#36 Arriving to Rome
Tuesday were Wednesday were spent primarily studying for midterms. On Thursday morning I began my four day trip to Rome.
The train ride was smooth until the train broke down in Bologna. It ended up causing a delay of about thirty minutes. On the way to Rome, and old Italian lady sitting across from me randomly gave me a ham sandwich and a water bottle. I thanked her for the free lunch and then arrived to Rome.
At the Termini station, I wandered around a little until I found my friend Matt near the bus depot. Matt is a friend of mine from college who happens to also be studying abroad this semester. While I am studying finance in Milan, he is an art student in Rome. Like meeting up with Marte and Sofie in Norway, it has been great to be around friends who are locals and know the area I am visiting.
First I stopped by my hostel, which was right next to the station to drop off my stuff. An error from Sxipper (a Firefox app that fills out online forms for you) caused the first night of my reservation to be registered under my last name twice instead of my actual name, so I now have to switch rooms on Friday morning due to this error.
Matt had class, so I decided to audit his Greek history class with him. Matt’s school situation is strange. He goes to an institution called “UC Rome” where it is a bunch of art and history professors teach solely UC students in small classes in Rome. In fact the whole campus id just two floors in a Roman office building. I found it odd that he only went to school with other students from California and with no Italian or International students. Nevertheless, his Italian is still better than mine.
When I was told I cannot audit the class, I decided to explore Rome on my own. I first went to an old papal palace/Hadrian’s villa which is now an art museum. It was overpriced (9 euro) and it had impressive stuff, but not worth the money. It contained some old frescoes, Renaissance and Baroque sculptures, some nice views of the city, and a treasure chest big enough to fit a horse.
Country #8: Vatican City
After that I walked around until I saw the bridge to the Vatican. I crossed the bridge and decided to go visit St. Peter’s Basilica: the mecca of the Catholic church. As a Roman Catholic myself, visiting the Vatican is kind of like a modern day pilgrimage and the whole area had a strong vibe of holiness to it. Nevertheless, it was strange to cross the street and an international border at the same time. After going through airport like security I got in to St. Peter’s Basilica. First when you arrive there in person, you realize how much larger the cathedral is in person compared to your perception in photographs. The interior of St. Peters is a mix of a fine art museum, a church, and a symbol of the might of the church. Meticulously well carved marble statues from Renaissance greats as Michelangelo litter the building. Gold lines all of the walls and ornate frescoes cover the ceilings. It all just wowed me when I walked in. After the touring the interior, I went to the Treasury museum next door. It was filled with centuries of donations from wealthy Catholics all over the world compiled in this collection. After that I went under the cathedral to the papal crypt, where several of the Popes including St. Peter himself (that is why the Vatican is where it is) were buried. It was interesting to see two millenia of Popes all sharing a resting place. I then got a phone call from Matt telling me he was performing in a play of To Kill a Mockingbird by his school. Since those were poor directions, I ended up not finding the play and doing other things. Overall, St. Peter’s Basilica beats out the Taj Mahal for the most impressive building I have seem both inside and out. It kind of makes you think nothing short of divine motivation inspired Italians expend so much time, attention to detail, and resources to build such an astonishing place.
After St. Peters, I failed to find the entrance of the Sistene chapel before closing and grabbed a gelato on the north side of town. Since Matt did not give me any directions to his play, I did some more exploring on my own. I walked past the Italian house of representatives and the Pantheon. I then spent some time listening to some live music at the Piazza Navona and read a travel guide to Rome in an international bookstore. It was 8:00 and I went back towards Matt school to meet him for some pizza with his cast and crew. However, Matt was forty-minutes late so I ended up sitting there for a while listening to my iPod and watching a fender bender involving some Smart cars.
I then went to a pizzaria with Matt and the cast who were celebrating their performance. They were all middle aged (36-60) expats except for Matt and all of them congratulated themselves for a good show. After talking with Matt and some cast members, the pizza came and it tasted great. I also ate some great panna cotta for desert. After a long dinner, I walked back towards Termini and my hostel. I saw a monument dedicated to Italian reunification and Trajan’s column. Since I was meeting Matt at 7 AM Friday morning to catch a train, I immediately went to bed upon returning to the hostel.
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