Day 18, Rome, October 7th
Woke up at 6, ate a quick breakfast, and ran to catch a train to the Vatican. Got there at 7:45, and there was nobody there, no line. Fantastic. St. Peters Square is just how you see it in the movies, but a bit smaller than I thought.
St. Peter's Basilica is where it's at.
St. Peter's Basilica is, without a doubt, one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It completely and utterly dwarfs all other Cathedrals in size and splendor. It's hard to keep it all in scale until you look around at how small all us mortals look in comparison.
Each of the hundred or so statues are as big or bigger than the David, perhaps 15 feet tall. They each have a majestic and artistic splendor that equals or exceeds the David. It's breathtaking. The Cherubs that circle over some statues are bigger than me.
The central altar for Peter, as well as the back design, are incredible. Somehow they are extremely different from all other Christian works I've seen, yet dramatic and inspiring.
I wish I could put it into words, but it was just awesome, in the literal sense of the word.
As a side note, walking through the Basilica and seeing people praying to the different Saints, I can't imagine Christianity not being a polytheism.
As I stared up, I could see a small walkway near the middle of the Dome. As I stared down, I saw grates covering the "grottos" or crypts. I thought how amazing it would be to be some high ranking vatican official with access to these areas.
Then we discovered - you just need tickets!
We took all 551 steps to the top of the basilica, possibly the most difficult climb of a trip of climbs. The view from the top was great, but the best view was from inside the Basilica at the bottom ring of the largest dome. Utterly spellbinding.
We then went to the crypts! They weren't as dark and creepy as I was hoping, rather a well lit large marble room with various Popes's small tombs. Interesting, but not spellbinding in anyway.
At about 10 we left the Basilica and headed around to the Vatican museums. On the way there, we walked past perhaps the longest and slowest moving line I have ever seen in my life. It took about 5 minutes walking speed to walk next to it from back to front, during which it only moved twice. This was the line to see the Vatican museums and the Sistine chapel. We didn't want to wait in line and had no Internet access, so we decided to make our way home and do some more research.
We had a terrible lunch of paninis for the millionth time, then saw a few more sights before heading home. None of them were particularly impressive, but we checked them off: Castle S. Angelo (which was closed, but there was a great guitarist whom I gave all my change to), Palazo projustizia, Piazza del popolo, and the Spanish steps. Except for the Vatican museum, we had done all of our objectives in Rome!
It started raining near the end of this, and gradually grew into a thunderstorm on our way home. Back at home we read until 2:30 at which point we decided we were SICK AS HELL of Italian food, and found a Chinese place.
We got to the place at about 3:00 and they informed us that they closed at 3:30. We quickly ordered and got our food by 3:15, then demolished chicken with cashews, sweet and sour chicken, fried rice, soup, and .66 liter of beer - all before 3:15.
It was the the best meal all week. By far.
We got back, and Reiter passed out for a few hours. Then we went to go get dinner at 7. Unfortunately, we chose an Italian restaurant this time. it was not at all good. Reiter paid for 1.5 liters of water, and I had about half a waterbottle worth of tap water, but it was not enough to quench the thirst induced by way too salty pizza.
We spent the whole dinner talking about stuff we missed about america. We are both exhausted and ready to come home, where the language and customs are familiar, we don't need to walk everywhere, the food is good, and water is free at restaurants!
On the way back to the Hostel (which is lovely), I realized I had forgotten the key. The owners weren't home, and Reiter was looking at a way to scale to Scaffolding outside our window, which was really difficult, especially after the rainstorm. By some miracle, the other people staying in the hostel with us arrived on the scene at let us in. Hallelujah!
Tomorrow we are going to try and wake up at 6 and go see the Vatican Museums before the line gets long, then head to he museum! I'll try to write one more e-mail at the airport or after getting home.
It's been fun! Love you all!
St. Peter's Basilica is where it's at.
St. Peter's Basilica is, without a doubt, one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It completely and utterly dwarfs all other Cathedrals in size and splendor. It's hard to keep it all in scale until you look around at how small all us mortals look in comparison.
Each of the hundred or so statues are as big or bigger than the David, perhaps 15 feet tall. They each have a majestic and artistic splendor that equals or exceeds the David. It's breathtaking. The Cherubs that circle over some statues are bigger than me.
The central altar for Peter, as well as the back design, are incredible. Somehow they are extremely different from all other Christian works I've seen, yet dramatic and inspiring.
I wish I could put it into words, but it was just awesome, in the literal sense of the word.
As a side note, walking through the Basilica and seeing people praying to the different Saints, I can't imagine Christianity not being a polytheism.
As I stared up, I could see a small walkway near the middle of the Dome. As I stared down, I saw grates covering the "grottos" or crypts. I thought how amazing it would be to be some high ranking vatican official with access to these areas.
Then we discovered - you just need tickets!
We took all 551 steps to the top of the basilica, possibly the most difficult climb of a trip of climbs. The view from the top was great, but the best view was from inside the Basilica at the bottom ring of the largest dome. Utterly spellbinding.
We then went to the crypts! They weren't as dark and creepy as I was hoping, rather a well lit large marble room with various Popes's small tombs. Interesting, but not spellbinding in anyway.
At about 10 we left the Basilica and headed around to the Vatican museums. On the way there, we walked past perhaps the longest and slowest moving line I have ever seen in my life. It took about 5 minutes walking speed to walk next to it from back to front, during which it only moved twice. This was the line to see the Vatican museums and the Sistine chapel. We didn't want to wait in line and had no Internet access, so we decided to make our way home and do some more research.
We had a terrible lunch of paninis for the millionth time, then saw a few more sights before heading home. None of them were particularly impressive, but we checked them off: Castle S. Angelo (which was closed, but there was a great guitarist whom I gave all my change to), Palazo projustizia, Piazza del popolo, and the Spanish steps. Except for the Vatican museum, we had done all of our objectives in Rome!
It started raining near the end of this, and gradually grew into a thunderstorm on our way home. Back at home we read until 2:30 at which point we decided we were SICK AS HELL of Italian food, and found a Chinese place.
We got to the place at about 3:00 and they informed us that they closed at 3:30. We quickly ordered and got our food by 3:15, then demolished chicken with cashews, sweet and sour chicken, fried rice, soup, and .66 liter of beer - all before 3:15.
It was the the best meal all week. By far.
We got back, and Reiter passed out for a few hours. Then we went to go get dinner at 7. Unfortunately, we chose an Italian restaurant this time. it was not at all good. Reiter paid for 1.5 liters of water, and I had about half a waterbottle worth of tap water, but it was not enough to quench the thirst induced by way too salty pizza.
We spent the whole dinner talking about stuff we missed about america. We are both exhausted and ready to come home, where the language and customs are familiar, we don't need to walk everywhere, the food is good, and water is free at restaurants!
On the way back to the Hostel (which is lovely), I realized I had forgotten the key. The owners weren't home, and Reiter was looking at a way to scale to Scaffolding outside our window, which was really difficult, especially after the rainstorm. By some miracle, the other people staying in the hostel with us arrived on the scene at let us in. Hallelujah!
Tomorrow we are going to try and wake up at 6 and go see the Vatican Museums before the line gets long, then head to he museum! I'll try to write one more e-mail at the airport or after getting home.
It's been fun! Love you all!
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