)Wed March 12th
It is finally Wednesday! It is finally March 12th! We are officially leaving to Italy today on our Spring Break! I can't believe that it is already that time, I swear we just got here! We had school today but thought we would take the day off to prepare and pack. The day seems to fly by with the last minute preparations and well, a paper we had to write for our civilization and culture class. It was due thursday but since we weren't going to be there we had to get it done before. And we did! Jess and I waited for Ash to come back from getting her hair done and then we left. Since we were running a little late we took a taxi there instead of the metro and aerobus. We arrived on time and boarded the short plane ride to Rome!
And in a little over an hour, we were there, beautiful Rome, Italy!! We walked through the airport and the three of us were immediately stopped for a "standard procedure" aka we are 3 american girls. the police guys looked a tour passport and brought it to a desk where they wrote some of our info down. As we were waiting we were all laughing because they weren't stopping any other people for this "standard procedure." It was the beginning of a small adventure to finally meeting up with Jessica's friend, Katie. We get our bags and try to find the train to take it to the city center. Well in the process we are getting hassled by many people to take taxis, buses, trains, anything to get our money. We looked like stupid tourists walking around with our huge suitcases so I finally just decide that we are going to find the train station. We do and we get on. It took about thirty minutes until we finally arrived at the Termini station to meet Katie. We find Katie and take a bus to where her house is. But we still had to walk a good 10-15 minutes after that. And we were starving, but it was around 1130 or so and we weren't sure much would be open. (not like Spain). We thankfully found a pizzeria that was open and we were all about it. We all sat down and ordered our pizzas with luggage in tow.. We probably sat at dinner for a good 2 or 3 hours exchanging stories, and catching up. We finally thought it was time to go and walked to Katie's apartment. We settled in and around 3am we went to bed.
Thursday March 13th
Ash and I woke up around 1130 to Jess and Katie. Since they both have not seen eachtoher since they went abroad, they wanted to walk around and catch up. We all got ready and headed out. It was gorgeous outside, so were all wearing t-shirts and jeans and soaking up the sun, it was great! We walked to the famous Trevi fountain where everyone tosses a coin in the fountain over their shoulder, while making a wish. The fountain shows how Rome took full advantage of the abundance of water brought into the city by its great aqueducts. It is also really cool because no streets directly approach it so it is filled with people old and young taking in this magical square. Sadly after walking around for a little bit, Katie had to leave us because she had to catch a flight to go on her spring break. So Jess, Ash and I were on our own in Rome, a little nerve-wracking but also very exciting. I thought the traffic in Barcelona is crazy, oh no! It is 10x worse in Rome! Since my accident I get really bad anxiety when crossing streets or fast cars. Well here it is much worse! Just with the sound of a motorcycle I am grabbing on to Jess and Ash. They just drive so fast here and don't pay attention to pedestrians! I am just going to have to keep my eyes open!
After Katie left we walked to one of her favorite salad places, by her school called, L'Insalata Ricca. I can definitely see why it is her favorite because the salad was amazing. It was fresh and full of vegetables, something I have been craving lately. After lunch we sat in front of the Pantheon and people watched (and wrote part of this journal entry). We went inside and it is absolutely gorgeous, like everything in Europe. It is one of Rome's best-preserved interior. Since the Pantheon became a church dedicated to the martyrs just after the fall of Rome, the barbarians left it alone, and it stands still today. The columns in the front are one piece of granite and were shipped all the way from Egypt and behind it are the original bronze doors. The ceiling is a huge dome that is just as tall as it is wide, 142 feet! There are different parts inside that are dedicated to different martyrs of the world. We were able to sign in a huge book to pay homage to one of them, so we left our mark in Rome forever! We walked around the city, running into huge monuments left and right. This city just has so much history, its incredible! We of course stopped to get some gelato, our first in Italy, and it was so yummy! I have a feeling I am going to be eating a lot of good food, gelato and drinking wine while I am here.
Our plan was to go to the Colosseum and the heart of the ancient city. We walked up to the Colosseum and saw this massive and breathtaking structure. I am actually sitting in front of it right now as I am writing this. Rome is beautiful and just has so much history that I can't wait to learn about it more. We probably sat there for a good half hour staring at it and trying to fathom what we are looking at. We got a hold of Corinne, who is in our sorority and studying in London. She is literally doing the same spring break as us, so we decided to meet up with her. But before we could go home we had round 2 of gelato and a cappuccino to keep us awake later. We got to the apartment and showered and got ready.
Katie's roommate and friend were nice enough to show us around and hang out we met up with Corrine and her friend Liz at the Trive fountain. I thought it was pretty before in the day, but at night it was even more magical. We found Corinne and gave her big hugs because we were so excited to see a familiar face, it was great. We decided to eat at the place we had lunch at because it was so good and we wanted to try their pastas. It felt like a true Italian dinner. We had pasta, bruschetta, salads and a bottle of wine flowing as we laughed the night away. It was so relaxing to have no time constraints and just sit with good people, good friends, in no other than Rome, Italy! I am living the sweet life and can not be more thankful!
After a 2 or 3 hour dinner we headed to Campo di Fiori to where all the bars are. We don't step 5 minutes into the bar without the Italian boys saying "Ciao Bella" and we of course start talking to them. One boy seemed to take a liking to of me and kept telling me how beautiful I was and that he loved me. It was actually pretty funny because that does NOT happen in the states. I just laughed and thanked him. We went from bar to bar hanging out and meeting people from all over the world. I love being in Europe because I feel that anywhere you go you meet new people and make friends even just for the night. Everyone is so welcoming here, which we all love. Around 3 am we all walked back to the apartment and snuggled into bed. We had a long day ahead of us.
Friday March 14th
We all wake up around 10am, an hour later than we wanted but it was okay because we were going to the Vatican. Ash woke up really sick and ended up having a fever and the flu. We were really sad because she decided to stay home and try to get better. So Jess and I headed out to start our day. We walked along the tiny streets of Rome filled with gorgeous men and perfectly dressed women. I just stare at their clothes with envy and wish that I had their rich style of living. On the way to the Vatican we stopped at a little stand and both got panini sandwiches. I had a salami and cheese one and it was amazing, as always. We didn't have any coffee yet so once we were near the Vatican and St. Peter's Square we stopped and got a cappuccino. They are so so good and are perfectly made with foam on top with chocolate sprinkled all around, so presentable. We walk into St. Peter's Square and into Vatican City and I am just taken aback. The sky was blue, the sun was out, and I was in one of the most important places in the world, and it was gorgeous. Vatican City is a tiny independent country of over 100 acres that contains the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basicila. It has its own postal system, armed guards, train station, and radio station. The Vatican is the religious capitol of 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.
The line was long to enter the church so we decided to go to the Vatican Museum and see the Sistine Chapel first. We walked around the huge walls housing the city until we found the entrance and paid to get in. We really didn't know what to expect when going through the museum, we just roamed around and took everything in. The museum is four miles of ancient statues to modern paintings and of course home to Michelangelo's glorious Sistine Chapel. We walked in room after room and gallery after gallery of some of the most gorgeous art. In almost every room the ceinlings were painted with the most detailed scenes of wars, the church, Italy, everything. I could have probably have used a whole roll of film on just the ceilings. Jess was really funny throughout our whole walk through the 55 rooms leading to the Sistine Chapel. She has never taken an art history class so she had no idea what it looked like. So every gallery we went in to she asked, "is this the Sistine Chapel, is this the Sistine Chapel?" I had to keep saying, "no Jessica, this isn't it, trust me you will know when you see it." We made it through the 55 galleries of paintings, tapestries and sculptures to the main event, the Sistine Chapel. I can't even explain to you how giant and amazing it is. The Sistine Chapel, painted my Michelangelo is the pope's personal chapel and the place where, upon the death of the ruling pope, a new pope is elected. The painting (or fresco) shows the story of the creation and has God weaving in and out of each scene with the richest colors, especially the blue sky. All i can say is that the Sistine Chapel is unreal and I can't believe that I saw this part of history and where the Pope goes to.
Jess and I wanted to go inside the St. Peter's Basilica but we were both really hungry. We walked a little way and found a nice outdoor restaurant. I love eating in Europe because it is so much more enjoyable to eat outside, take in the scenery, and be with good company. We walked backed to St. Peter's Square and got some gelato to eat while we stood in line to enter the church. The line had definitely died down from earlier so we definitely came back at a good time. In order to enter you had to be wearing clothing that covered your shoulders and your upper legs, basically nice church attire, and you had to put your belongings through security and a x-ray machine. Very intense but important for the safety of the people and the building. I walked in to by far the most gorgeous, beautiful, breath-taking, massive church I have EVER been too! definitely fit for a pope. jess and i both just stared all around the church. we walked around and took pictures and read all the signs that told us about everything and what it was. earlier in the day, on the way back from lunch, i bought my grandma a rose petal rosary. Well Jess and i went into a room that is only for prayer and you have to be very respectful to those praying. we sat down and i held my rosary and my great grandmother's ring and said a prayer for her. i just couldn't get over that I was in the greatest Catholic Church holding Mama Lupe's ring, who was a devout Catholic. It gave me chills just thinking about it and i definitely felt as if she was right there next me, keeping me safe through my travels. it was definitely one of the best memories i have while being abroad. on sunday we are going to mass in St. Peter's Square for Palm Sunday and I was so excited. We walked around more just speechless and in awe of this spectacular place. I blessed myself with the holy water as well as the rosary for my grandmother, then continued to walk around.
Jess and I wandered into a gift shop next to a museum of artifacts from the Catholic Church and we started talking to one of the guys that worked there, who happened to live in La Jolla at some point. He told us about living in the states and his perfect love story with an American woman. It all just seemed like a fairy-tale, and me and Jess just loved listening. He ended up letting jess and I into the museum for free, so we went inside and got the audio guide for the tour. The museum was actually very interesting, it had many gifts that were given to the Pope throughout history. It had some of the wardrobes of the different Pope's, including the late Pope John Paul II. When we were walking around I spotted one of the items and said, "isn't that pretty Jess?" And she responds, "Well he is very pretty" She was pointing to one of the security guards in the museum and I started laughing. I got to the exit and went outside but Jess ended up staying and striking up a conversation with the security guards. Long story short she got his number and planned to meet up with him later that night. We left the church laughing so hard because Jessica had got someone's number and in the St. Peter's Basilica.
We walked up to the "bronze doors" with Swiss guards in front to receive our tickets to the mass on Sunday. They were dressed in little outfits and were so serious when we walked up to ask for the tickets. We got three tickets and walked back home and showered for dinner. We woke up Ash but she still wasn't feeling that well but still went to dinner with us. We made friends with the waiters from the first place we ate because of passing it multiple times a day, so we decided to eat there again. On Saturday there was going to be a rugby game between Scotland and Italy, so there were Scottish people everywhere in kilts. For some reason I decided to wave to one of the groups of them and then all of sudden they came towards us and started talking to us. They all ended up being hilarious and after we had our dinner we sat with them at their table until we left ot drop Ash off and to go out for the night.
Jess and I went to Campo di Fiori again to meet up with her new friend from earlier. We walked around for a little and went to another beautiful plaza with them but soon decided that it was getting late and went home. On the way home we were walking around two boys in Kilts and we all ended up talking. They were also very funny scottish boys and ended up just sitting down and talking to them for awhile. After a lot of laughs and pizza we parted ways and went home to sleep.
Saturday March 15th
We must have been tired from the day and night before because we all didn't wake up until noon, but we all definitely needed the sleep. We of course needed some food before more sightseeing, so we got a quick lunch before starting our day. We walked around Rome with really no destination and ended up walking to the Spanish steps. It is a wide, curving staircase between two Baroque Church Towers. It has many uses during the year but is ultimately used for people of all around the world to gather. We sat and people watched for awhile because the steps were full of people from everyt part of the world, which was pretty awesome. At one point a group of boys started break dancing at the bottom of the staircase and everyone cheered them on. That didn't last too long because the cops came and made them stop, but of course the crowed "boo-ed" the police before they left. we got up and started walking. We started walking into my heaven. we walked a long a street that had every designer that I love, adore and wish I could afford. there was Gucci, Prada, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Dior...on and on. I literally has a smile plasterd to my face because I was surrounded by all this beautiful fashion. And mom, I could have splurged on something, becaue I was in Italy with my favorite stores around me, but I held back and just window-shopped.
We continued to walk around and ran into the biggest and most lavish McDonalds in the world. We walked inside, and it was very very nice. It was multiple stores with separate areas for food, to eat, a McCafe and it even had a little area where it sold gelato! Although we were tempted to get gelato from there we walked across the street and got it from a different place. We wanted to try and go inside the Colosseum because we didn't go in it the other day but when we got there it ended up being closed. The next day there was going to be a marathon that was through out the whole city so they were setting up for that and everything was clsoed early. Instead we just ended up walking around The Forum, which was the political, religious and commercial center of the city. Rome's most important temples and halls were here, it was a place for religious processions, political demonstrations, elections, important speeches and parades by the conquering generals. When you look at it as your walking by it just looks like sopme type of construction side but if you look closely you can spot arches, walls of buildings, and the foundations of all these important buildings. I find all the history of this Roman City so fascinatin and really took it in. From there we took the long but relaxing stroll back to the apartment.
We came back and because we were all starving we went straight to dinner before showering or getting ready for the rest of the night. We had the most lovely dinner in front of the Pantheon. It was lit up perfectly, not too cold outside, and the food and wine were amazing. I have definitely learned what good wine tastes like here and become even more than before a wine drinker. During dinner our friends from the night before, Allie and Dean walked by. We came to realize that Rome is a small town and made plans to meet up with them later at Campo di Fiori. A few minutes later we see our other crazy group of Scottish men and made plans to meet up with them after we went home and showered. But before we went back we had round two of gelato. It has started to become a problem...
We went back to the restaurant and sat with the Scottish men and they kept buying 100 euro bottles of wine for all of to drink, which definitely tasted expensive. Since we had plans to meet up with the Scottish boys earlier we said our goodbyes and thanked them for the delicious wine and laughed about them the whole way to the bars. We walked to Campo di Fiori and found Allie and Dean and there other friends that were with them. I swear we were surrounded by Scottish people all night, and I kept asking myself, "Am I in Scotland?" It was hilarious. They definitely all convinced us by there great sense of humor and charming personalities that we need to go to Scotland one day. And I really am serious about it because it seems so pretty when they talked about it, especially the countryside. The three of us were all pretty tired and we had to get up early so we sadly said our goodbyes ( me being a little more sad because Allister was so cute
) and on the way home stopped for some late night pizza. well guess what?!? we met more Scottish boys! hah. I swear we weren't in Italy but Scotland. After talking to them for awhile about Scotland and nonsense, we walked home and snuggled into bed. We had to be ready for our big day with the Pope! Sunday March 16th
I have to say this day is probably the most memorable day of the trip and well even my life. we woke up at 7am and all dressed in our Sunday best because it was our big day with the Pope. We were lucky enough to attend the Palm Sunday mass in St. Peter's Square with the Pope! On the way to St. Peter's Square we got a coffee to keep us awake so early in the morning. I hadn't had a chocolate croissant this entire time I was in Italy so I thought I would get one. It was good, but not nearly as scrumptious as the ones in Barcelona!
As we started walking more and more towards the square I became more and more anxious. I was just so excited and just wanted this short walk to be over. We finally arrived to a huge crowd of people and rows of chairs filling the entire front half of the square. We waited in line anxiously with our tickets to get in and we after a few minutes we were finally in! At first we sat towards the back but there was plenty of seats up front so we made our way up there and were so close. We received a 50 or 60 page booklet of the enitre mass, it was definitely long. The mass started at 930 am but we had to wait a little bit because for once we arrived early.
At 930 the procession began with all the priests, bishops and important people of the Catholic Church. They were all holding huge palm leaves to represent Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is the celebration of Christ's entry into Jerusalem. The palm leaves are usually carried into the church to represent the path he took to get there. At the very end of the procession was the pope, beautifully dressed in his robes. It was such a breathtaking moments as he walked around with such importance. We all became a little teary-eyed at the sight of such an important person of the world. It was even more special to me knowing the importance of the Catholic religion to my family, especially my great-grandmother. we were all just in awe of this man. The mass began facing the opposite way than the chairs were facing around a monument in the middle of the square. After a few readings, the procession continued around the crowd to the front of St. Peter's Basilica, where an alter stood underneath the famous window where the Pope is usually seen. The entire mass was in Italian except for a few verses that were done in other languages including, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and German, which was one of my favorite parts. I also loved when everyone in the entire square was singing to the songs, all in Italian, and the square just became a magical place. I was able to follow the mass for the most part because of the many times of going to church over the years but it still was a little difficult because it was in Italian.
It was getting colder and the mass was getting long, typical in Catholicism, so I understood when the girls asked me if it was alright if we left early. We decided that the "best" time to leave would be during communion because it would take a long time for everyone to receive the bread and wine. we waited until everyone was standing up and quietly exited. Well it ended up being very awkward because there wasn't an easy way to exit so we had to exit where the procession came through earlier with everyone looking at us as we exited. We thought at one point the Pope might even come up behind us and follow us! We felt really akward but we did realize that the many others who left early had to do the same walk. As I walked out of St. Peter's Square I cherished thsoe few hours because I realized those were definitely once in a lifetime.
We were hungry after being in mass so long so we found a place to eat near the square, and we all ate a pizza to ourselves. We wanted to go see part of the marathon that was today but realized that it was pretty much over so we just decided to walk home. But we did see a few stragglers on the way home which we cheered on. We got back home and we were all so so exhausted. Ash and I watched a movie and I ended up falling a sleep and taking a well needed nap. When everyone was back I woke up and we were all ready for dinner.
We went to dinner with Katie's roommate, Tiffany who was a great host while Katie was away. So yes were are in Italy, but sometimes you just need a break from all the pasta and pizza, so Tiff took us to her favorite chinese restaurant. I was really excited because that is my favorite food and I hadn't had it since I was abroad. It was so so good and was at a very good price. For dessert we had friend gelato, so yummy and then after got some more gelato from the very famous gelateria, near the apartment. It was our last night in Rome so we went back and packed for our next stop, Florence!(this is one of three journal entries. I am hoping to finish it later today, it is just taking a lot longer than I thought because of all the great memories I want to share. So be patient the rest of my trip is coming!)
