First Day in Rome

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On Saturday, after a couple of disappointing (not to the fault of the city) days in Naples, we checked out of our quaint hotel and hopped on a train to Rome. The countryside was filled with never-ending grape and sunflower farms and mountains in the distance. After an uneventful hour and a half ride, we arrived and found our way to the taxi pickup zone. There was a group of around 40 or 50 young men playing drums and singing some anthem, drawing quite a crowd. We couldn't tell what the words were and I wasn't even sure what language they were singing in. Once we got in our taxi I asked the driver what the excitement was about and he said he didn't know because the group wasn't Italian.

After the very brief (maybe 3 blocks) drive to Hotel Borromeo, we stepped out of the taxi and Eric asked me where his fanny pack was. I assumed he was joking since he has a history of trying to play silly tricks like that. He claimed he'd given it to me on the train and I confirmed that he most definitely had not. He further explained that when I'd gotten up to go to the bathroom on the train and put my purse on the seat next to him, he'd put his fanny pack on top of my purse, but admitted that he didn't actually say anything and assumed I'd just notice it. When the time came to gather our things to exit the train, I grabbed my purse and not his fanny pack because I expected him to carry his own things as he had so far on the trip. All of his money was in there as well as his COVID-19 vaccination card* and a few insignificant items. We checked in at the hotel and explained the left baggage scenario to the concierge, who felt very sorry for us, but confirmed there wasn't a number we could all and that we'd have to go back to the train station in person to sort out the issue.

We marched uphill the three blocks back to the train station in the 100° midday heat and wandered aimlessly around the open-air station trying to find the appropriate customer service/lost luggage area. After about an hour and multiple stops at the wrong places, we took a number in queue at the Trenitalia customer service booth. We waited 45 minutes to an hour before our number was called, and the agent appeared to (surprisingly) have never run into this scenario before and didn't seem to know how to handle it. She did a few things on her computer and told us to step aside and just wait. So we waited. And waited. And waited. In total, after a trip to the bathroom, a trip to a café for a small takeaway lunch, 3 customer service agents (all telling us we just needed to wait) and 3 more hours later, I asked the third agent what the deal was and when one of the two original agents were coming back since they had left a while ago. She said "at 4:00" which was another 20 minutes away and I said "No no no. We've been waiting too long already. We need to know what's going on." She begrudgingly grabbed her cell phone and walked out the back, came back 10 minutes later and said "They didn't find it." I was so mad by this point - mad at Eric for being irresponsible and leaving his bag on the train, mad at him for not even mentioning it until we were already at the hotel instead of earlier, mad at myself for not confirming we had all our things when we left the train, mad at the heat, mad at my sweaty mask and clothes, mad that we'd been standing for hours, mad at the agents for leaving and not giving us any indication of when they'd be back or where they were at in the process of searching for the bag, mad at seemingly everything - that I just grumbled a sarcastic Thanks to the agent and marched out of the station to take off my stupid mask. This was a cherry on top of our lovely time in Florence after our luggage was left in the States and didn't make it to us until just the night prior.

But, onward we must go. We had 5:00 tickets to the Vatican Museums and since we didn't get back to our hotel until after 4:00, there was no time to shower and change, so we just swapped into chapel-appropriate clothes and asked our kind concierge to call us a taxi, then off we went. The thing I'd been most excited about on this whole trip was seeing the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo's exquisite frescos on the ceiling that had taken years to paint. Several people have asked me why I even wanted to go to the Vatican since I'm not Christian/Catholic or even religious at all. For me, it's not about the religion, it's about the art and the history. Hearing the stories of how the frescos, paintings, murals, mosaics, tapestries, sculptures and so many other great pieces of art were commissioned and created and getting to see them firsthand was really what it was all about for me. It was the same when I was in India; I'm not Hindu or Muslim, but I very much enjoyed and appreciated visiting the temples and other religious landmarks.

We'd paid for an English-spoken guided tour throughout the almost completely open-air (Seeing a pattern here? Almost everything is open-air and very few places have air conditioning. Everywhere is very hot and stuffy and sweaty, being 99-100 outside and COVID-19 masks required everywhere indoors.) museums, which was expected to last around 2 hours. After the first hour, I was so fatigued and getting dehydrated and overheated that I really had a difficult time staying on my feet (especially after standing in the muggy train station for close to 4 hours earlier), slowly moving from room to room, and listening to the extremely thorough guide describe the history behind so many of the most important pieces. By the hour and forty-minute mark, I was quite light headed and in dire need of a seat. I moved ahead of the group into the next room, and the next, and the next, searching for a chair or bathroom or somewhere to rest. I kept seeing signs for the Sistine Chapel, which was where the guided part of the tour officially ended and was the only air-conditioned room. As I meandered too quickly through the rooms, arm out with my hand grazing the walls or railings in case I were to stumble or fall or worse, faint, I missed everything important and was laser-focused on achieving my goal before I passed out. After what seemed like more than a dozen rooms and repetitive signs signaling the "Sistine Chapel this way," I finally made it in there. While it was cooler than the rest of the museum rooms, I still had nowhere to sit and didn't want to cause a scene in there in case I fainted so I took a brief look around (no talking or photos allowed) and sadly kept trudging along, unable to appreciate the magic of it all, hand still grazing the walls and handrails where they were available. Finally, a full 25 minutes after I ditched my tour group, I made it to the end of the whole museum and sat on a much appreciated bench while I waited for Eric to catch up. Sadly, because I didn't know how far ahead I'd need to go for a seat and because by the time I realized I was too far away I didn't want to go backwards and further exerting myself, I never told him I was skipping ahead and he ended up rushing through the rest of the rooms to try to find me and was a little peeved. I agreed if I needed to leave again I'd let him know ahead of time so he wouldn't worry.

After we exited the building, we went across the street for dinner at Caffé Vaticano, where, despite the pretty bad reviews online that I luckily didn't see ahead of time, we had great pasta and drank our fair share of bottled water. We Uber'd back to the hotel (Uber is only available/allowed in Rome and Milan and only "Uber Black," the 'fancier' one) and finally showered the day off, vowed to have a good day the next day and went to bed exhausted.



*Our COVID-19 vaccine cards from the CDC were what we used to get to Italy and into all buildings requiring the "Green Pass," Italy's solution to keeping the public safe indoors. Luckily I planned ahead and took pictures of our vaccine cards and saved them in the cloud before our trip. Thankfully Vatican guards and everywhere else that requires the Green Pass (indoor seating at restaurants, etc.) easily accepted these digital versions and we haven't had to miss out on anything. I did just get an email from our airline stating we will need a negative COVID-19 test before we can board our flights home, even if we are vaccinated, so even if the airline wouldn't take the digital copy, we'll still be good to go when we leave at the end of the week.

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Photos

The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
Only a block away from our hotel.
https://turismoroma.it/en/places/basilica-santa-maria-maggiore

Mvsei Vaticani
Vatican Museum
https://m.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani-mobile/en/collezioni/musei.html

The Pope's Courtyard
I recognized this from a scene in the movie The Two Popes that I'd watched on the plane ride to Italy.

One of many masterpieces
A very detailed ceiling in one of the many rooms/halls at the Vatican Museum

Laocoon
This piece was discovered in 1506 missing several pieces, but confirmed authentic by Michelangelo who told the pope at the time he must purchase it. The right arm was 'rebuilt' straight. Later, the original right arm was discovered by a museum director at someone's yard and recovered and reattached to the original sculpture.
https://m.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani-mobile/en/collezioni/musei/museo-pio-clementino/Cortile-Ottagono/laocoonte.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%C3%B6n_and_His_Sons

Comments

[Brian Middaugh]

If you lose your vaccine card AFTER you are fully vaccinated, or end up with two vaccine cards, please note:  MDH does not have replacement cards and cannot combine two cards.  You can ask for a copy of your vaccination record at Find My Immunization Record (www.health.state.mn.us/people/immunize/miic/records.html). It has the same information as the vaccine card. The State of Minnesota will not require proof of vaccination for events, such as traveling, concerts, or other activities. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Stay 6 feet from others. Stay home if you feel sick.