Rome Doesn't Suck After All

Well, this was our last day of Spring Break which was a little sad but also kind of good. It's hard not always knowing exactly where you are staying the next night or whatever. Plus, traveling is incredibly stressful (worth the stress but still). Anyway, we were staying at a hostel called David's Flats on Thursday night. The sleep was ok. I was exhausted to I slept well. I woke up at 7:30 or 8ish. I took a shower. It wasn't all that pleasant. There was hot water and it was a shower which was better than not taking one but the drain didn't really work which was just kind of disgusting. Plus the floor had puddles on it from other people and the rug in there was soaking wet which felt funny walking on. But I showered and felt much better in the end. We packed up and left our bags there for the day. We got some coupon things from the hostel for a free breakfast at some place. We went there and the breakfast was orange juice and a croissant (typical Italian breakfast really). I thought it was delicious but Vanessa was not happy about it. I think she wanted fruit or yogurt or something. So I ate her croissant and then we found a cafe where she bought some yogurt.

Our first stop was a church called St. Peter's-in-Chains. The Church was constructed to hold the chains that were used on St. Peter when he was held captive before he was killed. The chains are now located inside the altar with a glass case so you can see them (picture 1). Pretty crazy looking at the chains that held St. Peter 2000 years ago. Also in the church is a famous statue by Michelangelo called Moses (middle of picture 2). He worked on it off and on for about 20 years. He was commissioned to make a big tomb for Pope Julius II and it was going to go in the middle of the new St. Peter's Basilica. He died and the money ran out and no one really wanted to do anything about it so all that's left is the statue of Moses and two other unfinished statues by Michelangelo. I really liked the statue and thought it showed Moses as being kind of powerful and autroatative, I guess like I imagine him to be.

area, they sometimes flooded the area and had mock sea battles. They would also have ceremonies and processions there. They had animal hunts andThe reason this church was our first stop was because it was open early and because it was on the way to the Colosseum, our real destination. The Colosseum was called the Flavian Amphitheater back in the day because the two emperors it was built under had the family name of Flavius. The name Colosseum was started because th emperor Nero in front of it. The main purpose of the Colosseum, as most people know, was for gladiatorial competitions but it was used for other things as well. Before the underground passages on the main executions in it as well. Even nowadays, on Good Friday, the Pope leads a procession to it. It has been destroyed quite a bit by stone robbers and earthquakes but considering it was built in 72 AD, there is still alot left. I was really impressed. The outside of the stadium has the three types of ancient columns.ere used to be a colossal statue of the It could hold a maximum of 50,000 people. There were different seats for each class of people (the richer you are, the closer you are, just like in today's stadiums). The underground passages were built so that the organizers of the events could move animals and people around below, leaving the person abovve clueless as to where they will come from (like when the tigers come out in Gladiator). Very ingenious.

So Vanessa and I walked around the outside of it a little bit to get to the entrance (picture 3). It costs about 10 euros to enter. Totally worth it. We walked around the ground floor. The morning light casted a very nice look over the whole thing (picture 4 with underground passages on the bottom left, there is no floor now). There weren't that many people there when we first entered. We moved up to the upper level and walked around some more (me from the top level picture 5). There is an elevator inside which I thought looked very out of place (which it is). It was really cool reading in my book about the Colosseum and then looking at it. I tried hard to imagine it with 50,000 people all cheering the death of someone down below. Kind of hard to do. As we were walking around, these fake gladiator guys were getting into an argument below us (picture 6). There was a stage thing in front of the Colosseum and one guy was standing on it (apparently waiting for people to want to get their picture with him). Another guy came up and starting arguing with this guy and eventually was literally pushing him. The guy wouldn't budge really but eventually did leave. It seemed to me that the guy who came up had "called it" and this other guy just went up. Anyway, a weird situation involving guys in fake Roman costumes.

When you buy a ticket for the Colosseum, you also get access to the Palatine Hill which is above the Forum. We left the Colosseum (picture 7) and walked over to it. It's where the Emperors had their palaces. Mostly just ruins or not even really ruins, some rocks and stuff (picture 8). The whole thing is basically a garden which was really pleasant to walk around. It was also hard to know exactly what you are looking at because throughout the years, emperors built on top of other buildings and torn down other buildings so there's just a jumble of walls and gardens and ruins. We just sat in the sun for a while because it felt so good. Then we walked around and saw one of the private stadiums for the Emperor. We also saw where there used to be a huge fountain. We walked to a place that overlooked the Circus Maximus. The Circus Maximus was a giant track where they would have horse races and foot races. It could hold about 50,000 people as well. It is completely gone now though, all that remains is a worn down circle in a hole that outlines where the track used to be. People can walk on it and stuff.

While we were overlooking the Circus Maximus, a guy was talking to a group of students our age about it and just about the whole area in general. He had a REALLY good voice. Vanessa and I stood there and listened to him talk for a long time. He was really eloquent and smart and, as I said, his voice was so good. I was sad when they all left. We walked around some more and saw where they think they found Romulus's, the guy who founded Rome, house. I find that kind of dubious but what do I know. We continued walking around and got our picture taken by some people from Boston (picture 9 with Colosseum in the background and Forum to the left). They were nice. We had to walk back out through the Forum and it was much better in the sunlight. In the clouds, it seemed really old and depressing. The sunlight made it much more alive and it made the colors of the rocks stand out more.

We headed over to the Tiber River and crossed it at the Island of St. Bartholomew. In Angels and Demons, this is the island where Robert Langdon washes up after falling from the sky. Legend has it that the island has special healing powers. A hostpital is located on the island because of that. There is also the church of St. Bartholomew. I went inside and it was nice. Smaller type church but the columns were really cool. Vanessa wanted to go some place for lunch but it was a 30 minute walk away. We walked it anyway. It turns out that that place was only open for dinner but there was a pizza place across the way that we went to. The pizza was delicious and ridiculously cheap. We walked through the neighborhood of Trestaverde. Not much to say about it.

Our destination was a were on. There were more viewpiazza up on a hill that overlooks Rome, just like the Piazza Michelangelo in Florence. We walked along a tree lined road up and up and up. We passed by a church with a little Oratorio in the middle of it which I thought was cool. While I explored it, Vanessa laid out on the grass across the street (picture 10). We walked on and up to the square. The views were ok but nothing like the ones in Florence (picture 11). Because of the height requirements (lower than St. Peter's) everything is about the same height and it was hard to see the important buildings. The road kept going along the top of the hill wes along the way. Vanessa saw a house on the other side of the hill that she said she wanted to live in. It was surrounded by trees and looked very Italian. The road eventually went down and ended at St. Peter's Basilica. We went back there for the daily mass that happens at 5 pm everyday (if you ever go to Rome and are even remotely interested, GO!!!!).

We got to the square at 3:15 however. We sat and read for a while on the steps of the column things but I got bored so I walked around and took some more fountain/sun pictures which was really fun (picture 12). Finally, it was time to go in. We walked around but there didn't seem to be a place to go and Vanessa said that maybe we should just leave. Um, no. I walked over to a guy and asked if we could go in for the mass and he said sure. So we went in. The Mass was held on the other side of Bernini's canopy and the High Altar. The backdrop was Bernini's Starburst stained glass window and some other guy's really cool altar (picture 13). I think the presiding guy was a cardinal. He had a cane shaped like a shepherd's and the inside of his hat had red (picture 14). I don't know though. The mass was half in Italian and half in Latin. There was a program (thank God) so I knew what I was going on. Same format as always. I loved the mass. It was so cool and the setting of it was just other worldly. I couldn't believe I was there. Plus when the choir sang, it echoed a lot and sounded so good. The Mass lasted over an hour so we were a little behind schedule. After the mass ended, I stopped and took one last pic of St. Peter's, it ended up being my last picture of the trip. We walked pretty fast back to the hostel.

On the way, Vanessa bought some apples and pears and that's what we had for dinner as we walked (healthy, I know). We were in a hurry and not that hungry. We got our bags from the hostel and hopped on the Metro. There were 13 stops between where we got on and where we had to get off. It was only like 4 or 5 miles. So dumb. We got off the Metro and got on a bus that was headed for the airport. We got there in plenty of time. Vanessa's bag was too heavy (reminiscent of my leaving for London experience). She got it fixed up and we got through and on the plane. The plane ride was un-interesting. When the plane touched down, we had to ride a coach bus from the airport to Victoria Station. Then ride a night bus back to Hyde Park. Then walk to our flats. It was so much switching buses and planes and places that I was totally confused when I got back.

This was definitely one of my favorite days. I was glad that we didn't like leave Rome on Thursday or something. I had a bad impression after my wallet fiasco and the clouds. It was much better on a new day and sunshine. The mass at St. Peter's was soooo cool. The whole trip was jsut a whirlwind tour and I was wish I could have had more time there but I think I did a good job of seeing what I wanted in the time I had. It was also nice to have a little bit of a primer for what I am going to be doing after the program is done. That is going to be a lot of work (setting up hostels and such) but it is going to be so much fun.

Ciao Italy!