Rome

Sorry, this is going to be a long one. Bear with me…

I was blessed to have the opportunity to spend last week in Rome. I went there with a group of ‘jovenes’ (young people) from my church, San Juan de Mata. It’s run by the Trinitarians (a religious order) who also have a house in Rome, so we were fortunate enough to stay there for the week. During the week, we moved very slowly as a group, often having to stop and wait for one or two people (out of twelve) to shop or look at something. By the end of the week I found this infuriating, especially since Thursday morning we were going to see the catacombs, but were too late. Then we were going to go back when they were open in the afternoon, but were too late, and then were going to go Friday morning, but guess what? Too late. Argh…me hacían loco. So now that that is out of my system, I’ll try to do no more complaining this entry.

On the flight there I got my first view of the Mediterranean. Hopefully some day I’ll see it when I’m not in a plane…maybe a boat or from the beach. We flew over 3 islands on the way there (Minora, Majorca, and Corsica?). Landing in Italy was the same as landing in Spain at first. It was kind of surreal for me to think that here I was in Italy. It was a pleasant change from Spain though. It was very green and there were farms all around, and except for some mountains in the background, it actually reminded me very much of home.

Sunday we went straight to the Vatican Museums which have free admission the last Sunday of every month. This meant the line was huge and we waited for about 2 hours, but you can’t beat free I suppose. The main motivation for going to the museums is the Sistine Chapel. We didn’t spend nearly enough time in the chapel (5min?), but it was still amazing to see. Just as amazing was running into Heidi there. Heidi is a Wellesley student whom I know through Bible Talk at Olin. She’s been studying in France since September and was visiting Rome that day with two Wellesley friends studying in Cordoba. It was terrific to see a familiar face. Even though I’d seen Madge and Jo not too long ago, it definitely made my day. :) How crazy is that? Randomly run into someone you know while in Rome…crazy…still getting over that one. Of course there’s the famous panel with God and Adam. There’s also one two panels down that I guess is semi-famous. It depicts a wrathful God on the right and God turned and flying away? on the left. As Heidi pointed out, we got to see God’s butt. Hah.

Also had my first view of the Piazza di San Pietro (Plaza of Saint Peter) and the Basilica of Saint Peter. It was incredible to walk into the plaza through the pillars and just to think that I was actually standing there.

Monday we went to the Colosseum. This was another one of those crazy moments just because it’s so famous. It’s something you see so much of, but it’s always in a different world and suddenly you’re in that world. It’s fairly imposing even as worn as it is. It’s impressive to think what it must’ve been like when it was new and viewed without the modern buildings around it. Right next to the Colosseum, we saw the Foro Romano and Palatino. They are the ruins of the Roman Forum. They don’t look like much now, but from the hill it’s quite the view. Also saw the Altar della Patria, a monument to the first King of a unified Italy. It’s ginormous for a monument. It’s so much bigger than anything around it, that it’s easily viewed from any vantage points in the city. I don’t know why exactly, but I found it fascinating. There are also two guards and lit flames in the front. They guard the tomb of the unknown soldier, just like we have in Arlington.

Tuesday we were privileged to see the Vatican Gardens. The Trinitarians there had made reservations to us. We were told that they only admit 100 people a day, but I have to think it’s 100 people at a time. Either way, it worked out nicely that you can wander and see the gardens without it being swamped with tourists as is the rest of the city. (Granted this is Vatican City and not actually Rome.) The Gardens were pretty and had a good view of the Basilica from the back. The church in the cemetery of Vatican city also had this interesting statue in it. Not your typical Catholic church adorning material, but interesting at the very least. In the evening we visited the Trinitarians main house and met the leaders of the order. One was an Indian man who studied in Baltimore for many years. We enjoyed speaking English for a while.

Wednesday we had our audience with the Pope. It wasn’t a private audience inside the Basilica, as this is all but impossible, but the Trinitarians had managed to get us tickets to the audience Wednesday morning in the Plaza. The plaza was gated off with guards and getting in was like going through airport security. The readings and his message were given in 5 or 6 languages…can’t quite remember (Italian, English, German, Spanish, something that sounded like Russian to me, but I wouldn’t know, and maybe something else). In Spanish, the Pope gave a special welcome to the Young People from San Juan de Mata in Salamanca Spain. Had our group on the list I suppose. It was kind of exciting, but more like a huge pep rally than anything else. The one thing I hate about large groups is how it always works that we’re sitting and everyone can see decently well, then some people stand and then everyone has to stand. Next people are standing on chairs and then everyone is on the chairs…excellent. We all had a better view when we were sitting…. Anyway, yes the red speck is Benedict XVI.

Thursday had an Italian meal. Panzerotti Ricotti e Spinaci con Condimenti de Gargonzola e noci. Ricotta and Spinach filled ravioli in a gorgonzola cheese and walnut sauce. OMG….still drooling and now I’m hungry. Also got to see the Basilica of Saint Paul. It has a gigantic statue of Saint Paul in the front wielding a sword and looking (as Fran pointed out) much like Gandalf. Anyway, David told me the sword represents both the word of God and also the fact that Paul fought for Christianity (though it wasn’t called that yet) in the diaspora. The inside was done in a much different style than any of the cathedrals I’ve been in. It’s extremely ornate and there’s lots of gold everywhere. It also has a portrait of every single pope ever up near the ceiling. It’s quite impressive really. Also here's the Castille Sant'Angelo and the River Tiber.

This guy's now on the crest of Rome. It's the wolf feeding Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome. Kinda weird if you ask me, but they seem to like it.

Then Friday after our failed attempt to see the catacombs I finally decided to keep walking the next time they stopped to shop. It paid off. We were all planning to climb the cupola (dome) of Saint Peter’s. We were more than a mile but less than two from it, and we were going to take a bus. Anyway, over so short a distance, I got there 1.5 hours ahead them. They were (guess what?) to late to see climb the cupola as the line was too long. Andrew got to see it though, and it was an amazing view of the city. The Americans behind me were tripping out as we went up and couldn’t figure out why the walls started to slant and curve sideways as we were trying to climb up the stairs. Yes, it did crazy things to my perspective and was hard to balance, but kind of made sense. We were after all climbing up a dome, no? Between the interior and exterior walls, I expect there wasn’t a whole lot of extra space for stairwells. The Plaza of Saint Peter from the top of the cupola was precious.

Saturday I came back home and was exhausted. Though at many points annoyed during the trip, retrospect makes things better, and I really had a fantastic time. I can still hardly believe I was there. Still have to go back someday to see the catacombs. I hear they’re great.