Day 16
We left Florence at 815 am and it was off to Rome
for a short ride with no stops. We were all really excited and dressed to the
9's because we were headed straight to the Vatican! The ride was not bad at all
and I slept on the way. We arrived a bit early for our Vatican tour, so Zac
took us all to one of his favorite pizza places. On the way walking to it
though, this sweet and quite persistent older woman stopped Zac, seeing the large
group we had, and insisted we eat at her restaurant. She was literally stalking him, every time he
stopped, she did, and although it was apparent she was driving him insane, we
all found it hilarious. The pizza was
pretty good, I got prosciutto and mozzarella, because it got so crowded with just
with us there that I couldn’t see all the other toppings they offered. We sat
outside on the steps and curb when Zoe (being her sweet semi clumsy self) dropped
a piece of pizza on the ground which made for entertainment for the rest of us
as we cheered on the little birds versus the big pigeons for who would get it.
Come on lil’ sparrows! We all
finished up and hurried over to where we all set to meet, which was closer to
St. Peter’s square. I am pretty sure we
were all together anyways, but we met there and had to back track past the
pizza parlor to the entrance to the Vatican!
That is where out tour guide met us and handed out our headphones. Thank goodness it was not like in Florence
where the guide had a speaker around her neck like a dog collar, with us all
huddled around her like puppies trying to hear about the history. It was hot as the dickens outside, and being
in a long black dress, I had purchased the day before in Florence, was not
helping. It was 6 inches too long to
begin with and my wonderful Emma saved me by safety pinning the whole
thing. I tucked the middle of the dress
into my belt/underware, hoping to lift it up enough to get a nice breeze in
between my legs….in the Vatican. Well, I
didn’t burn up in flames, so God couldn’t have been too upset. She is quite understand I hear J We hurried inside, past the massive line and
right above us were televisions with all the things to see, and if they were
open or not. Stanze di Raffaello was open!
I had a feeling that we would be skipping that room on this tour, so I
made a mental note I had to come back to the Vatican to spend the proper amount
of time staring at it/crying at it/leaping for joy at it/being overwhelmed by
it. It was at this moment I was happy to
be staying in Rome and not going on to Greece.
That moment quickly faded as I saw Rachel and Ellie put on the smocks
they bought in a vending machine in Florence, just to enter be considered,
“church dress.” The tickets in had the,
“School of Athens,” on them and I took it as a sign from the pretty lady upstairs
that I would definitely be needing to come back. The tour guide was pretty informative, but
rushed. We saw the many tapestries and Gallery of Maps. We got to a sign that said, “Stanze di
Raffaello,” and an arrow pointing in the opposite direction of the one we
turned to. Mental Note Taken. We got
outside of the Sistine Chapel and were told there was absolutely no photography
in the Chapel and no one was allowed to speak, out of respect. I totally understand and really respect
it. Plus I don’t want to hear anyone’s
opinion, especially uneducated American tourists opinions, on anything in
regards to the Vatican or masterpieces inside.
The Chapel was packed like sardines.
And it was on the quieter side, except for the guards that every 45
seconds would shout out, “NO PHOTO OR VIDEO…SHHHHHH!” I thought the frescos were going to crack
right off the ceilings/walls, as they were doing in the hallways we had seen
before. I took one glance at the
ceiling, teared up, and knew I would be back.
They have long benches along the side of the room, but people were
waiting in line to sit down, so that would not be happening on this trip. Our tour guide continued on whispering about
the masterpieces on the ceiling of the, “Creation,” and the alter of the, “Last
Judgment.” Since we had the headphones
in our ears, we were not disrupting anyone around us. We met at the back and headed out of the Sistine
Chapel. Next stop, St. Peter’s Basilica. It was still hot as balls
outside. We saw the Holy Door, which is
walled up until the first day of the Holy year, when the current Pope knocks it
down with a silver hammer. Inside, I saw
my favorite sculpture. Michelangelo's
Pieta had always moved me. It made me
always envision a mother loosing her child and how that is just not the way it
is supposed to be. Out of all religious
artwork or all mediums, this is by far my favorite. Since my beliefs are a bit different from
others, especially Catholic, the Pieta really moves me, showing the mortality
of Jesus. It hurts my heart that it has
to hide behind glass now, since an idiot threw a rock at it many years
ago. This was the second thing to move
me to tears and it was only like noon.
There were many people praying and taking pictures of everything. The inside was so grand. It still astounds me that structures like this
existed before modern time. Don’t
architects feel the need to create something that moves people the way this
moves everyone. Anyways… we had to
opportunity to wander around a bit more before we all headed outside to the
square. We met at the obelisk in the middle,
which in Angels & Demons, represented, “Air.” We all said our goodbyes to the guide and
headed out to the bus. Since we were
cutting our Rome time in half, Zac had to desperately squeeze everything into
today and the little time we had in the morning. After driving by the, “Il Vittoriano," or Tomb of the unknown solider
or as locals call it, “The wedding cake,” due to its size and obvious
difference to the brown, aged structures all around it. We were let off around there and walked over
to the Spanish Steps. There are men that
give out flowers there, ask for nothing, then as you walk away ask for money
and get angry you didn’t offer them money…even if you insisted. I yi yi.
This part was a bit of a blur, because we were all so hot and a bit
tired at this point. We walked to the
Pantheon, where I knew there was something I had been wanting to see in there
that was very significant, but was having trouble with what it was. EUREKA!
I almost screamed when I saw RAPHAEL’S TOMB! I forget who had spotted it, but knew it was
fate. I was just a few years (and the
wrong sex, apparently) too late. When I
calmed down, Ellie, Rachel and I walked outside. I give Zac props for a little less than
dragging us around the city. We saw all
the major sites in a very short amount of time.
He luckily, didn’t let us rest for too long before it was on to the next
magnificent site. We went to the Trevi Fountain, where there is no breeze
what-so-ever and quickly made our wishes with our coins and took some quick
pictures. I freaked out because I was
melting and threw the coin over my back, forgetting which shoulder I was
supposed to throw it over. Luckily, my
subconscious was flying on pilot mode and threw it over the correct one. Piazza Novena was out last site of the night
and also where we would branch off for dinner.
I was finished with making decisions and opted to go to the restaurant
Zac had recommended, where he would be.
I wasn’t feeling like leaving his or my groups side and could not walk
around anymore. We walked a few blocks
outside of Piazza Navona to S.Q.P.T., a pasta place with a great
reputation. I ordered wine before
anything. We had great conversation and
laughter at our table that consisted of Emma, Alexis, Zac and a few others. Our group took up the entire inside. Zac and I bonded over our love of stupid
commercials and I think the tiredness really had gotten to everyone, because we
were all laughing hysterically at everything.
Someone told a stupid joke about Cars…or something else weird and Emma
and I were the only ones who didn’t get it.
Everyone joked that it was because we were blonde, but I think it was
because we over analyzed the stupid joke.
STUPID JOKE! This was when I got
really upset, thinking about how when I spent time in Rome after everyone left,
I would be crying at dinner alone, by myself.
This is when the idea to potentially continue on with my Contiki family
really sounded amazing. “It isn’t going
to be the same without you,” Zac said in passing at the table, as we were all
crying from laughing. I still didn’t have my STUPID credit card and I didn’t
want to make any plans for anything until that damn thing was in my hands. Zac skipped out on the bill, but he seemed so
stressed, I think our table was fine with all dividing it. Plus he left his water bottle, which I drank
a little/all of. We got back to the bus
and headed to the campgrounds. Right
before departing the bus, Zac let us Rome people know we would need to meet him
at the picnic tables to do exit paperwork.
Wah. I grabbed my phone and put
my bag in my cabin and headed over there.
I went to the front desk thing to see if I had received mail. The lady said she had signed for something
for a Palmer and had to pay money for it.
Don’t get too excited, I thought.
A nice guy, who worked as a site rep for Contiki there walked me all
over the site to look for it, but we found out that it was at the front desk
the whole time. IT WAS HERE!!! I have
never been so excited to see a panda visa card in my LIFE! I used Zac’s ipad to call through Skype to
activate the card. ACTIVATED! Then he took us over to go over our reviews
of him, tipping, etc. After all that was
done and we were beginning our reviews, I casually asked him, “So
hypothetically, if I was to want to continue on to Greece, could I?,” He responded
back immediately with, “Yea, DO YOU?” I
thought for a few moments and answer, “Yes, definitely yes.” I stopped my paperwork and he said he
couldn’t make any promises, considering I gave him about 6 hours to make it
happen, but he would try. I was letting
myself be at about a 6 ½ on the happy/excited scale. I ran into my girls, aka Zoe, Rachel and
Ellie on my way down to the cabin and Zoe almost fell down the stairs when I
told her. I wouldn’t find out till the
morning, but would PARTY ANYWAYS. That
was short lived when we realized we hadn’t gotten to the front desk before it closed
for the night. This campground worked on
a, “token,” system and you had to get tokens to buy anything on the grounds,
including alcohol. The tokens could only
be distributed at the front desk. Balls.
Oh well, it was hot and we were all beat. We went back to the cabin, where Rachel was
my roommate and Ellie had lost in the game called, “who is rooming with the
weird girl.”
The original entrance...notice Michelangelo & Raphael as the figures above the entrance.
New entrance.
The beautiful ceiling is cracking. Nets and what looked like tape is keeping it all together.
"The Great Castration," by Piux IX. Now, there are leaves on the missing parts.
The blue is lapis lazuli which is found in Crested Butte, CO :)
There is nothing missing from this statue. It was meant to look that crazy.
The Holy Door
The other side of the Holy Door.
St. Peter
Tomb of the unknown solider.
Spanish Steps.
Trevi Fountain
Raphael's Tomb
Pantheon!
Gorgonzola Gnoochi....best meal I had in Europe.
Day 17
Morning came quickly,
and I showered and headed over to the breakfast place, still not wanting to
eat, but this time because I already had a stomachache from the nerves of this
potentially being my last meal with everyone.
I brought my bag and everything out of the cabin anyways, deciding that
if I were to stay in Rome, that this campsite was not going to make the cut of
accommodations I would be staying in, to cry in all night. Zac confronts me in front of the bus and
says, “guess what? You aren’t going
anywhere,” with a grin. This through me
for a loop for a moment. If I’m not
going anywhere, than I was staying in Rome?
Fuck. Then I realized he probably
wouldn’t be smiling if I was. Fuck, I
don’t know him well enough to figure out what he means! In the 4 seconds all this ran through my
head, I hadn’t reacted the way he expected and said, “you are staying on!.”…….
YYYYAAAYYYY!!! The first sigh of relief
I had felt since Barcelona!! I had my
credit card and would be staying with my crew for 6 more days! Pompeii and GREECE!!I was beyond words as I
packed my bags and said goodbye to Zach and Bethany, a couple who’s animated
sweet relationship had proved to be very entertaining for all of us. How dreamy to travel with the person you
love! I guess I was kind of doing
that…just with 30 people I loved…maybe more like 24 people I liked/loved and 6
I loved loved. We headed out to the
Coliseum. When we arrived, we walked
down to it. Rachel slipped down the
stairs in her, “jandels,” that were hanging on by their very last thread. It was hilarious, but I knew she had really
hurt her ass. We all decided, even
though we couldn’t talk the man outside of the Coliseum into giving us a group
rate of 25 € per person instead of the 27€ rate, in order to skip the lines and
get the cliff’s notes version, we would need to bit the bullet and pay the
extra money and get the tour. It was one
of those damn, “loud speaker,” tours very similar to the one in Florence. Dammit.
Oh well, she was very smart and told us a lot about the Coliseum. Rachel was still hurting on her ass and leg
from falling, but she was always good at complaining, but making everyone laugh
at it. Inside, we took a range of
pictures and the guide was good about getting us in shade to talk, so we didn’t
melt outside…I was going to have to show my face in Pompeii AND Sorrento today,
and could not have it down my face J We said our goodbyes to the Americans and
Tanya, that were all staying in Rome.
Tanya was so on the same level I was, refusing to stay at the campsite
and having her bags with her to take a taxi to a hotel. George, the Greek kid, and I were the only
ones holding it down for America from here on out….Off to Pompeii!
Our Digs.
Typical Americans.
Tigers!
Bye everyone...Lots of Love!
Arrivederci Rome! Ciao Sorrento!
No comments:
Post a Comment