Europe, September, Week Three, Part 2: Roma!

After a wonderful three and a half day adventure in the Cinque Terre, Kris and I took off for ROMA! I had heard that Rome was amazing, but Kris and I were worried about all the tourists and didn’t know what to expect. Let me tell you, Rome is fan-freaking-tastic, even with all the tourists! 

We arrived late on Wednesday night and were pretty darn hungry by the time we arrived at the place we were staying. We ventured out into the immediate neighborhood and wound up finding a place to eat, but the food was rather strange. Kris ordered “Rome-style Chicken”, which was basically the back or ribcage of a chicken in some sauce; it hardly had any meat on it at all! I ordered Risotto Scampi, which was just risotto in a tomato sauce with a HUGE crustacean plopped on top. Alas, not exactly an ideal meal, but we wound up laughing pretty hard about the whole thing.

Thursday was an absolutely beautiful, sunny day. We had previously made reservations online to see the Vatican Museum, and I am so glad we did! At about 10:30am, the line to get into the museum was at least two hours long. Luckily, we skipped all that since we had tickets already and went right in the door. Once inside the main lobby area, however, it was pure chaos. Large tour groups trying to get their audio guides, people trying to exchange online tickets for actual tickets, metal detectors, coat check, gift shop, oh my! It took us a while to get through all of that, and once we did, we decided to make a beeline for the Sistine Chapel. It’s a shame to say that that’s the only thing we were really interested in seeing, since the Vatican Museum has arguably one of the most amazing collections in the world, but it’s true!

In St. Peter's Square.

In spite of heading straight for the Chapel, we still had to walk through probably 30-35 different rooms before we got there. Wow. The Vatican is crazy. Every room is gilded and painted and sculpted and gigantic and immaculate. It is truly awe-inspiring, but it just made me more upset at the Catholic Church for pillaging and plundering treasure troves of art and literature and culture for thousands of years, but that’s another story. It was incredible to see nonetheless.

Once we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel, after having passed through luxurious Pope’s apartments and ceiling after ceiling painted by Raphael, we were metaphorically smacked in the face by the beauty of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. Ho. Lee. Crap. I could have stared at that ceiling all day long. You weren’t supposed to take pictures, but there were so many people in the room and the Italian guards were, well, Italian, so they didn’t even enforce their own rule.  Therefore, I took several “shots from the hip” and wound up getting some great pictures! Success! We were in the Chapel for maybe about 15 minutes, and I was sad to leave the room. I would absolutely go back and see the Sistine Chapel again.

THE Sistine Chapel!

TAKE NOTE! Many of the people with whom I spoke told me to do all the touristy things in the morning to avoid the lines that inevitably develop. HOWEVER! This is not the truth! When Kris and I left the Vatican Museum at about 1:00pm, there was literally NO ONE in line to get into the museum! We encountered the same thing when we went to the Colosseum later that afternoon; there was no line! So, I guess the real truth is to sleep in, enjoy your morning, and then walk your butt off to see lots of stuff in the afternoon!

Rome has tons of amazing fresh water spouts!
They're right above an aquifer; perfect for a refreshing cold drink on a hot day.

Anyway, back to our day. After the museum, we walked literally all over town! First, we headed to the Piazza Navona, which was home to some beautiful Bernini fountains, then off to the Pantheon, a stop by the super-crowded Trevi Fountain, then a quick coffee break before we walked to an awesome national museum with Italy’s version of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as well as an elevator that took you to the top of the building for a panoramic view of the city! After that, we walked down the boulevard to the Coliseum and explored that before heading to the Spanish Steps. My old roommate, Roomie K, was traveling through Europe at the same time as us and was going to be in Rome at the same time, so we met up with her for the evening! We moseyed from the Spanish Steps back to Piazza Navona and had a great dinner there before walking back through town and back to our respective places. It was so great to see her and hear about her travels and share stories!

Bernini Fountain at Piazza Navona

Trevi Fountain

View from the top of the National Museum

The Colosseum was fantastic!

The Trevi Fountain by night with Kate!

 The next day, we walked through the Borghese gardens, found some new Piazzas, visited the amazing Roman Forum and Palatine, and then went back to the Vatican to walk through St. Peter’s Square and St. Peter’s Basilica and to climb to the top of the Basilica! Of all the towers and tall buildings that I went to the top of on this first portion of my trip, this was the tallest! 557 steps up the Basilica, and totally worth it! A breathtaking view of the city and gorgeous views of the interior decoration of the Basilica’s dome made for an excellent excursion. We then walked back down and into the church itself, which literally made my jaw drop. It’s hard to do the place justice with pictures, and even harder to do it justice with words, but regardless, you must see that place if you ever travel to Rome!! The architecture, mosaics, statues, and sheer height of the ceiling are a thing to behold. There was also an embalmed Pope on display, which was gnarly and gross, but besides that, St. Peter’s is amazing.

Detail of the mosaic work on the ceiling of St. Peter's Basilica. Incoyable! 

View of St. Peter's Square from the top of the Basilica.

 In the evening, we walked to the Trastevere neighborhood and enjoyed a tasty last dinner in Rome, had gelato for dessert, and enjoyed people watching in that hip part of town. As we were walking back to our place, we came across a bonfire festival going on on the Tiber River. How cool! It was pretty awesome to see this ancient, historic river lit up with little bonfires on the water and lots of people enjoying the evening. It was a great way to end our stay!

Interior of St. Peter's

Wow whoa wowee

Bonfires on the Tiber

:) :)

We woke up really early the next morning and made our way to the Rome airport, where we had to part ways, unfortunately. Kris was headed back to Seattle and I was headed on to Paris.

Two wonderful weeks traveling with my family and one amazing week traveling with Kris, and now I was suddenly on my own, heading off for a year in France! More on all that excitement in the next post. :)