Okay. Rome. Easter Monday. Enter the Four Musketeers: Phil, Mike, Courtney and Lizzie (that's me).
It's a bright and beautiful Easter Monday morning after all the nasty rain of Easter Sunday, and so the four of us rendezvous-ed at the Piazza di Risorgimento (the Piazza of My Misery, from Good Friday) to squeeze every last drop of touristing out of our time together before Courtney, then I, then Phil left Mike for our respective journeys either home or around Europe. Since Courtney and I had shared our hostel that night, we had a nice, easy morning of packing up and getting ready to go before dropping our bags at the front desk and heading out to meet Mike, then Phil (late as usual, but what else is new!?) :)
Since Courtney needed to depart for the airport much earlier than either Phil or myself, we decided that a quick espresso-and-pastry breakfast was in order before sending her off to Fiumicino Airport. After attempting to hit up Mike's favorite Roman bakery (closed for Easter Monday) and his other second-favorite Roman bakery (also closed for Easter Monday), we headed to MY favorite tourist-trap "Roman" bakery, the Blues Café, right near the hostel. This is where I bought six croissants and brought them to Easter Mass so we wouldn't starve. The women who run the place, needless to say, were excited to see me back.
A quick ode to espresso:
Italian espresso, how do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.
I love thee as an Americano watered down with lots of sugar.
I love thee as a frothy-delicious cappuccino with chocolate powder on top.
I love thee as a latté, though I can't tell the difference between a latté and cappuccino.
But I don't particularly love thee as a straight shot of pure espresso.
A bit too much horsepower for me.
Still, hopefully our love will grow.
You're perfect and have gotten me off my "chick-coffee" ways.
Hooray!
Right, now that that embarrassment is over and I've appropriately celebrated the yumminess and caffeinated goodness of Italian coffee, let's continue onto the part where Courtney bids us farewell to return safely to Toledo. Mike, Phil and I had decided that we wanted to go see the Castel Sant'Angelo, the Pope's castle, fortress and...well, that's pretty much it. As my beloved, very literary (bahaha) father knows, the Castel Sant'Angelo played a pivotal role in Dan Brown's masterpiece of meritorious American literature, "Angels and Demons." (That was sarcasm for any of you too thick to see that. Dan Brown, while fun to read, is not in any way meritorious.)
The Castel Sant'Angelo on our approach
We took a brisk walk through St. Peter's Square and along the Tiber until we reached the castle, which was beautifully devoid of lines. Note: the beating of lines has been a theme of my time in Rome, a theme I much appreciated. Win. We waltzed right in and immediately started up the big wide cool ramp that the Pope's soldiers apparently used to ride their horses up and down in times of military unrest. The castle was very dim and stony and cool, with lots of little trapdoors and chutes you could probably drop bodies down and dungeons that the Pope probably stuck his infidels in. Clearly we were seeking knowledge, and not at all being immature, silly, or giddy with ridiculousness. Because Phil, Mike and I take ourselves very seriously at all times. Of course.
My favorite guys being paragons of virtue and decorum, as always
On the first level of the castle was a series of rooms decorated by a Barberini pope, or, as I termed them, the Bumblebinis. Mike can appreciate my adoration. Very few others can. We got to see some very nice reliquaries, chalices, thingies used in religious affairs, and various other artifacts of Papal awesomeness. We also got to see some bad-ass armor. And the Pope's treasure room. I enjoyed it but was at this point a little sightseeing'ed-out, and was having way more fun just goofing around with two of my best friends. Mike, as usual, did an amazing job of explaining the significance of anything he could identify and knew things about, which made me feel like I wasn't being a total waste of oxygen and religious appreciation...and Phil just made me laugh a lot, which is always nice.
Mike and Phil with the Pope's balls. We had a fun, off-color joke-making time with that one.
We continued to make our way up the castle, which basically keeps spiraling up until you reach the top, crowned by the Archangel Michael. On the way, we learned about the restoration of the Papal apartments through an interactive touch-screen computer display that was intended for the ten-and-under crowd, and therefore (of course) amused me way more than it should have. We finally emerged on the top of the castle to an absolutely awesome view:
Overlooking the Vatican City with Phil and Mike. The Popes of old had a great view!
We spent a good amount of time up there in the windy wind enjoying the view and the company. You could see for miles, and I had fun trying to pick out the various monuments we'd visited and explored over the past few days...I could see the Coliseum, Pantheon, National Monument, part of the Forum, and the Royal Palace of Justice. It was nice to be able to spend a little time just hanging out and having fun with a few of my bff's, and it made me even more ready to be back on campus with ALL my favorite people, as much as I love the friends I've made in the London Program.
"okay guys, now SMOOSH!"
While the exploring of the castle was reallyreally fun, we decided to head out (laughing at how ridiculously long the line had gotten in the meantime) and go get some authentic Roman pizza and, of course, gelato before I had to head out. On our way out of the castle, we found this guy, who looked startlingly familiar...
Avada Kedavra!
Who knew Voldemort liked to hang out with the Popes?! We had a laugh at that one, then rocked and rolled off to a pizzeria Mike knew and liked.
In Rome, pizzas are cut with a scissors...pardon me, Phil, with a PAIR of scissors...and then served folded in half. I love it. I had super good four-cheese and tomato pizza and it was cheap, filling and delicious. Best part? I still had room for a triple-cone of Nutella, tiramisu and dark chocolate gelato at Millenium Gelato (best gelato in Rome, Old Bridge can suck it!) before saying goodbye to my favorite guys. I was more than a little sad to go. I may or may not have almost cried on the Metro. I may or may not have definitely cried a little bit on the Metro.
Okay, fine. I cried on the Metro.
Met up with Nicolle, Martin, Joey, Anne, and a few other Londoners to catch our bus to Ciampino, where it felt like we encountered about 1/3 of the London Program waiting to board our flight. I re-read "The Blind Side" for the fourth time this semester while we waited, and then we took our dinky little bus out to the plane and boarded. Flight was uneventful and beautiful...awesome scenery out the window.
somewhere over the French Alps.
All things said and done, Rome was the most perfect vacation I could possibly have contemplated. I would be hard-pressed to say that it was better than my spring break, but being with my best friends, enjoying amazing weather, drinking and eating great wine and food, celebrating Easter with the Pope, and having a general blast gave SB2010 a run for its money. The two trips are definitely tied :)
If we want to get to talking about favorite cities, now that's a different story. You can't tell Paris, because Paris always will have a special place in my heart, but Rome may have been my favorite. In fact, I'm pretty sure it is.
That's all for now. Time to go get another cup of tea and a Früsli bar before I keep catch-up going strong!
