There’s No Place Like Rome!

For Spring Break, I spent 9 days on my own in Italy. I was definitely apprehensive about going alone, but it turned out to be pretty darn awesome.

Unfortunately, my camera memory card decided to die, so I lost most of my pictures. Will take it to a repair shop this week, but I’m not hopeful about it. But anyhow, it doesn’t matter that much. I saw a lot of tourists who were glued to their camera screens the whole time, kinda missing the whole point of the experience. So I wasn’t taking a ton, anyway, but was mostly focused on just BEING there and observing. But thank God for the iPhone, which continues to pick up the slack when all other technology fails me. So, aprovechen!

The day I arrived in Rome was lovely and sunny and I basically just wandered around the city aimlessly with a guidebook. Ate my leftover-bocadillo lunch by the fountain at Piazza Repubblica, just chillin and people-watching. Visited some huge churches covered in gold leaf and typical Catholic crap. Just kidding, I was paying attention: Santa Maria degli Angeli (inside the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian, converted to a church by Michelangelo) and the sorta-nearby Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (humongous, ancient, and impressive). But, as I was recovering from a freakishly early flight that morning, mostly tried to get orientated and a feel for the city and stuff.

The next morning, Wednesday, I hied me to Vatican City for the Papal Audience at St. Peter’s square, in some ways an even cooler experience than Easter Mass itself because the crowds weren’t so crazy, I was close enough to see everything (had a golden ticket, actually), the sun was shining, and the Pope did a lot more talking. I actually understood more than I’d expected of Latin and Italian, and Spanish of course. There were bits of English, too. It was fun to see how excited all the people were about cheering and waving at Benedicto as he did his rounds of the square in his cool little pope mobile/golf cart thingy. They came prepared with flags and chants, too! My favorite: ¡Se nota, se siente, el Papa está presente! Yes, I was surrounded by hispanohablantes. They had a chant about the Pope exiting the square, too. Wish I could remember it! But yeah, loved the diversity of the crowd. People from all over the world! So many languages! Cool stuff. (photo: me at the Vatican on Sunday. No pictures left from Wednesday at all)

Bought some postcards, munched a sandwich and some cookies, and headed to the Vatican Museums to meet up with my little tour group. Guided tour of the museums, Sistine Chapel, and Basilica= best splurge ever. SO worth it (especially since it included tickets to the Papal audience and Easter Mass). Anyhow, the Vatican blew my mind. Loved the ancient sculptures, had a “moment” with Laocoön, admired some goddess chick wearing an AMAZING marble dress, haha. But really, one could spend years wandering through the galleries and still not have enough time there. Oh, I saw Nero’s gigantic bathtub, too, made of priceless purple porphyry.

Sistine Chapel: profoundly moving. GOT it. Well, as much as a person can in 30 min. Do I need to blog about this? bleh. Have a conversation with me.

Aside from Michelangelo’s Pietà, blog-worthy details about St. Peter’s Basilica: It’s freakin huge (the Statue of Liberty would fit inside with room to spare), covers an area of 5.7 acres and slathered in gold, lapis lazuli, and other flashy and expensive things. Also contains the bodies of two popes on display. Creepsters. Really though, it’s a nice experience. I appreciated the intricate mosaic copies that replaced all the original paintings. So meticulous! And I think Bernini’s 98-ft-tall canopy altar thingy rivals Solomon’s Temple as far as the whole inability to weigh the quantity of bronze-thing goes (see picture: Bernini's canopy under Michelangelo's dome). Overall very impressive, and isn’t that the point? I snapped a neat pic of a nun gazing at the statue of St. Peter that I am miffed about losing, but oh well. Took too many pics of Pietà, should have just paid attention more.

Oh, also came across my two hostel roomies on the Basilica balcony. Spent breakfast, morning, dinner, and evening with them having a pretty fabulous time and awesome conversations. All the Germans I’ve met have been generally awesome, actually. We were too tired to go out that night, so we had a “water party” in the hostel, turning word games into drinking games and generously refilling each other’s water bottles. It was hilarious. Loved those guys.

Another funny moment: I was trying to find a particular bus stop and having many adventures asking passersby where it was, basically with horribly contorted mixes of Italian and Spanish like, “Prego, dunde está la fermata de autobús de línea cuarenta?” Must have been dreadfully confusing. Finally, getting really tired of walking, I asked one more girl. She answered in perfectly clear American English, “Sorry, I don’t speak Italian.” (yeah, uhh, me neither, unfortunately) And helped me find the bus stop. Made me laugh. I scampered off and yelled over my shoulder, “You look European!”

I think this post is long enough now.