Blogs from Vatican City, Europe - page 12

Rainy day in Rome. We went to the Vatican this morning. It was gross and rainy again. We tend to get bummed out when it rains. At least I feel like if it’s raining we can’t really do much, and I came here to do stuff!! But we did go to the Vatican, and the line to get in the museum was wrapped around the entire piazza. There was no way we were waiting in that line in the rain. Some other time. We’ve officially booked out trip to Barcelona! As exciting as it is, it was rather frustrating, for me at least. Neither of my credit cards worked when we tried to book it, but luckily one of my other roomies could just charge it and instead of her owing me, now I just owe ... read more

Sua Eminenza alza gli occhi dal documento che stava studiando, mi vede e con fare adusto mi fa cenno di entrare. Non è esattamente un invito, piuttosto il mal dissimulato colpo di coda di un cavallo che cerca di liberarsi dal fastidio delle mosche. Mi riceve controvoglia: pessimo inizio. Mi ci erano volute settimane per ottenere un appuntamento, poi, una volta fissato tale colloquio, cause di forza maggiore lo avevano tenuto lontano dal palazzo vescovile proprio quel giorno, a quell’ora. Stavolta m’ero presentato quindi senza appuntamento previo, adducendo l’urgenza come causa. Ed è vero: stasera parto! Lo studio del vescovo è piccolo e modestamente arredamento; stilisticamente a tono col resto del palazzo ma assolutamente privo di ostentazione alcuna. Solo l’enorme crocifisso d’oro che porta al collo stona con l’ambiente e finisce col dare a Sua Eminenza ... read more

I went to the Vatican today. I climbed up the cupola of Saint Peter's Basillica. The walk is quite exhausting as there are many steps which curve up, some of which are steep and narrow. The top offers a great view of the Vatican and Rome. I got to see the Pope (one has to get tickets beforehand). He holds a general audience on Wednesdays, and the room is completely packed. I got in an hour before it started but I still got seated at the back. That ended up being great, because the Pope enters through the back, and allowed us in the back to get right up close to him (a few people touched him). The atmosphere was wild, like a rock concert: people were screaming and shouting wildly and standing up on chairs ... read more

Back in Roma on Monday, 23 Ottobre, we chose to buy tickets for one of the hop on-hop off buses. These are pretty good values as the tickets are good for 24 hours. The plan is to cover everything to San Pietro on the bus and then come back around after to hop off and see the sights missed before the Vatican. We were able to cover a lot of real estate and save our feet. We did a drive by at Circus Maximus, which is now a place for joggers; not a single chariot in sight. Behind it is the other side of the "condo's" overlooking Foro Romano. We first hopped off in the morning at the Vatican, awed by the size of the piazza and St. Peter's Basilica. The line to enter St. Peters ... read more

Continued from last entry: The next day we headed on our long journey to Rome. We didn't go to the hotel first, Louise took us on a tour even though she wasn't allowed to. We saw but didn't go in the Colloseum. We went in the Pantheon and sat on the Spanish Steps. We saw the Trevi Fountain and were supposed to throw three coins in. One for good luck, one to come back to Rome and one for true love. I only threw in two, since I think i've already found true love and partly because I don't want to jinx it. We saw the Italian National Monument that the Italians don't like. We had to get some sleep because we had the whole next day in Rome and had to get up early to ... read more