Day 5, like I said yesterday today is Angels and Demons day and this is my penultimate Rome blog. I will warn you now that today has been a pretty busy day so standby for a blog and a half. For anybody that hasn't read the book, watched the film or both I will quickly outline the plot otherwise the whole of today won't make much sense. Before I do I must point out that i am more of a catholic than a historian, so please take my ramblings with a pinch of salt. If you stumble across this blog and intend to use any part of it for anything other than light hearted toilet reading please dont acknowledge me, i dont know what i am talking about. The main character in Dan Browns book is a symbologist named Robert Langdon, played by Tom Hanks in the films. In Angels and Demons Robert langdon is called to vatican city following the death of the pope. In addition 4 cardinals, the favourites to succeed the pope known as the Perferiti, have been kidnapped. At the large hadron collider in Geneva a canister containing anti matter, potentially more destructive than a nuclear blast, has been stolen and hidden somewhere inside vatican city. The ancient secret group, the Illuminati are claiming responsibility for all the events and are threatening to execute the four cardinals every hour starting at 8pm. At midnight the suspended antimatter, currently suspended in mid air, will collide with matter and destroy the whole of vatican city. How exciting!!! So the four cardinals are to be executed at four points along the mythical path of illumination and Robert Langdon is on a race against time to discover the four points and ultimately the location of the anti matter.
So thats the plot and my aim today is to visit the major sites from the book. The story starts in Geneva, can't really get there and it continues in vatican city. Now the sights in the book are spread across Rome and in order to the visit the sights in order requires some back tracking and numerous visits to the same site. At the vatican city Robert discusses the popes death and requests access to the vatican archives. I can not recreate the death of the pope without serious consequences and can't access the Vatican archives so have started my journey at the pantheon. This is where Robert believes the first clue left by Galileo is pointing, the tomb of Raphael. They then discover this is not the original tomb of Raphael and move on to Santa Maria del Popolo. Bollocks, inside the pantheon it quite clearly states that Raphael was moved to the pantheon immediately following his death. Up yours Dan Brown, to the Irish bar!!!!
Ok, so i knew that some of the book wasn't factually correct therefore i will continue on my journey to Santa Maria del Popolo. But mark my word Brown anymore bloody lies and vatican city can blow up whilst I'm gettting pissed. Fortunately Santa Maria del Popolo is back where I have just walked from so better get a move on.
Arrived at Santa Maria del Popolo and bloody typical mass it taking place and although I tried to explain to the guy in charge that I was on a bit of tight time schedule, apparently stopping mass for 10 minutes was out of the question. So I am sat in piazza del Popolo which is pretty impressive. For anyone who decides to come to Rome and visit the sights from Angels and Demons, if you arrive from the south Santa Maria del Popolo is in the far right hand corner of the piazza. In the centre of the piazza is the obelisk featured in the film. Now Mr Brown claims that these obelisks were erected as a big up yours to the church however, Rick Steves informs me the Romans erected the obelisks as a big up yours to the Egyptians after conquering the pharaohs, who knows??? They are pretty impressive and anyone who thinks garden gnomes are a bit tacky should consider erecting one in their garden. Hopefully mass should have finished now!!!
Mass had finished and again for anyone visiting the sites, as you enter the church the second chapel on your left is the one featured in Angels and Demons. Which is currently being renovated!!! Awesome, so i could see the entrance to the tomb where Robert found cardinal Ebner who had been asphixated by filling his mouth with soil. I forgot to mention that the four executions will have some connection to the primordial elements, earth, air, fire and water. The bodies are branded with a ambigram (reads the same either way up) of the element, in this case EARTH. But the Habakkuk and the Angel by Bernini which points to the next point on the path of illumination is covered up. Should I take this as a sign to go to the Irish bar??? Let's continue to the next stop, St peters square (that isn't a square) and if that is closed for renovation then Irish bar it is!!!
Back at St Peters square, which is still awesome, and work is currently underway to remove what I think was a nativity scene from in front of the obelisk in the centre of the piazza. This means you can't get close enough to really see the West Ponente tile featured in Angels and Demons. I swear I am not making this shit up, I may have to rename this blog to 'The most unsuccessful tour of the sights from Angels and Demons'. I can still see the tile just not well enough to take a decent picture. Anyway this is the scene where the second cardinal, cardinal Lamassé, has his lungs punctured, is branded with the ambigram AIR and is dumped in St Peters square. It is probably worth mentioning that the square is heaving with people as Conclave is taking place, this is where the cardinals are locked in the Sistine chapel to elect a new pope. In the story, not right now!! During Conclave the ballots are burnt and smoke rises through a chimney to the right of St Peters Bailica, black smoke indicates a majority vote was not achieved and white the catholic church has a new pope. I can see that chimney from where I am sat. Next up is Santa Maria della Vittoria, which is bloody miles away.
Quick stop at Maccie D's as the next stop is actually miles away, been walking for 50 minutes and not there yet. Only McDonalds in Italy serve real coffee, i love this place. This really is the best city in the world and anybody reading that hasn't been should really make the effort to come. You could easily spend a few weeks here and apparently domestic flights are really cheap so you could see easily get to some of the other sights Italy has to offer. A f'ing pidgin has just landed on the table next to me and started eating my chocolate muffin, cheeky get!!!
It's a good job I'm in Rome otherwise I would be seriously pissed off, it's now 1320, it has taken me an hour to walk here and even though I have walked past Santa Maria della Vitoria once today I wanted to do it in order and now it's closed!!! It closes from 12-1530 every day, oops! Well I don't have the time to wait around for it to open, so I'll tell you what happens here anyway. This is the setting for the most horrific part of the story where Robert finds cardinal Guidera being burned alive. He attempts to free him but to be honest just makes it worse. Cardinal Guidera dies and was branded with the ambigram CRISPY.......or FIRE!!! Next up is the Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Novano, this is just a fountain, so unless someone has drained it or devacated in it there is no way the next stop can go wrong.
No draining, no devacation just an awesome fountain, the Fountain of the Four Rivers is stupendous. It is in the middle of Piazza Novano, another Piazza that has never seen a square. This piazza by itself is breath taking, its enormous and opposite the fountain is the Sant'Agnese in Agone, a truly magnificent church (which is closed for the afternoon). The fountain is another work by Bernini. This is the setting for the final execution of the story and at last Robert has got his shit together and arrives just in time. Cardinal Baggia is tied to a weighted trolley and dumped in the fountain, branded with the ambigram BATH TIME.......crispy wasn't funny so I'm not sure why I tried again, the ambigram said WATER. Robert dives in after him and although he his too heavy to lift out, he finds an air pipe and uses is to keep the cardinal alive until help arrives. Robert saves the cardinal, yeah!!! Now I can't remember which facts are in the book and which are just in the film but there are a number of problems with this series of events. The first, there is a 2 foot high railing all the way round the fountain, the assassin could never have got the weighted trolley over it. And secondly there are no air pipes in the fountain, lies, lies, lies, bloody Dan Brown or Hollywood, whichever is to blame. So one out of the 4 cardinals has been saved now the small matter of the anti matter, see what I did, god I need a pint!!! The story continues in the Castle of the Angels or Castel Sant'Angelo, of we go.
Well I am at top of the Castel Sant'Angelo and this is the way to see Rome. You can see for miles and miles. The sun is shining and the views are truly amazing, I think I have used every word in my vocabulary to say wow throughout this blog but this is double wow. The view of St Peters Basilica from up here is unreal, get your arse to the top of Castel Sant'Angelo, do not die without seeing these views, you will be doing yourself a serious injustice. Oh yeah the story, so Robert finally comes face to face with the assassin who doesn't kill him and he discovers there is a fifth brand, who will the last victim be. Who cares the story sort of goes down hill from here, read the book or watch the film if your interested. I'm in Rome, Dan Brown tells lies and Robert Langdon should have saved all the cardinals. Only joking, a big part of the story now takes place inside the Vatican and I cant access these areas but I will finish my journey by returning to St peters square for the grand finalle. Unfortunately I have to take the road as I am not allowed in the Passetto di Borgo, the not so secret passage that leads from the Castel Sant'Angelo to the Papal apartment.
Back at St Peters square and its redders, need to get some deodorant before going to the irish bar, urgh!! So the story ends in St Peters square, I dont want to ruin the ending but i will say this much when I am sat in the Irish bar later I would be within the fictitious blast range of the fictitious anti matter bomb and I would still be sat enjoying a cold beer at the end of the story. What a day, highly recommended to anybody who has read the book or seen the film. Ok so its not all real but its made for an entertaining day, I'm not sure you could walk through all the sites in a day without being caught out by closing times but if you used public transport you could definitely achieve it. I have obviously missed out a few major sites, the Sistine chapel and St Peters basilica but i have already seen them and wouldn't have wanted to rush them in order to fit them in to the same day.
So thats Angels and Demons done, I have one more place to visit before hitting the Irish Bar, get in!!!!
Back at the trevi fountain, eventually, i got lost whilst talking to my youngest, Devon, on the phone. I have visited this place everyday since i arrived and I can't really explain why. It draws you in, don't get me wrong this hardly a serene place, there are hundreds of tourists making a right racket but if you concentrate on the sound of the water instead of the tourists, they're gone. I WILL visit Rome again, if only to visit the fountain. You can buy some really nice paintings of the fountain and i have looked at these many times for both myself and Mrs L but I don't think you can capture the fountain in a picture or a painting. Rick steves told me that an american had once stumped up $14 million to have the trevi fountain recreated in his garden. Apparently the project was a complete failure, so if $14 million can't get you a trevi fountain I don't think €10 will get you one.
And so the day ends in the Irish bar, a truly unforgettable day and I have enjoyed it a lot. I am feeling a bit sad that my time in Rome has ended so quickly but what a few days it has been, I am too interested in drinking to sum up my trip so will attempt to do that tmrw.
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