Rome Day Two- Day 67 Sunday, March 14th 2010
Today we woke up pretty early- around 8:00, and tooks showers and ate breakfast. The typical European breakfast: croissants, toast and jam, cereal, coffee or juice, bread, and gross snack foods to start off your day. We checked out and took the metro to the Vatican museum. We got to St. Peters shortly before mass started at 10:30. We sat in the back right next to the portico in the crossing of the church. Mass was quite an experience- even though it was in Italian and we couldn’t understand it, it was really cool to go up for communion and see all the priests and servers in attendance. After mass we walked around St. Peters some more and went outside where we saw the Pope from his apartment window! He gave some blessings and prayers- he even spoke in English for a little! I got a video of the entire thing- which lasted jst short of 20 minutes. After the pope talked we went back in the long security line for St. Peters and went up the dome. The wait to go up the dome was probably longer than it needed to be, but it was worth it by far. It cost 5 euros to walk up the entire way- some 580 steps to the top of St. Peters. This is the one thing I wanted to make sure I did on this time around to Rome, because I wasn’t able to do it when I went with the school about a month ago. The view was awesome- you could literally see all of Rome. We were up there for a good 20-30 minutes before we ventured back down to the nave below. On the roof of St. Peters there are shops and a place to eat, even bathrooms which was a surprise for me. The shop was closed however. When we finally got down to the ground level we found a small souvenir shop by the sacristy and my mom bought a couple of rosaries and I bought a jar to fill with holy water from St. Peters.
After St. Peters and the Vatican we walked to the Pantheon- which is probably all we had time for before the train left for Florence at 4:30. We got lunch at a small store on the way- some paninis and pop, and stopped at Piazza Nuova to eat lunch. My mom loved the piazza- mostly for its public atmosphere. Artists and musicians filled the piazza with their talent- paintings and drawings we on sale everywhere you went. After lunch we walked to the Pantheon- which is yet another architectural monument I had to explain. I showed my parents Raphaels tomb and the oculus of the dome. We watched a musician (who wasn’t very good). In fact, we saw a lot of talent this weekend. Walking back from the Roman Forum yesterday I encountered a Michael Jackson imitator- who was very good. I got a video of him and got a picture with him. We saw a couple street dancers- hip hop and even a ballet dancer outside of a church we went into for a little while. Their my mom talked to a priest who blessed her rosary and told her he would dedicate a mass to Brittany- what an awesome encounter!! We walked past some big design clothing stores and went to the Spanish steps- which were packed!! Then we grabbed some Gelato and bought a pair of shoes from a store called ‘Da Vinci’. We got on a metro to the train station and boarded the train to Florence in the nick of time- the train literally left 5 minutes after we got on it! My parents were wondering why I was walking so fast and that is why- we would’ve missed the train if we didn’t- and I know how bad that sucks if that happens. Fore it happened with Amalfi Cost- and I didn’t get back to Florence until the next day at 11… good thing that didn’t happen again.
On the train ride home my mom met a group of American students studying in Florence whom she planned a trip to Cinque Terre with. She got their numbers and info, and insisted that I talk to them- which I did when she almost forced me to talk to them! The one girl lived in Florence for almost a year, but everyone else would only be their for a week or so. Perhaps that is more interesting than the fact that I finally finished ‘The Lost Symbol’- which I have been reading since last semester. But no, that’s too ‘nerdy’ for my mom. Haha! We got back to Florence around 8:45 and took my parents back to their room.
Rome for the second time was definitely worth it. I got to go to the top of St. Peters, have mass at St. Peters, see the pope, and buy shoes for my birthday gift. It was definitely cool being the tour guide in Rome. I was surprised by how much I knew and how much I didn’t know. It made me wished I paid just a little more attention in class.. cause sometimes it means a little more than just showing up on an exam. I felt a lot more rushed than I did the first go-around, but im glad my parents got to see most of the famous monuments in Rome. No, we didn’t get to go inside the Coliseum and we didn’t see any modern architecture, but we did stay in a sweet hotel and have some great food. Im sure this is an experience they’ll never forget!
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