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| St. Peter's Basilica and Tiber River |
I decided to skip some other weekends and write about Rome first in my epic attempt to blog about the past three weeks. I have barely had time to sit down, and now that I am, I want to do Rome justice because it was an epic trip. Rome was the best first trip to take outside of Spain, and came with a good amount of learning experiences. Learning experience number one, RyanAir (an airline with some pretty cheap flights around Europe) has very strict carry on bag limitations. I was annoyed beyond belief that I had to pay a fee and have my bag checked. Then to continue the wonderful journey that Ryan Air offers, they do a great job of not allowing you to sleep or relax in the slightest because they walk up and down the aisles selling everything form perfume to lottery tickets, which clearly no one on the plane wants. We got to Rome (we meaning my traveling buddies Hannah, Cristina, Leen, Megan, and Mackenzie) cold, tired, and wet from the rain, and we struggled to find taxis to take to our hostel. We ended up talking to some Spanish guys who were on our flight and we waited with them patiently in the cold rain. To add a cherry on top of the day we were having, they quickly hopped in the next taxi that came by and left us to fend for ourselves. Chivalry was not present. At this point when the giant taxi van swung by and picked us up we looked at it as a gift from god. Even before I got in though, I knew it was going to be an interesting voyage, due to the vibrations and bass I could hear blasting from outside the van. I hoped in the front seat with this guy who basically drove around in a club on wheels, I'm surprised he didn't have strobe lights and smoke machines in there. It honestly made the ride into Rome so much more exciting though, as he drove us in his mini club past the Colosseum and other famous landmarks.
The night was a cold, cold blur. We immediately got to our hostel, the first one I've ever stayed in, and it was surprisingly nice. We met Americans right off the bat who we had mutual friends with people we knew from high school. That concept always continues to surprise me, that you can be so far away from home in a hostel at 3 am in Rome and you can connect with someone right off the bat by 1 degree of separation. Then Cristina and I got into our room and passed out. We thought we turned the heat on, or did turn the heat on and it malfunctioned, but either way the both of us were freezing the entire night and even woke up in the middle to put sweaters and peacoats on for extra warmth. Easily the coldest night I've experienced and that's saying something considering I've been camping in 20 degree weather and below. We awoke to snow the next morning, and all day long it poured down on us, switching from freezing rain to flakes. I wrote down every single answer I got to the question, "When was the last time it snowed in Rome?" and I received answers such as 2 years ago, 4 years, 14 years, 1956, 1939, 1985 and finally when the Virgin Mary gave birth to baby Jesus. That last guy thought he was really clever. I layered more than I had in my entire life, three pant layers, 4 sweaters and a coat, scarf and eventually rainboots that I had to purchase so my toes wouldn't freeze off. Not to mention, we had to purchase umbrellas off the side of the road for 4 euros which eventually fell apart by the end of the day due to the wind. My umbrella was done by the first stop of the day, the Trevi Fountain. We ended up visiting many historical landmarks and sites by the end of the trip, the Trevi being one of them. I did the classic move of throwing of the coin into the water and making a wish, which is a cliche but necessary thing to do when in Rome. We also stopped by the Spanish Steps, Trajan's Column, the Colesseum, the Pantheon, multiple Piazzas (Plazas) and many famous churches, including my favorite, San Giovanni. I loved the feeling of knowing that I was in the presence of such rich and ancient history. I guess I'm a nerd in the sense that it gets me excited. I also contribute that excitement to my art history class and teacher my senior year, there would be no way I would know the importance of what I came to Rome to see without Mrs. Edelman and that 8th period class.
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| The church Santa Maria Maggiore |
Rome continued to surprise us throughout the upcoming days. I noticed that Italians were in general, much more friendly and outgoing as compared to Spaniards. Only once were we unhappy at the way we were treated by a man who rudely overcharged us at a restaurant when we only sat to drink wine, and then proceeded to yell at us saying that in America this wine would be entirely more expensive. I felt this to be expected because we stopped at a very public and non authentic restaurant. What we tried to do most of time there was find off the map, local, and genuine places to eat. One day we were walking down a side road and saw the cutest grandma and grandpa playing with their grandchild in the snow. We asked them where we should eat lunch and they pointed us to a wonderful spot called "La Campana" where we had one of the best meals of the trip. This is hard to say though because every meal I had was superb. I'm not joking when I say I had pasta, pizza, bread and probably a dessert (my favorite Tiramisu) every meal of this trip. There was one night I recall I got chicken and potatoes and even that was amazing. I couldn't stop talking about those potatoes or the tiramisu I had from a restaurant called "La Famiglia", which we ended up eating at 3 times....that's dedication. Because I'm on the subject of food, I will continue to talk about it happily. On Sunday we stopped to eat at a wonderfully authentic restaurant that we were told was the pope's favorite spot to eat, called "La Venerina". We ate here with the 2 priests that toured us around the basilica on Sunday and a couple who was receiving the same tour. Also that very same day we had the best gelato in the Vatican City at a spot called "Old Bridge". I got chocolate and cookies and cream gelato and did not mind the wonderful scoop of whip cream that came on top.
My favorite day in Rome would have to be the Sunday morning and afternoon we spent with 2 priests that Cristina organized us to meet. I am so thankful she did this because they were honestly the highlight of the trip for me, and were both very sweet, down to earth, and so helpful in touring us around St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. I kept a notebook with me at all times and probably wrote down every historical fact they told us as well as art history details about the entire facade and inside of the basilica. I won't bore everyone with the 5 pages of notes I took but I will say some cool fun facts just for good measure. The canopy is made of bronze and it was constructed by Bernini and it is the biggest bronze sculpture in the world. Inside the basilica and to the right is the famous "Pieta" statue of Mary and Jesus made in 1399 by none other than the famous Michelangelo. The priests also noted that if you were to lay the facade of the basilica down flat, it would be bigger than a football field. Plus, on the inside, if you were to stack two Statue's of Liberty on top of each other, they would both fit inside the dome of the basilica. Fun facts like that are intriguing to me. To add one more fact about St. Peter's, 140 statues of saints and martyrs are placed around the colonnade on the outside of the building. It was great to see a service going on on the inside of the basilica as well because hearing the organ playing and people chanting made everything more special to witness. The best part of the day was probably coming outside and getting to hear the pope speak and see him in the window. He addressed us all in different languages, commented on the unusually chilly weather, and blessed all of us in the square. That's something that doesn't happen every day.
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| Inside of St. Peter's Basilica, Bernini's canopy |
Rome was fantastic and I'm so glad I was able to share it with 5 of my friends I've made here in Valencia already. I feel like I could write for days on my experiences here. Despite the mishaps along the way, we all made it back safely and with few injuries (a couple of us did slip repeatedly on the ice). We all smiled when we stepped out into the Valencian sunshine. We felt at home more than ever.
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| Colosseum |
