When in Rome...

We flew into Rome Saturday night on RyanAir, and sure enough, the third time really was the charm. We didn’t incur any unnecessary fees as we had so commonly done with every other RyanAir flight in the past. The flight went by quickly, and we arrived in a decent amount of time. Unfortunately, we had no idea where our hotel was or how we were going to get there once the plane landed. Through a series of bus and taxi rides, we made it to our single room Best Western haven. It wasn’t so much of a room as it was a giant closet, but it was home for four nights.

Our first day in Rome began in the Vatican, not to tour and see the many museums, but to partake in the greatest Easter celebration in the world. We arrived at the Vatican at about 9:30 and marveled at the exterior beauty of the plaza before the outside mass began at 10:30. It was so amazing and so moving to actually witness and participate (sort of) in a mass given by the Pope himself. There were chairs set up for the “designated” mass participants, who came ready with their little blue papal invitations, but there were hundreds and hundreds of other people standing on the outskirts of the plaza to gaze from afar, as we did. We watched Pope Benedict process in, in all his papal glory, and we thought that mass was going to be held inside with a live feed to screens outside. I was thrilled when he actually sat down at the altar prepared outside under the canopy, surrounded by tons of beautifully colored flowers. The mass was very interesting because the reading were done in different languages, so naturally I got really pumped when the second reading was in English. Holler! The Pope didn’t do a homily, which I found a bit odd, but this could have been for a number of reasons. After mass, we stuck around for the Pope’s Easter blessing from his window, which he recited in a number of different languages. Many priceless memories were made that morning.

After the heat, congestion, and length of our Vatican stay, we were ready for some Italian grub! We made our way to one of the many packed streets and found a little restaurant with a 10 euro “tourist special”: entrée, drink, and gelato. Mmm mmm good. After we dined outside in the sun with a cool Italian breeze, we moseyed through town with a brief stop to admire the Castel Sant’ Angelo, with a huge sculpture of the archangel Michael on top. We strolled along the canal and ended up at our first taste of ruins in Rome, the Campo Marzio, a circular shaped defense fortress used in ancient times. We also passed through one of the largest plazas in Rome, containing ancient buildings and some used for government purposes today. After that, we stopped in at the Triton Fountain on the way to the Spanish Steps. The fountain was beautiful, especially in the glistening light of the sun.

I didn’t know what to expect from the Steps, but they were beautiful! Extremely crowded, but beautiful. They were lined with huge pots of different types of flowers, and different people filled every open space on the stairs with their tired bodies. After the steps, we visited the gorgeous Trevi Fountain. The fountain is known for its massive size and beautiful waters. It is so beautiful, in fact, that one of our fellow student teachers got proposed to at the fountain. It is a very romantic place!

Our second day was set aside for touring ancient Roman structures. We thought it would be a good idea to start at the Colosseum to try to avoid long lines later in the day. Apparently, as we came to discover, there is no avoiding lines at ANY time during Easter weekend. Not only are there lines, there are Europeans and Asians in lines. Not to discriminate against entire groups of people, but Europeans and Asians are the pushiest people I have ever come in contact with! They don’t believe in lines, rather they just push (very forcefully) their way through any type of crowd. So I’m sure our wait was a bit longer than it needed to be since people kept pushing their way in front of us. The same was true for our lines everywhere in Italy, but I’ll only complain about it once…I promise!

The Colosseum was unbelievable, and it was just another place that was surreal that I was actually there. Steven and I got an audio guide to hear more about this massive place. It would have been amazing to see it as it originally stood, but people began tearing it apart for its useful stones and marble interior to use for the construction of other locations, including St. Peter’s. We took our time inside, making sure to enjoy it to the fullest before we left.

When we had heard enough stories about gladiators and stones, we crossed the street to reach the Palatino Hill, passing the largest arch in Rome, the Arch of Constantine. The hill was a haven for Roman ruins, including the ancient forum, house of the Vestals, and many temples for worshipping the Roman gods.

We passed by the Circus Maximus, not entirely realizing what it was until after the fact. Then we visited one of the Roman state buildings, containing on the front the tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Italian style). It was beautiful, and there were very strict rules about being respectful while around the tomb: no sitting, no smoking, no animals, no “indecent behavior,” etc.

Finally we made it to the Pantheon which was unfortunately closed because it was Easter Monday. Bummer. Very big bummer. It was lovely from the outside, though, and there was a half-centimeter wide crack in the door, which I could look through to see the interior. I’m sure the inside would have been just as gorgeous.

Our last stop before dinner was back to St. Peter’s, just to see it without the huge crowds around it. It was still crowded, only not as. We tried to make it to the Colosseum for the sunset, but we were a little late. Instead, we decided to have a nice little dinner outside at a restaurant right next to the arena. The food, wine, view, and company were all excellent. It was a perfect end to another wonderful day in Rome.

Our third and most exhausting day was devoted entirely to the Vatican. It took us the entire day to visit St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican museums, and the Sistine Chapel. We began at St. Peter’s to make the trek to the top of the dome for an amazing panoramic view of the city. The thing that I was most unprepared for with Rome was the size and dispersedness of it. You can see this with the view from St. Peter’s dome. With the exception of the Colosseum and Palatino Hill, nothing is close to anything else. It takes a great amount of walking or a train ride with some additional walking to get from any one place to the next. The Colosseum is so far from the Vatican that you can’t even see it from the top of the dome. That was quite unexpected.

The walk up (551 stairs) was not too bad and seemed to go rather fast. The most challenging portion was a stairwell with curved walls leaning to the right. This completely disoriented me and Steven, and I’m sure it would do the same to even the most stable person. The view from the top really reminds a person how much of a metropolis Rome really is.

The interior of St. Peter’s was unbelievable. I think they had a 15 foot statue of at least every pope and saint…ever. Every direction you turned there was another huge, elaborate statue of some important person in the history of the Church, and the size of each and every one was overwhelming. The large statues fit well inside the huge, open interior with the huge dome designed by Michelangelo. One of the most impressive features was the huge altar of St. Peter. It dates back to the time of Constantine, when he was so moved by the cross in the sky that he built a church, and more specifically an altar, directly above the remains of St. Peter. The church deteriorated and the present-day basilica of St. Peter’s was built, preserving the location of the original altar. Gazing at his altar is the statue of St. Peter, whose feet have been rubbed or kissed into non-existence by tourists. A ways down from St. Peter is the beautiful, though much smaller than I had imagined, Pieta. Apparently Michelangelo had designed the sculpture for a different location, to be viewed from the right side. Unfortunately, whoever was on interior decorating the day Pieta was put on display thought she would look better from straight on. The rest is history.

After a few hours in my favorite cathedral to date, we headed to the Sistine Chapel and other Vatican museums. There were probably over a thousand people in line for the museums when it first opened that morning. We saw a line that was about eight people wide that stretched a good distance around the Vatican. The museums were all very interesting but so crowded that we couldn’t even enjoy them…at all. I think there were more tour groups than other individuals total. It was really crazy inside. We paid for an audio tour, which I soon regretted because there were so many people that you couldn’t even hear the audio guide or see the numbers to match to the audio guide. It was kind of a letdown, but we were glad we went. All of the above holds true for the Sistine Chapel: It was shoulder-to-shoulder people in that little area with people pushing and shoving there way through. I am very glad that I got to see it, but I couldn’t even enjoy it.

I got dad a special souvenir from the Vatican and even had it blessed by a priest at St. Peter’s. I can’t wait to get it home and give it to him! Only about two weeks left!