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Published: April 3rd 2018
Today is Good Friday and what better place to spend Good Friday than in Rome. Though it does have a special significance, it was not our original plan. In fact, when the tour was booked they were told specifically that we did not want to be in Rome on Good Friday and Easter for the crowds would be overwhelming and some of the areas would be closed in preparation for the events of the weekend. But somehow the trip schedule got reversed and we have ended up doing exactly what we did not want to do. But we made the best out of it.
We arrived in Rome this morning and met our informational guide at the Basilica of St Paul. He told us about the Basilica and the meanings and symbols of the some of the sculptures and paintings. The building was very beautiful and contained lots of details. He made the group interact with him and had them act out some short skits as they pertained to the scripture and interpretation of the mosaics. Though the Basilica was originally created in the year 324, it has underwent many transformations and reconstructions to make it the significant place it
is today.
After leaving the Basilica, we visited the Catacombs. The Catacombs are basically a system of underground tombs laid out in a manner that resembles a city with roads crossing each other and stretching out for 11 miles. The bodies of the apostles
Peter and
Paul, among others, were said to have been buried there. The remains have been removed and viewers are able to see the shallow tombs lined up on the walls. Some are very small and others were large. Families could purchase a room to all be buried together if they wanted. The tunnels were narrow and the entire area is a huge maze. Part of our group did get lost in there (which is easily done), but we found them and all made it out safely.
Our bus picked us up after that tour and we headed to the scenic part of the city and enjoyed a city tour from the bus. Though it was hard to get photographs of all the wonderful places, we did get a glimpse of most of them. We were scheduled to visit the Basilica of St Peter, but it closed early for festivities of the weekend.
We took a quick break from the touring and ate lunch at a local Italian eatery. We then made our way to The Vatican. The Vatican is it’s own city and country and full of artistic representations of Roman times, Mythology sculptures, paintings, murals, mosaics, and more. It is a very busy place for thousands flock there every day. And they were certainly there today. I cannot express how packed it was. We had to hold onto our belongings tightly for there were pickpocketers through out. There were beggars and homeless people asking for money. Street peddlers trying to sell you any and everything. And tons of groups just like us. We made our way through the museum section of the Vatican (the sections that we were allowed to visit) and ended up in the Sistine Chapel.
The Sistine Chapel was beautiful as expected. We were not allowed to take photographs in there and were told to not talk in there. Our group did a good job of obeying those requests but most others did not. The staff would announce over the loudspeaker in different languages to keep quiet, but people kept talking and talking. I felt that they
were just so disrespectful. That chapel was packed with people and I felt an anxiety attack coming as it was just too tight in there and they had only a single doorway to try to fit a thousand people through every ten minutes. I was told that it would be crowded - “boob to butt” crowded and we were in fact “boob to butt”. Just unbelievable at the number of people. Our group got separated several times but we all came together at some point after the tour. The tour of the Vatican area was extensive. And everyone was beyond tired. Some of the students were keeping track of their steps and they estimated we walked 7 miles - slow miles. I felt every one of them.
Some of the kids in our group were not feeling well. One individual had a head cold at the beginning of the trip and it spread like wildfire and now at least 1/3 of the group was sick. Coughing and germs everywhere. One individual ended up getting an ear infection and it was decided that he needed medical attention - especially before getting on an airplane in 2 days. Since it was
a holiday, office doctors were not available. So the only option was to visit the emergency room. So one of the leaders along with him took a taxi to the ER and waited to be seen. A trip to the ER is not so bad, unless you are in a foreign country, in the middle of a metro area, on Friday night, can’t understand the language, and have no idea where anything is. It was an experience for them. They did get the medicine needed and took another taxi back to the hotel.
We had a pizza feast for dinner which most everyone enjoyed. Then it was time to get back to the hotel so we loaded the bus and headed that way. A few miles down the road, one of the students got sick and it could be heard all over the bus. A few miles later, another one got sick. Unbelievable at what was happening. Half of the kids hacking, one in the ER, a couple vomiting - I was just praying that I did not get sick. I tried to keep my distance from the worst ones and so far have been successful in warding off
those illnesses.
We finally made it to our rooms and that is where I stayed. Since we were not able to go to the Basilica of St Peter, it was decided that we would get up extra early tomorrow to view it making tomorrow a very long day. But it is not often that you are in Rome and have the opportunity such as these, so we had to do it. One more day....
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