When in Rome...

...be absolutely amazed!? I remember staring at the remains of an ancient Roman wall and saying, without even thinking, "This is an OLD city." I mean, it wasn't my proudest moment. Lana cracked up hysterically at the time, and still teases me about it. But Rome has that kind of effect on people. It just has so much history.

Ok, so most of the city is busy and loud and modern and metropolitan. And we did stay in what was essentially some guy's apartment that he turned into a "hostel." But around every corner in Rome would be a fountain, or a monument, or obelisk, or ruin, that would just remind me how much culture this city has. And how much excitement! It was a real city, bustling all the time (I remember getting accosted by some Australian guy on the street trying to persuade us to go on a bar crawl)!

Day 1: The Vatican

Well, given that I don't personally know the Pope, we didn't really get to go inside Vatican City. But we did see the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica. The museum was one of the best museums I've been in, rivaling the Louvre. They had so many ancient treasures that they put some of them in the basement, on the way to the bathrooms!! It was definitely worth the 2 hour wait outside.

The main attraction was of course the Sistine Chapel, and the entire museum led up to it. It was quite crowded, so we had to walk through the rooms in a line. They had beautiful statues, frescoes, paintings, tapestries, a whole room filled with maps...and some things I had never seen before, like early Christian art on tombstones. We all had a good laugh about how leaves were retroactively added on some of the naked statues to make them more "decent." We also saw the private chambers of the Renaissance popes, with Raphael's huge masterpiece "School of Athens" covering the walls. But after a few hours I could tell people were beginning to get antsy. By the time we got to the modern art, all we could think was, "Let's see the Sistine Chapel already!" And it was amazing when we did, although I got a serious neck ache from craning to see it all. It was darker than I expected inside, probably to preserve it. And despite the curator's pleas for silence, it was filled with people and so there was lots of talking. But I barely heard them. There was just so much more up on that ceiling than my eye could ever take in!

Afterwards, we hurried over to St. Peter's Square to try to beat the rain. The line for the basilica was much shorter, and we got in quickly, right while Mass was going on. At first I didn't realize that, though, since it was so big I couldn't see the altar or congregation! All I heard was the choir singing, and as I gazed up at the dome, and saw the rays of sunlight shining through the windows, I really, deeply felt the presence of God. And--I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it--I started crying. It's so hard to try to describe in words what came over me. As a Catholic, I think part of the reason I was so deeply affected was knowing that this church has been a place of pilgrimage for hundreds of years. I wasn't only there as a tourist, but as a pilgrim. I was standing in the largest church in the world, so large in fact that I got lost in it and had to work to find my friends! But I was glad for the time alone with God in that holy place.



Day 2: Even more ancient things

More queuing for the Colosseum--and in the freezing cold! Once we got in, I was a bit surprised how overgrown it was. I mean, I knew it was in ruins, but according to Brendan the upkeep hasn't been too good over the years. Still, I could imagine what it looked like in its heyday (thanks to the magic of Hollywood).



From there, we saw the Palatine Hill, which was lovely. The sun came out, and we explored the ruins of the emperor Augustus's palace and frolicked through the gardens and green grass. According to legend, this is also where Romulus founded the city.



Then we climbed down and saw the Roman Forum, which was cool even if I didn't know what everything was! One of the most striking ruins was the Temple of Saturn. Seeing the remains of what was once the greatest civilization on Earth...well, shows the limits of worldly power...



Day 3: More sightseeing, which I won't talk about since this post is already too long, and the Villa Borghese, which was a beautiful park and a nice get-away from the city, with a great view to boot.

Finally, before I left, I threw a coin over my shoulder into the Trevi Fountain...to ensure my return to Rome.