Wow do I have some catching up to do.
Thursday, February 18th I headed off for my first big traveling weekend. First stop, Rome.
Initially the plan had just been Prague for the weekend with my friend Katie Swimm, whom I haven't seen in close to eight months. However, Prague happens to be one of the most difficult destinations to travel to in Europe, especially from Madrid. During my search, I found a flight to Prague from Rome for a mere 15 Euro. Needless to say, I booked it. The only compromise was the flight didn't leave until lunch time on Friday and I needed to get to Rome well before the flight. This meant traveling on Thursday and staying overnight in Prague, absolutely horrible I know.
Rome was not a place I was desperate to fit into my traveling but it was definitely somewhere I wanted to go so this was my chance. Thursday I headed solo to Rome with maps in hand for my 12 hour blitz of the city. We landed at the airport and because I flew with RyanAir, a popular company that offers cheap flights to major destinations but doesn't fly directly into the cities, I had to make my way by bus and train to Rome. Of course it was slightly difficult with the Italian rather than Spanish, but after spotting three older Italian women with the same tickets I had in my hand, my hesitations were definitely put to ease.
From the train station I made my way to the hostel a few streets over. The forecast for the entire weekend had been rain in Rome, just like the past 2 weeks in Madrid, and snow for Prague. But when I stepped outside of Termini Station in Rome it was a beautiful sunny, 60 degree day! I was so excited that the weather had spared me on my short venture to this ancient city! I dropped my stuff off at the hostel, clarified a few of my direction questions and was off.
First stop, the Vatican. The Vatican is on the other side of the city from my hostel so I took the subway, which consists of two lines, to save time. I would like to insert here that Madrid's subway system has 12 lines and is easily accessible within 2 blocks from any location in the city...quite different! Anyways, as I'm waiting for the train a woman comes up to me and asks if this is the way to one of the stops in Italian. The platforms were horribly labeled and I knew the answer to her question so I responded the best I could. She attempted to continue speaking to me in Italian, which was what I had hoped wouldn't happen. As she spoke I quickly inserted that I only spoke English and Spanish and a sudden grin from ear to ear appeared on her face. Out of no where she starts speaking Spanish to me. She was from Peru I believe she said and had just moved to Italy. Her and I talked all the way to her metro stop exchanging helpful bits of information being the newbies in town.
As I left the metro I looked for street signs to help grasp my location and determine which way to St. Peters. I overheard two women who were more confused than I was speaking in English. Once I figured it out, I called over to them, but just as I was about to speak I heard a girl behind me saying St. Peter's is this way. Three American students from Texas studying abroad for the semester who were also on their way to St. Peter's suddenly introduced themselves to me and offered to walk me over to the Vatican. We exchanged stories of our time abroad and they offered me a few words of advice for my short time in the city.
When we reached St. Peter's we exchanged our good-bye and I was off to take in the grandeur of it all. The Plaza itself was impressive. I kept turning around snapping pictures every two seconds. I couldn't believe I was in the Vatican! After five minute of gawking in disbelief I quickly went to wait in line for St. Peters. The security was extremely lax and because the weather was such a surprise to everyone, there were very few lines. After 15 minutes I was walking into the basilica. At the doorway I stopped in complete awe, along with everyone behind me. Walking into St. Peter's was breathtaking. As you walk in, its completely open all the way down to the altar and the sunlight filters in from the windows above and illuminates everything, focusing of course on St. Peter's tomb. Along the sides are pathways divided into segments by different statues of important figures in church history. Although the decoration is over the top with the over sized statues and continuous use of gold and marble, I couldn't help but love it. It definitely gives the feeling that the church is trying to prove its power, but at the same time its welcoming and comfortable. People are allowed to take photos, stop and pray at numerous locations inside, and even attend mass on Sundays. I spent an hour and a half inside St. Peter's and even still I felt as though I could have spent the whole day there alone just admiring the work of art it truly is.
I also ventured downstairs, beneath the basilica to see the tombs, or the grottoes. It was interesting to see just how detailed their tombs were, especially for ancient times, and how well preserved they all were. Of course the most popular tomb was that of Pope John Paul II, which is completely unique to the others where it was just a large engraved piece of slate that gradually inclined making the inscriptions visible to tourists. Despite my four years of catholic schooling, I still had a hard time remembering the important achievements of the popes (except for Pope John XXIII of course but he wasn't there).
I made my way to the gift shop, (I was in the Vatican of course I was bringing something home to prove it!) and asked one of the nuns about the Museo Vaticano. Although it was right around the corner, she told me they closed the entrance in 30 minutes but visitors in by then could stay until 6 pm (it was currently 330 pm). After I purchased my souvenirs I hustled over to the museum, the home of the Sistine Chapel.
While I waited in line to get inside, the tall blonde boy in front of me justed his student id to get a half price discount. Excited to pay 8 euro instead of 16, I took out my BU ID and hoped the guard would accept my American identification. After he gave me a "are you serious" look, he reduced the price and let me inside. The blonde boy then said to me "Boston eh?" Turns out, he was from Germany and had just applied to MIT for a program for after graduation. He was also traveling on his own so we toured the museum together. The museum was enormous, with floor after floor of paintings and sculptures. The most impressive exhibit to me were Raphael's rooms. The books do not give Raphael's paintings justice! I was in love with them and instantly place him in the top two of my favorite painters I've seen so far (second to Dali of course). They also had a few Dali paintings which took me by surprise. After an hour of quickly pacing our way through the halls of the museum, we finally reached our goal...the Sistine Chapel. It was completely overwhelming and, in my opinion, slightly overkill. I had not expected the whole room to be painted, only the ceiling, but everything from mid-wall to ceiling was covered. Of course it was beautifully painted and quite impressive. I couldn't believe that one man had done the whole thing. But my favorite part were the different scenes of the bible done along the side walls just below the windows. The image of the two fingers meeting was by far the most intriguing aspect of the ceiling itself, but the mass production of the image kind of downplayed its effect for me. I love the image and could stare at it for hours, but I wasn't taken aback by how truly stunning it is as I was with Raphael's work because I have been so exposed to it (along with the entire world population). Although no photographs were allowed, a girl came up right next to me and blatantly took a photo (focused and all) so I snapped one myself. I couldn't use flash so it's slightly blurry, but you can still make out the images and I can say I have a photo of the Sistine Chapel....not too shabby.
I parted ways with the German and headed towards the metro. Next stop...Trevi Fountain. When I exited the metro station it had started to get dark out. In panic of my day ending too quickly I rushed to the fountain. Along the way I accidentally ran into the Spanish Steps, poor navigational planning on my part not realizing I was so close and almost didn't see them. I made it to the fountain a few 5 minutes later and despite the lack of sun, the fountain was still swarmed with people trying to make their wish. I whipped out my camera and a few dozen photos later worked my way to the fountain, coin in hand. Now of course I'm not going to tell you my wish, but a man could make a fortune by collecting all the coins at the bottom of that fountain!
I sat for a while admiring my final destination. It was too late to visit the Colosseum, so I decided to postpone it for tomorrow and hope for good weather. I had plenty of time to kill before the free dinner at the hostel, so I stopped for a snack....gelato obviously! It's Italy! After selecting my flavor, the woman handed me an enormous, overly decorated ice cream cone, topped off with a British Flag to indicate to the cashier that I spoke English. This was not what I had been expecting and I paid a pretty penny for it, but since dinner was free I felt justified in eating it. I ate my gelato, which was the size of my face, while walking back to the hostel across town, receiving a few shocking looks along the way. Unfortunately I was so focused on my snack that I took a wrong turn and ended up a street away from the Colosseum, on the complete opposite direction as my hostel. Although it only takes 15 minutes to walk from there to my hostel (if walking at a fast city dweller pace), I didn't make it in time for dinner. Fortunately I was still full from the ice cream and although I hadn't realized it, I was exhausted. I went upstairs to debate whether I should venture out for dinner, but made the mistake of sitting on my bed. At 8 p.m. I passed out from exhaustion, waking up around 10 pm just to take out my contacts and brush my teeth, and retired for the night.
Unfortunately the next morning it was raining so I never made it to the Colosseum, but I couldn't be upset after my surprise sunny 60 degree day the day before. I ate my free breakfast at the hostel (a croissant...welcome to Europe) and decided to go to the train station early to make my way to the airport. There were two ways to reach the airport, one by train for 12 euro and another by metro and bus for 5.50 euro. The 12 euro was only half hour, while the 5.50 would take me 45-60 minutes, so to be money conscious I decided on the metro, which is accessible inside the train station. I reached the metro entrance but was shocked to find it closed with a crowd of people outside. Apparently, Italy has frequent metro strikes that last for a few hours and this Saturday morning was one of them. Rather than sit and wait for the metro to start up I decided to pay the money for the train. Within a few hours I was on the airplane taking off for Prague!
I will be taking a short break from blogging while I'm here, but be ready to see my trip to Dublin when I'm back! (Totally copied from Meghan's blog =P)
