10/8/10 When In Rome...

Today, we saw most of Rome.  Emily and I woke up early and the hostel had set up breakfast in the lounge area.  I had some granola and cocoa krispies.  It was nice to have cereal for once.  We met Sofia outside and took the bus downtown.  We made many stops throughout the day…

Stop 1:  Capucian Crypt:  So basically there is a group of monks that decorated a few rooms with human bones and these rooms are where they would go to reflect on death.  It was a small museum with about 5 rooms.  It was both creepy and beautiful at the same time.  They pretty much made art with human bones.  We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but this link has a picture of one of the rooms:  The last room had a quote written out on a stone in Italian “Quelloche voi slete noi eravamoi quelloche noi siamo voi sarete” that translates to “ What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be”. 

Stop 2:  The Spanish Steps-  I’m not exactly sure why these are famous, but we went to the top of them and had a great view.  Right below them is the high end shopping street of Rome and at the top there are lots of souvenir vendors.

Stop 3:  Vatican City-  Massive crowds of people filled the roads outside the Vatican.  We waited in line to get into the museums.  We didn’t even see half the museums and we were there for at least 4 hours.  After checking out two museums, we got in line to see the Sistine Chapel.  The line went through hallway upon hallway before finally leading to the Sistine Chapel.  It was amazing how far we walked just to see it.  Each hallway that we went through had a unique style and feeling.  One hallway had floor to ceiling tapestries covering all the walls.   Another hallway had maps of the different cities of Italy during ancient times on the walls.  We went through the room of Immaculate Conception which had the Virgin Mary in all the paintings and sculptures.  We also went through the rooms painted by Raphael.  Just one of the rooms by Raphael took 3 years to complete.  I kind of wished I knew more about art history as I walked through the rooms, but there were plenty of tours that I could jump in on to get information about the artwork.  Finally we made it to the Sistine Chapel.  We weren’t allowed to take pictures in that room either.  It was a lot darker than I had imagined and the paintings seemed different than I expected.  Either way, it was amazing to actually see Michaelangelo’s work and now I can say that I have seen it in person.

Stop 4:  Vatican Post Office-  Sofia told Emily that when you go to the Vatican, they don’t stamp your passport, so the thing to do is buy a stamp to prove you have visited.  I bought a stamp and mailed a postcard. 

Stop 5: St. Peter’s Basilica- Maybe this didn’t seem like such a big deal, because I’m not Catholic, but I didn’t feel the need to wait in line to go inside.  Instead, we took a few pictures outside and then decided to get lunch.  The square that the Basilica is filled with giant screens and roped off sections for when the Pope comes out.

Stop 6: Lunch at a little restaurant.  Just had a quick bowl of pasta.

Stop 7: Monument to Vittorio Emmanuel II-  This was the biggest monument that I saw while in Rome.  It was built in 1870 when all the areas of Italy were finally united under one rule.  This is also where the grave of the unknown soldier is.

Stop 8: Roman Ruins-  We saw the ruins of an old Roman market.  It is pretty sweet how they just sit there and nothing is done with them.  Actually that isn’t true, the road that we walked down to see all the ruins was constructed by Mussolini right over the ruins.  So we had ruins on the left and right of the street and the street was set over what once were ruins.

Stop 9: The Forum- We saw the sunsetting over the Forum.

Stop 10:  The Colosseum-  We didn’t go inside, but it was amazing to see from the outside.  From here we also saw the Arch of Constantine.  Around the Colosseum, guys dress up as Roman gladiators and try to get you to take a picture with them for money.  

Stop 11: The Convent- As it got darker, we headed back to Sofia’s room.  The program she is studying with rents out the top floor of this convent, so she lives in the same building as nuns, although they never see each other.  In Sofia’s room, we had a few minutes to sit down and recharge.  I was exhausted from walking around all day and wanted nothing more than to sit for a minute. 

For dinner we went out with this guy named Gabrielle.  Emily’s uncle is friends with a family that lives in Rome, so for dinner that night we met up with Gabrielle (the son) who is our age.  We went to this place that was great!  It was nice not going to a really touristy restaurant.  We all got pizza’s and mine had mushrooms, artichokes (another thing Wikipedia recommended getting in Italy), sausage and a few other toppings.  I was really disappointed that I had lost about 25% of my taste buds that day.  Pepita’s cold started showing its signs that morning.  Anyways, so everyone has been asking me how the pizza and pasta is compared to the rest of the world, but I don’t think I can give a fair judgment because I couldn’t taste it completely.  What I could taste was delicious, but I wish I had been able to savor the flavors more.  It was great being able to talk to Gabrielle and find out all about Italy.  His parents stopped by to say hi in the middle of the meal and actually paid for us which was great!

            After dinner, Gabrielle wanted to take us to what he considered the best gelato in Italy.  The gelato place even advertises itself as the best and oldest gelato in Italy.  It took about a half hour to drive there.  Driving in Rome was absolutely insane.  No one follows the rule of the road, if they even exist.  The gelato was great, although once again my taste buds couldn’t quite taste all the flavors.  I really wish they had been fully functioning so I could say that it was the best gelato I ever had, but I can’t.  We talked to Gabrielle about everything from the Italian government to what he learns in school.  He is an economics major too.  I was really excited when I got to ask him about organized crime.  As many of you know, I am fascinated by organized crime and I was really hoping my trip to Italy would be a scene straight out of the Godfather.  Lucky and unlucky for me, the mafia is concentrated in the south of Italy.  Gabrielle told us all about the issues of the mafia and how the only mafia in Rome now is the government. 

At one point during the conversation, I jokingly said, “I want to be in the mafia”.  Gabrielle took it literally and paused for a moment to think of a response to my statement.  He first said to me, “You can’t say that.”  He continued, “Saying that is like saying, hmm, let me think.”  Pausing for a moment he figured out how to describe the power of my statement to us; he asked, “Have you read Harry Potter?”  Emily, Sofia and I all answered, “Yes” in unison.  Then he told us, “Saying that you want to be in the mafia is like saying Voldemort’s name outloud.”  We died laughing at the Harry Potter reference, but honestly it was the perfect metaphor and he got his point across clearly.  I was both impressed by how important Harry Potter has become as a cross cultural piece of literature, as well as the seriousness of the mafia in Italy.  Watching the Godfather or the Sopranos doesn’t capture the average citizen’s hatred of organized crime and what effects it has on the society.  Gabrielle felt that the only mafia still existing in Italy was the government and from our conversations, I got the feeling that he along with many other Italians are tired of the government and its abuse of power.

 Anyways, after gelato Gabrielle drove us all back and we thanked him for a fantastic night!