Rome - Day 86

Date: November 12th, 2009
Distance: None
Country: Italy
Song of the Day: Wheels - Foo Fighters

Today was actually kind of a boring day for being in Rome. My sightseeing partner Zoe had taken off to Barcelona, so it was just me. I first went over to the Victor Emmanuel monument. I had wanted to see Mamertine prison. When I got there though it was closed for repairs. So I climbed up to the Altare della Patria and then got lost trying to get out of the Victor Emmanuel monument.

From that point I headed over to see my buddy Giordano Bruno. There is a statue of him in Rome. He was a former catholic priest who was burned at the stake (in the same square where the statue now resides) for his beliefs. The most noted was his belief that the earth went around the sun. This is the reason he is often revered as a martyr for science. The history seems to indicate that he was executed more for his heretical beliefs, like the plurality of worlds and pantheism. He also believed that Jesus was created by God (made not begotten). That brings into doubt the idea of the holy trinity. My thoughts are that he is much more a martyr for free thought and expression. I am also glad that I have the freedom to think (and publish) all my crazy thoughts without having to fear being burned alive.

From there I headed over to Trastevere. I guess this used to be a seedy part of Rome. It still has the tiny streets, but didn't seem too seedy. It did seem a lot less touristy though. So that was a nice change. I walked along the Tiber up to the Vatican again. I wanted to send a post card. Then I headed back to the hostel. On the way I hit two more tour stops. The first was the Castle of St. Angelo. I guess it was origanally built as a tomb for Hadrian. Later it was rebuilt and served as a fortress for the pope. In fact there is still and above ground walkway that leads to it directly from the Vatican. I also saw the Spanish Steps. This one wasn't all that impressive. Or maybe I missed something. To me it looked like a staircase with hundreds of tourists crouded around.

Back at the hostle I just did some boring preparation stuff. Laundry was the first thing on my list. After that I spent most of the evening online trying to figure out my path. I think I am going to take two days going to Siena. After Siena I will head to Florence and spend two nights there. Then a day to go through Pisa and stay in Lucca. I really want to bike around their town walls. (I guess they were used as a car race track! So they must be pretty good.) After that I want to spend a couple of days going through the Cinque Terre. Then Genoa and back into France. Whew. I still think I can hit Spain by December. I may have to take a train if I want to make it to Morocco for Christmas. But that is cool. I am looking forward to getting to Africa.

-Dravis