We had made big plans to get up early to go to the Vatican and beat the undeniable crowds that would be flocking the world's smallest city-state. The Vatican is only open one Sunday of the month and it also happens to be the "free day at the museums". Fortunately or unforunately, it just happened to be the day we planned to go. Our big plans to get up early were foiled by yet another great benefit of hostel staying: inconsiderate roommates. We had made friends with our roommates the night before, so we thought that everyone would quiet when they returned home from their evenings out. Not that case for Sir Nicholas, our volleyball playing roommate from Wheaton. He returned home at about 3 am with a female companion who we accurately named "Hannah the Hostel Whore". I won't go into detail about the experience we had with Nick and Hannah, but I am pretty sure Stacy could give a minute by minute play by play since her bed was literally within arms reach of his (theirs?) and unfortunately did not have the luxury of her IPod to tune out their show. Even with my IPod in drowning out the noise, I was woken up a few times, namely when Hannah seemed to have fallen in the shower, where they had relocated their relationship to. I must have fallen back asleep because I missed their fateful goodbye, but Stacy later gave me a play by play and Nick's suave "Planes come and go" line and Hannah's inspirational "Good luck on all your future endeavors". Needless to say, when I woke up in the morning, I was not in the mood to deal with the awkward situation of our roommates. It only got better when I turned over and looked down from my top bunk to see two heads in the bed next to me. Guess none of our roommates like to sleep alone. I got ready as quick as possible, ready to get out of the love nest. I was unsure if I was the only one who had been woken up, but Stacy gave me this look of "OMG" and I just nodded and shook my head.
We grabbed rolls and headed out of the Alessandro Palace Hostel as quickly as possible, ready to debrief and share our painful stories. We found the metro, and got on a crowded train towards the Vatican. We followed the mob of people to the outskirts of the Vatican City, only to see lines of people waiting to go into the musuems. We continued walking into St. Peter's Square and found the line for St. Peter's Basilica.
After going through security and baking in the sun for a bit in line, we made it inside the Basilica. I have seen my share of the inside of European churches, so I was not blown away by St. Peter's. It was massive and beautiful undoubtably. After walking around for a bit and listening to some of the hymnal going on, we headed out back in the sun and to get in line to go in the Sistine Chapel. The museums closed at 12:30 so we wanted to make sure we got in in time.
The wait was about 30 minutes but we were entertained by line drama. Basically this group of women tried to cut in the line and the other people in line were NOT having that. They threatened these women but they didn't move, even after threatening to get the police. What a nice Christian place the Vatican is.
Now I'm not sure what I was expecting from the Sistine Chapel. We'll actually I know. One single chapel with this beautiful ceiling. That was not the case. Instead, it was an endless maze of rooms and art and what I like to call the Vaticans way of saying "Look at how much stuff and priceless art we have". We were literally herded like cattle from room to room, up stairs, down stairs, with endless room after endless room full of so much art clutter than it was impossible to even enjoy any of the works. It was literally like a statue graveyard, more statues than I have ever seen in my life combined. My favorite part was that the Vatican had placed fig leaves over the man parts. Classy. Every room was elaboratedly painted, and the ceilings were all amazing. I honestly just wanted to find the Sistine Chapel and get out of the big herd of people that were crowding me. We FINALLY got the Sistine Chapel, but it was so crowded and loud I think the whole essence of the beauty and the magic were lost. The large crowd had completely disregard the "no photos, silence please" signs, so I was able to take some photos. Maybe I can just appreciate the art now in the silence of my own room without 10383 people surrounding me. We headed for the exit, and after 2048 signs saying exit was near and 95 gift shops, we finally made it outside into the sunshine. Deep breath.
It probably didn't help that we were all hungry, so we headed to find a cafe. We found a cute little streetside cafe (with checkered table clothes-score) and sat down. We all felt immediately better and we cheers'ed to "wide open spaces". I enjoyed some lasagna and we all split some tiramsu. Feeling much better, we headed towards the river, taking a little side detour, but finally finding it. We walked along the River Tiber, enjoying the sunshine, and looking at all the river boats. Very Tom Sawyer.
Now I'm not sure what I was expecting from the Sistine Chapel. We'll actually I know. One single chapel with this beautiful ceiling. That was not the case. Instead, it was an endless maze of rooms and art and what I like to call the Vaticans way of saying "Look at how much stuff and priceless art we have". We were literally herded like cattle from room to room, up stairs, down stairs, with endless room after endless room full of so much art clutter than it was impossible to even enjoy any of the works. It was literally like a statue graveyard, more statues than I have ever seen in my life combined. My favorite part was that the Vatican had placed fig leaves over the man parts. Classy. Every room was elaboratedly painted, and the ceilings were all amazing. I honestly just wanted to find the Sistine Chapel and get out of the big herd of people that were crowding me. We FINALLY got the Sistine Chapel, but it was so crowded and loud I think the whole essence of the beauty and the magic were lost. The large crowd had completely disregard the "no photos, silence please" signs, so I was able to take some photos. Maybe I can just appreciate the art now in the silence of my own room without 10383 people surrounding me. We headed for the exit, and after 2048 signs saying exit was near and 95 gift shops, we finally made it outside into the sunshine. Deep breath.
What a life. It was incredibly peaceful, we seemed to have escaped the noise of the city and the only other people we saw were an occasional kayaker or runner. We emerged on the streets only to find a side street market and a bunch of little stands. And ofcourse the typical fake purse dealer. We browsed a bit and continued walking. We found this cute authentic alley and got gelato and sat on the steps facing the river enjoying it.
The city was founded by Romas (who had a brother Rimus). So much of history is defined by the Romans and thus this hill. In fact, this is where the tradition of carrying your bride into your house came from. Unfortunately, it originated from the Romans somewhat kidnapping the Sabine woman to repopulate their society. We learned a lot about the palaces and who used to occupy them. People like Julius Caesar, Augusto, etc. And the origins of all the Vaticans "stuff". Supposedly the Vatican owns about 92% of this rare type of marble. The value of it. 1 kilo= 80,000 Euro. My question is why the Vatican doesn't sell some of this marble and feed the hungry? We ended the tour with a good view of the city and all the ruins from the ancient empire.
We headed back to the hostel on the world's most crowded subway and everyone was silently crabby. We headed back to our room, thankful it was empty and took a little nap. Then we got up and headed down stairs for a little appetizer of free hostel pizza. Stacy got a bottle of wine and we drank that and headed to get ready. Our moods had significantly improved and we were jamming out to a little Nickelback- Stacy's favorite. We were joined by new roommates and one of the roommates from last night, Will from Australia, who we discussed the previous nights occurences with after he asked us if we had been woken up the night before.
We left the hostel in search of a real meal and surprisingly had a hard time finding a place that was open. We found a cute little restaurant, ordered food (a Hawaiian pizza for me) and Stacy and I had some more wine. I found it interesting that our waiter told us there aren't many opportunities in Italy (or Rome) and that even though he has a college degree he is a waiter. After dinner, we headed to Scholar's Irish Pub to meet up with Stacy's friend Dennis who is studying in Rome and his friends Therese and Ali. How typical that we find an Irish pub to hang out with at. Even better, Karaoke. Now we have high expectations of Karaoke thanks to Brock Jones so Enrico was no subsitute. The music selection was pretty good though.... some of our favorites were played "Friends in Low Places", "Bad Romance" etc. We choose to sing "Galway Girl" in honor of our Irish roots. A hit. About 3 am, we headed home. The moon was bright and we may have broke into song a few times "When the moon hits the sky like a big pizza pie...".
We left the hostel in search of a real meal and surprisingly had a hard time finding a place that was open. We found a cute little restaurant, ordered food (a Hawaiian pizza for me) and Stacy and I had some more wine. I found it interesting that our waiter told us there aren't many opportunities in Italy (or Rome) and that even though he has a college degree he is a waiter. After dinner, we headed to Scholar's Irish Pub to meet up with Stacy's friend Dennis who is studying in Rome and his friends Therese and Ali. How typical that we find an Irish pub to hang out with at. Even better, Karaoke. Now we have high expectations of Karaoke thanks to Brock Jones so Enrico was no subsitute. The music selection was pretty good though.... some of our favorites were played "Friends in Low Places", "Bad Romance" etc. We choose to sing "Galway Girl" in honor of our Irish roots. A hit. About 3 am, we headed home. The moon was bright and we may have broke into song a few times "When the moon hits the sky like a big pizza pie...".
No comments:
Post a Comment