I FINALLY WENT TO ROME.
May 15th
We started off by me waking up at 7 and my host mom knocking on my door at 7:05 asking if I was ready because we had to go. Always behind schedule, right on schedule. We picked up Vincent (Hong Kong) and his host mom Paola (the lady who organized the whole trip) at their house and then went to the airport, where all of us would eventually meet in a group. The whole procedure of the Catania airport has no interest or value so I'll just skip to the good part.
Since we all bought separate tickets we were spread throughout the plane, and I got a window seat on the right side. I was next to a Catanese couple that were very friendly, and we talked off and on through the trip of around and hour. On the plane, I actually saw Mount Vesuvius and the sixth grade me died a little. Spoiler alert: IT'S REALLY FREAKING SMALL FOR THE AMOUNT OF SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE IT DID.
Upon landing in Rome I got separated from the group at the airport and had to wait for all of them to get off the plane. We only were in Rome for three days so the terrible baggage claim was avoided (thank sweet Jesus) and we caught a train into the center city terminal. To get to the train station (connected to the airport), we had to walk the same exact path that we walked on our first day in Italy. It was the weirdest feeling ever. I wanted to die standing RIGHT THERE!
Since we're Sicilians we missed the first train and had to wait for the next one that came 15 minutes later.
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Upon arriving at the train station, we had to take the metro to our apartment, which was outside of Rome but still close enough to reach with the metro. We exited the terminal and found our hotel, settled in, ran to the grocery store to buy some crappy deli meats and bread for a makeshift lunch, and we exited quickly to go to the Catacombs of Priscilla.
These Catacombs Paola had seen as a kid and she wanted to go back to see them again, and you know....none of us were really excited because they're like....catacombs. But they turned out to be really awesome. We walked there (only like 3/4 of a mile) and we split into two different groups: some went in an English speaking group because there was a group of Indian nuns that spoke only English, and then me, Andrea (Paraguay), Mook (Thailand), Maria (other AFS volunteer) and Paola stuck behind and took the Italian tour. The tourguide had a heavy Roman accent and spoke at the speed of light, so it was harder to understand than a normal tour. I wasn't allowed to take pictures and with such a small group I didn't want to chance getting yelled at. But they were built in the 2-5 centuries BC and used by the Roman Christians because they weren't allowed to be buried above ground. All the lighting was by oil lamps, there were tombs for all types: family tombs, child tombs, infant tombs, adult tombs, closed tombs, open tombs, buy-one-get-one-free tombs (okay maybe not) but it was HUGE. And since they just took dead bodies and stuck them on shelves to rot away, there were holes in the walls for flowers or incense to fight off the rancid smell that you could only imagine came from the catacombs.
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After the catacombs a little after 5, we decided to take the metro into the city to see the Trevi Fountain and some of the plazas that Rome has to offer. The metro closest to the Trevi Fountain was a little hike through some tourist trap streets, and once we approached the corner of it I told Grace (Australia) and Roosa (Finland) (since they had already been to the Trevi) that I was going to close my eyes and they should steer me so I will open my eyes and it will just be RIGHT THERE. So I did, and it was the coolest moment ever.
When I saw both the Duomo di Milano and the Colusseum I had to walk up to them and it wasn't nearly as much of a shock cause I was able to adjust to it mentally. But when you see something for the first time that you've dreamed of seeing for EVER, you gotta do it right. And it's an amazing feeling to just get hit with this "holy crap I'm here" feeling all at once. Now that's what dreams are made of.
We ate at a half decent restaurant and visited Piazza di Spagna for about 10 seconds, returned to the Trevi at night, and went back to the house at midnight.
May 16th
We woke up at 7:30 to get ready and left around 9ish if I remember correctly to go to the Vatican. The Vatican is on the other side of the Tiber River, a long enough hike with the metro. We got to the Vatican Museums first, where there was a line that stretched a couple of blocks down the street. We waited for about a half an hour or so to get in, and then we flew to the beginning of the Museums. There was a constant flow of people through the Museums because it was set on a track, not in a building, which led to the Sistine Chapel. We chose the long track because you're not gonna come to the Vatican and not see everything. It was spectacular and this ended up being my favorite day in Rome (for many reasons to follow).
Il Discobolo, which I studied in art history and had a mini heart attack when I saw it.
Hall of Geography.
Sicily as viewed from Rome. Interesting because there is the volcanic island called Vulcano in the Aeolian Islands that is no longer active, but at the time this was painted it was active. Ah, history.
One of the rooms of Raffaele
Take a guess at what this is! (We all coughed to cover up each other's camera clicks because taking these photos is prohibited)
After exiting the Vatican Museums, we went to Saint Peter's Basilica. The line stretched 3/4 of the way around the circle thing, because you have to go through a metal detector to get into the cathedral (thank you 9/11). It only took 15 minutes to get there, however. Then, we spent 3 hours in the cathedral itself. We went up to where you could go to the top of the dome, and then we went down to the crypt of all the past popes and I was able to witness the crypt of the first pope and apostle (if you already know this good for you), Peter, as in Pietro, as in San Pietro. Awesome? Yeah I know.
View from the roof
these are Jesus and his 12 apostles, each of which have a plaque on the back with their name. (roof of San Peter's)
After our popetacular visit to Popeland, we grabbed some dinner at a touristic restaurant and decided to visit the Colusseum at night. I was peeing my pants the whole bus ride there, and my jaw literally dropped when I saw it from Piazza Venezia. I walked with Grace and Roosa VERY QUICKLY towards it, kind of ditching the group but I HAD MY OBLIGATIONS, PEOPLE.
On the way I just kept on shrieking and swearing in two languages about it's the freakin' Colusseum! I'm staring at the Colusseum! I've only dreamed about this since I wa-OH MY GOD THAT'S THE ROMAN FORUM RIGHT THERE. And so on.
I may have just been a teeny tiny bit excited.
Roosa, Grace and I got so "in the moment" that we literally dropped to the ground and just looked up at the Colusseum, using our purses as pillows. And of course I took a selfie.
May 17th
This was our last day in Rome. We headed off to tour the Colusseum first thing in the morning (after dropping our bags off at the train station for later), and then visited the Roman Forum before lunch.
So....this may or may not have been where they burned Julius Caesar's corpse.....(hint...it was.)
When we took this, we heard a British woman mutter to her friend.....
Christian tourists.
Nearing the end of our final day, we finished at the Pantheon, where Mook met up with her BIOLOGICAL family (well, her father, sister, and grandmother), which was the sweetest thing ever. The dad and sister spoke english, but the grandmother didn't speak anything, and I am telling you, I want an Asian grandmother. Cutest thing I have ever seen.
There is a hole in the ceiling for sunlight to come through, but astonishingly, when it rains, it doesn't enter?!?!11?
At the very end, Roosa, Grace, Marie and I went for a little bit of shopping and then we went back to the train station. This entry "broke my balls" writing and uploading every painfully slow picture. Hope you enjoyed it and I'll catch you on the flipside with a potentially depressing post about going home! Probably!
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