intrigued with walking on the railings in the garden than with anything else. He’d definitely have a shot at a junior tightrope walker in a circus with the way he enjoys balancing on railings and curbs!
Above is a closeup of Saint Peter’s Basilica, and at left is the back of the Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II (king of Italy from 1861-1878), both taken from the Orange Garden.Bonus trivia: Rome was founded on April 21, 753 B.C. -- which makes the city almost 2,761 years old!
Labels: Benjamin, Italy, MacKenzie, Travel, Zachary
