Rome
On my first full day in Rome I headed out early for the Vatican on a metro that crossed the Tiber on a bridge. The Vatican walls opens up to Rome in a huge circular plaza, the Piazza San Pietro. A big nativity scene and Christmas tree was in the center of the plaza. There were lots of school groups there, and nuns and priests were everywhere too. I first went into the basement that holds the tombs of dozens of Popes. John Paul II’s tomb was very somber. It’s a large plain rectangular slab of marble in the ground, with just his name and the dates of his papacy written in Latin. There was a small crowd of people praying at his tomb.
I then went inside St. Peter’s Basilica. From the outside, it doesn’t look so big because it’s surrounded by other large buildings and stands behind a huge plaza. Once you step inside though, you feel really small. The ceilings are extremely high and everything inside, the windows, statues and frescoes are super-sized. The giant marble statues were one of the coolest things in there. I was excited to see Michelangelo’s Pietá inside. That statue and the Creation fresco in the Sistine Chapel were the two things that I really wanted to see.
After walking around the Basilica I climbed to the top of the dome. You can go around the of the dome on a walkway and look down at everyone on the ground floor. You can also walk around part of the roof, although the view of Rome is partially blocked by the walls and buildings of the Vatican and the hills nearby.
After the dome I went to see the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. You first walk through a lot of long hallways and rooms that are full of art. The two notable hallways are the hall of maps and the hall of tapestries, and then there are the Rafael rooms full of his paintings. There is also a museum of Christian art, from Renaissance to modern. I enjoyed all of that, but was really anxious to see the Sistine Chapel, especially the frescoes done by Michelangelo. I have seen so many pictures of them and I was really excited to finally see Creation in person. You can’t take pictures inside the Chapel; I wish I could have taken some as it was the coolest room I have ever been in. The ceiling and walls are covered with vividly colored Renaissance paintings. The room was packed with people and everyone was staring up at the walls and ceiling in awe. With all the gigantic highly detailed paintings there is a lot to look at. My neck was really sore by the time I left. The Creation painting is relatively small and is just one of six frescoes on the ceiling. After the Sistine Chapel I saw the museum section on early Christian art.
I took the metro back to the center of Rome and walked by the Spanish Steps. They were packed with people this time. I then found the Pantheon, which is the best-preserved Roman building. Parts of the exterior are falling apart but the dome and everything inside is in perfect condition. I saw the Trevi fountain and Piazza di Venezia again. I had seen them the night before but I wanted to see them again during the day. I also saw some of the Roman ruins.
So the first day was devoted to the Vatican, and my second day was voted to seeing ancient Rome. I went first to the Coliseum, which was swarming with souvenir sellers, tour guides and tons of large groups. I just bought a ticket and went inside to explore it solo. There was information posted inside and I overheard lots of the English tours. It was amazing to stand inside the and try to imagine what it would it would be like 1500 years ago, watching wild animals and gladiators battling to the death before a crowd of 60,000 – 70,000 Romans. They brought in wild elephants, lions, jaguars and bears to fight prisoners wielding small weapons. They also would flood the arena and stage naval battles. I learned that the English word arena comes from the Latin word arena, which means sand, as sand was dumped on the floor of the stadium. The words stadium and colossal (the Coliseum got its name because it was so huge) also come from Latin. After the Coliseum I walked around the Roman Forum and Palpatine Hill, which is basically a huge archeological dig. It’s the site of the old Roman city.
Later that day it rained for a bit but I went into some stores and hardly got wet at all. I saw Piazza del Popolo and then back earlier than normal to cook, watch TV and hang out at the hostel. The next day I had all morning to see the last thing that I wanted to see in Rome. Rome has several catacombs, but I had just been to the huge catacombs in Paris. There was one place listed in my guidebook that sounding intriguing… and morbid. The Capuchin church was nearby my hostel so I decided to check out the crypts there that are highly decorate with the bones of monks and poor Romans who couldn’t afford a proper burial. It was incredible – every single type of bone in the human body was used to make all kinds of structures and designs on the walls. The centerpiece in one room was an altar made of skulls; another had an altar made of pelvis bones. Spinal vertebrae, jawbones, ribs and small bones from the hands and feet were glued to the ceiling to make various patterns. There were also whole skeletons wearing the plain brown monks’ robes. The last room had the skeletons of two children; they were about three feet tall. It was interesting to study the anatomy of the bones – the skeletons all seemed to be small in stature, some skulls were more complete and almost mummy like, they had discernable facial expressions. There were wisdom teeth in most of the jaws. When I left there was a monk near the exit, wearing the same brown robe that were on the monk skeletons. I couldn’t help but imagine what he would look like as a skeleton as I walked past him. They didn’t allow any photos, but they did have postcards with pictures of the rooms so I got two of them. It was just like the catacombs, gross but really intriguing, and better than any haunted house could ever be.
I met all kinds of cool people everywhere I went on the trip. There were always a lot of interesting people at each hostel. In Florence on the first night there was a group of four American students who had just arrived and their study abroad program began the following day. There was a college student from Russia traveling over his winter break, a group of French girls, and an Australian who had lived for a few years in the US and then went to a high school in Japan for the last three years. After graduating from his Japanese high school he traveled through China and Eastern Europe for a couple months before reaching to Italy and he was about to go back to Australia to start college. I had met a few Spanish-speaking travelers on the trip, most were from Spain or Mexico. I was able to speak a lot of Spanish in Rome, there were a few Spaniards staying in my hostel there, in addition to a few Portuguese who spoke Spanish, a young couple from Mexico, some Spanish-speaking Italians, and two girls from Argentina who were traveling over their summer break. They were surprised at how well I spoke Spanish and I was surprised that I was able to get back into it so easily. It was nice to use be able to use Spanish again after being stuck in German, French, Italian, Flemish, Czech and Dutch speaking countries for weeks where I understood hardly anything. And then there were a lot of Australians, only two Americans, and the guy I met in Florence who went to high school in Japan ended up at that hostel in Rome too. There was also a young Polish guy who had hitchhiked down to Italy and he spent his days busking on the streets of Rome as a human statue -- dressed as a monk with white face paint. I saw him in costume on the street one day.
I also ran into people I knew a few times throughout Europe. I ran into a guy who lived in my dorm in Madison my freshman year in Munich. He is studying in England and was traveling over his break. I ran into him again a week later in Berlin. Two students from Madison that Charlie and I met in Berlin I saw a week later at the Louvre in Paris. Its weird to run into people you know when you are so far from home. In Florence I met a two guys from Argentina, a dad and his grown son, who were touring Egypt and Italy. They were the only other people outside the Galleria della Accademia early in the morning waiting for it to open. I saw them later that day in Pisa… and then again the next day at the Vatican. I ran into them in three different places in Italy. Countless times I would also run into people I knew from the hostel while walking around during the day. Charlie met someone who knows me at O’Hare – a UW student who is studying for the year in Sevilla and was going home for a couple weeks.
I then went inside St. Peter’s Basilica. From the outside, it doesn’t look so big because it’s surrounded by other large buildings and stands behind a huge plaza. Once you step inside though, you feel really small. The ceilings are extremely high and everything inside, the windows, statues and frescoes are super-sized. The giant marble statues were one of the coolest things in there. I was excited to see Michelangelo’s Pietá inside. That statue and the Creation fresco in the Sistine Chapel were the two things that I really wanted to see.
After walking around the Basilica I climbed to the top of the dome. You can go around the of the dome on a walkway and look down at everyone on the ground floor. You can also walk around part of the roof, although the view of Rome is partially blocked by the walls and buildings of the Vatican and the hills nearby.
After the dome I went to see the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. You first walk through a lot of long hallways and rooms that are full of art. The two notable hallways are the hall of maps and the hall of tapestries, and then there are the Rafael rooms full of his paintings. There is also a museum of Christian art, from Renaissance to modern. I enjoyed all of that, but was really anxious to see the Sistine Chapel, especially the frescoes done by Michelangelo. I have seen so many pictures of them and I was really excited to finally see Creation in person. You can’t take pictures inside the Chapel; I wish I could have taken some as it was the coolest room I have ever been in. The ceiling and walls are covered with vividly colored Renaissance paintings. The room was packed with people and everyone was staring up at the walls and ceiling in awe. With all the gigantic highly detailed paintings there is a lot to look at. My neck was really sore by the time I left. The Creation painting is relatively small and is just one of six frescoes on the ceiling. After the Sistine Chapel I saw the museum section on early Christian art.
I took the metro back to the center of Rome and walked by the Spanish Steps. They were packed with people this time. I then found the Pantheon, which is the best-preserved Roman building. Parts of the exterior are falling apart but the dome and everything inside is in perfect condition. I saw the Trevi fountain and Piazza di Venezia again. I had seen them the night before but I wanted to see them again during the day. I also saw some of the Roman ruins.
So the first day was devoted to the Vatican, and my second day was voted to seeing ancient Rome. I went first to the Coliseum, which was swarming with souvenir sellers, tour guides and tons of large groups. I just bought a ticket and went inside to explore it solo. There was information posted inside and I overheard lots of the English tours. It was amazing to stand inside the and try to imagine what it would it would be like 1500 years ago, watching wild animals and gladiators battling to the death before a crowd of 60,000 – 70,000 Romans. They brought in wild elephants, lions, jaguars and bears to fight prisoners wielding small weapons. They also would flood the arena and stage naval battles. I learned that the English word arena comes from the Latin word arena, which means sand, as sand was dumped on the floor of the stadium. The words stadium and colossal (the Coliseum got its name because it was so huge) also come from Latin. After the Coliseum I walked around the Roman Forum and Palpatine Hill, which is basically a huge archeological dig. It’s the site of the old Roman city.
Later that day it rained for a bit but I went into some stores and hardly got wet at all. I saw Piazza del Popolo and then back earlier than normal to cook, watch TV and hang out at the hostel. The next day I had all morning to see the last thing that I wanted to see in Rome. Rome has several catacombs, but I had just been to the huge catacombs in Paris. There was one place listed in my guidebook that sounding intriguing… and morbid. The Capuchin church was nearby my hostel so I decided to check out the crypts there that are highly decorate with the bones of monks and poor Romans who couldn’t afford a proper burial. It was incredible – every single type of bone in the human body was used to make all kinds of structures and designs on the walls. The centerpiece in one room was an altar made of skulls; another had an altar made of pelvis bones. Spinal vertebrae, jawbones, ribs and small bones from the hands and feet were glued to the ceiling to make various patterns. There were also whole skeletons wearing the plain brown monks’ robes. The last room had the skeletons of two children; they were about three feet tall. It was interesting to study the anatomy of the bones – the skeletons all seemed to be small in stature, some skulls were more complete and almost mummy like, they had discernable facial expressions. There were wisdom teeth in most of the jaws. When I left there was a monk near the exit, wearing the same brown robe that were on the monk skeletons. I couldn’t help but imagine what he would look like as a skeleton as I walked past him. They didn’t allow any photos, but they did have postcards with pictures of the rooms so I got two of them. It was just like the catacombs, gross but really intriguing, and better than any haunted house could ever be.
I met all kinds of cool people everywhere I went on the trip. There were always a lot of interesting people at each hostel. In Florence on the first night there was a group of four American students who had just arrived and their study abroad program began the following day. There was a college student from Russia traveling over his winter break, a group of French girls, and an Australian who had lived for a few years in the US and then went to a high school in Japan for the last three years. After graduating from his Japanese high school he traveled through China and Eastern Europe for a couple months before reaching to Italy and he was about to go back to Australia to start college. I had met a few Spanish-speaking travelers on the trip, most were from Spain or Mexico. I was able to speak a lot of Spanish in Rome, there were a few Spaniards staying in my hostel there, in addition to a few Portuguese who spoke Spanish, a young couple from Mexico, some Spanish-speaking Italians, and two girls from Argentina who were traveling over their summer break. They were surprised at how well I spoke Spanish and I was surprised that I was able to get back into it so easily. It was nice to use be able to use Spanish again after being stuck in German, French, Italian, Flemish, Czech and Dutch speaking countries for weeks where I understood hardly anything. And then there were a lot of Australians, only two Americans, and the guy I met in Florence who went to high school in Japan ended up at that hostel in Rome too. There was also a young Polish guy who had hitchhiked down to Italy and he spent his days busking on the streets of Rome as a human statue -- dressed as a monk with white face paint. I saw him in costume on the street one day.
I also ran into people I knew a few times throughout Europe. I ran into a guy who lived in my dorm in Madison my freshman year in Munich. He is studying in England and was traveling over his break. I ran into him again a week later in Berlin. Two students from Madison that Charlie and I met in Berlin I saw a week later at the Louvre in Paris. Its weird to run into people you know when you are so far from home. In Florence I met a two guys from Argentina, a dad and his grown son, who were touring Egypt and Italy. They were the only other people outside the Galleria della Accademia early in the morning waiting for it to open. I saw them later that day in Pisa… and then again the next day at the Vatican. I ran into them in three different places in Italy. Countless times I would also run into people I knew from the hostel while walking around during the day. Charlie met someone who knows me at O’Hare – a UW student who is studying for the year in Sevilla and was going home for a couple weeks.
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