WOW, so I haven’t written for over a week…call it a combination of blogger’s block, extreme exhaustion, and a week that was particularly hectic and stressful for a multitude of reasons. Suffice it to say you can expect an absolute blitz of bloggy catch-up here, so stay tuned for the next few days before I head off for Austrian adventures!
Two weekends ago (geez, time flies) as I mentioned, I was in Venice and ROMA for Easter weekend. To get to Rome, I had to take the night train from Venice…departed at 11:30 pm, arrived at 6:30 am. I was supposed to have a private 4-person sleeper car with three other women…instead I got stuck in with three drunk, crazy Greek guys who kept trying to get me drunk off Limoncello. Needless to say, I didn’t exactly sleep much. Haha. At the time it wasn’t funny but the further I get from the situation the more humorous it seems :)
I got to Rome absolutely exhausted at 6:30am and took the Metro (I love public transit!) to Ottaviano, my stop. As I was completely worn out, tired of being alone, and a little frazzled, I went to try to go find my hostel…and couldn’t find it. I found the building it was in, but it was not listed on the buzzer panel on the left side of the door. I flipped out and went to sit in the Piazza di Risorgimento, right across the street. So I spent the next half hour there on a bench under a big statue of a horse, looking at the Vatican (I could see St. Peter’s from my hostel, nbd) and trying to decide if I wanted to burst into tears or not. I texted everybody I could think of who was in Rome and was like “HELP! I am tired and alone and lost and I WANT TO GO TO BED!” but at 7am, of course nobody responded. So I went to find a little café where I had a 1-euro espresso and cried/whined to the proprietor, an awesome old man, for like an hour. I was all, “Sono solo, sono perduto, sono triste” and he was all, “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” before he finally told me that my hostel was in the building I thought it was in, but the buzzer was on the right side of the door. I was effusively grateful, found the hostel, grabbed a bed and absolutely CRASHED until noon. Mmmmmm sleep.
I can’t even begin to describe the happiness of going to the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which is the real seat of the Pope, and being reunited with Mike and Phil…it was absolutely the best feeling ever, especially after 36 hours of total solitude. We (along with Courtney) decided we were way too cool for the guided ND tour, complete with hordes of London-Programers and a giant ND flag, so Mike took us on our own guided tour! We saw St. John Lateran, where the skulls of St. Peter and Paul are, then walked over to the Scala Sancta, or Holy Steps…the stairs that Jesus ascended on the way to be judged and condemned by Pilate. Most pilgrims go up them on their knees, but as it was Holy Week we walked up the side staircase on foot instead of waiting in the insanely long line. Then we headed over to another church whose name I am forgetting at the moment, to see the Passion Relics…only it was closed for Mass. Boo.
Basilica of St. John Lateran--so beautiful!
Instead of doing that, we took the Metro in the general direction of the Vatican, and got the BEST. GELATO. EVER. at Millennium Gelato, Mike’s favorite place, and decided to try to see the Vatican Museum. Usually, the line to get in to the museum (which includes the “School of Athens,” “Laocoon and Sons,” my sister’s favorite sculpture ever, and the Sistine Chapel) wraps around two or three sides of the Vatican walls…so it was absolutely amazing that we literally walked up to the door around 3pm and walked right into the museum. YES win #1 for Team Bandies.
Coconut and mango gelato at Millennium Gelato. YUM.
The Vatican Museum was absolutely unbelievable…we’re talking phenomenal ceilings in every room (I think I have a thing for ceilings, judging by the number of pictures of them that I take)…mindblowingly large collections of sculpture just lined up in these amazing rooms…baptismal fonts, Papal rings, chalices, reliquaries and other Catholic equipment…and the artwork. Aaaaah. The only thing I disliked is that you literally HAVE to go through a million-and-two different galleries before you can get to the Sistine Chapel…and some of those galleries were really odd, like “Modern Art of the Church” which was NOT my cup of tea. It was so worth it in the end though.
The four bandies outside the Vatican Museums. St. Peter's in the background...
The Sistine Chapel was indescribable. I know the ceiling gets all the credit, but the walls and the window vaults are similarly incredible. One side of window vaults tells the story of Moses, and the other tells the Passion, while the wall at the end shows the Final Judgment, with Jesus surrounded by every saint at the time it was painted…utterly mind-blowing. It was insanely crowded with tourists, and the guards kept yelling “Silence!! NO PHOTOS!” which sort of detracted from the reverent, respectful atmosphere they were trying to create. Oh, Italians. :) I still snuck a few photos….shh, don’t turn me in to the Swiss Guard!
The Sistine Chapel...illegally taken. Look at that crowd!
After the Vatican Museum, we bought some pasta sauce and noodles at a supermarket and went back to Mike’s apartment to cook up some dinner before Stations of the Cross at the Coliseum that night. It was great to just catch up with Mike, Phil and Courtney…bandies, I miss you ALL so much. We then headed over to the Coliseum, obscenely late to meet the giant ND group. So we didn’t. :) This quickly became a theme of the weekend! Instead we took a brief whirlwind walk-past of the Roman Forum and the National Monument on our way over to the Coliseum.
The crush of humanity at the Coliseum was overwhelming…there were SO many people there, waiting to see the Pope and hear Stations. We jammed in behind some really funny German tourists and settled in to wait for about an hour and a half. It was so worth it though, as I got to see the Pope!!!
Pope Benedict XVI leading Stations of the Cross
Benedict XVI in the flesh! I know it probably sounds sacrilegious but he is utterly adorable in the cutest old-man way. I just want to hug him, except that’s probably a sin. He presided over Stations (if that’s what you call it) and the crowd went wild for him. Stations, overall, felt more like a circus than a reverent pageant, which was kind of odd…but I enjoyed it, especially picking up fragments of the Our Father in Latin and remembering it in French. Mike also really enhanced the experience for me by translating bits of each station, which were read in Italian.
After it ended, we all split off to head home…leaving Phil at Largo d’Argentina to catch his tram, Mike, Courtney and I walked to a Metro stop, stopping at the Trevi Fountain along the way!! It was just as gorgeous as it is in every movie I’ve ever seen it in…although much more crowded. We skipped tossing coins in for the time being…
Soon I was home, tucked in bed and absolutely zonked out. It felt soooo good to sleep. Happily, our Roman adventures had just begun!
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