Heather and I decided we needed to take a trip back to Rome because there were many things we did not get to see - and there are still plenty more, believe me. Our first visit to Rome was easy going until we did the touristy thing when our group arrived. It was a great tour, only heather and I didn’t get to spend the time we wanted to explore. Try blitzing through the Sistine Chapel - not gonna happen. Fortunately, a friend of my family lives in Rome for half of the year and is a Carmelite priest named Fr. Pat! Last february when my mom, dad, her friend Jeanne and Jeanne’s husband took a vacation to Rome they stayed with Pat since he’s Jeanne’s brother. My mom said it would be a big loss if we missed out on an opportunity to tour parts of Rome with Pat. I took her advise and am extremely happy I did.
I bought our tickets at the biglietteria (let’s hope that’s spelled right) in Piazza Gramchi where all of the busses leave from in Siena. It’s about 36 euro for a round trip from Siena to Rome, and what’s nice about the bus is that it’s express without any stops. I’ve heard from my mom and Fr. Pat that it takes about the same time to travel by train, only you stop at every town, and you don’t get to see the beautiful countryside since the train often goes through tunnels. We left at 12:30 in the afternoon on Friday and Lina packed us a lunch. We starting missing her as soon as we walked out the door!
It takes about 2 and a half hours to reach Rome from Siena and I slept for most of the time. There are two main bus/train/metro stations in Rome. One is Termini and the other Tiburtina. SENA, the bus that travels express from Rome to Siena, goes to Tiburtina and in order to get to Pat’s home which is around the corner of the Vatican we had to take the metro to Termini. Metro is not bus, metro is subway… that’s what it’s called in Rome. In Buffalo the metro is the bus. Just to interject. Also, metro/bus tickets can be purchased in the station right before you hop the metro - like in NYC. The 40 bus took us from Termini to Pat’s and we were sure we got off at the right stop because A) nuns were getting off and we had just passed St. Peter’s and B) it was the last stop. Fr. Pat wrote out directions that made it feel like we were on a scavanger hunt… it was fun! Heather and I finally arrived at Pat’s monastery where we would be staying in a guest room. Our room had two beds, set up just like our room at home with Lina: one twin sized bed on either side of the room… much like a dorm, but larger! And cleaner.
Pat introduced us to his friend (whos name name escapes me… ) and we all took a quick walking tour of the area around St. Peter’s. We crossed the Tibre and went down a bridge that is directly across from Adrian’s tomb, a structure that cannot possibly be missed because it’s enormous! The bridge crossing the river had statues of angels depicting scenes from the life of Jesus. These were created by Bernini as a reminder for the prisoners who crossed the bridge before execution. We stopped by the Pantheon at night for a minute since we were in the area - a place we would later return to on a bright, sunny day. ((Oh right, bring a good unbrella and don’t wear canvas shoes. Rome’s winter is rain and then following immediately after is sun! Then more rain… I wore leather boots I bought in Siena and they saved me from getting soaked only my feet were quite sore after all of our walking, however I think they’re broken in now.)) After our evening stroll Pat took us out to dinner at a fantastic Siciliano ristorante. It was a place Heather and I would have probably walked past because it’s a bit pricey, only we were being taken care of! Eek! We felt spoiled. Our meals were phenomenal and I had my first cannoli in Itali. I died. It was heaven. “Leave the gun, take the cannoli” I had to quote the Godfather.
Our bedtime is 11 during the week and it continued to be 11 this weekend as well. We had to wake up at 6 to meet Pat for breaky and get in line for the Musei Vaticani around 8 or so because the doors open at 8:45am and the line was already dorming down the wall of the museum. It was rainy and chilly, so we stood close together and talked about history and politics, art, traveling, and of course - food. Food was always a favorite subject. Fr. Pat is a connoisseur of fine foods. ((There are about a million people around selling umbrella’s if you’re caught without one.)) Getting back to the Musei Vaticani - getting there early and standing in line for 40 minutes is well worth the patience because after they opened the door we flew through the museum with Father Pat, ducking under ropes, to get to the Sistine Chapel. THERE WERE SIX OTHER PEOPLE IN THERE!!! It was so nice. The first time I was in the Sistine Chapel there were people packed in wall to wall - no breathing room. To be able to sit inside the Sistine Chapel when it’s quiet and still is perfect, there weren’t any distractions and I was finally able to absorb the art work I was looking at. Some of the figures are just enormous - MASSIVE! Their size blew me away, and I could read the subtext on their faces… it was interesting to pay attention to what thoughts my imagination created for these Biblical figures on the ceiling. The Sistine Chapel is brilliant and I don’t even want to talk about it anymore because i couldn’t possibly describe it well enough. I felt great when I was looking at it though, it’s just beautiful.
Go to Rome’s Musei Capitolini, it’s near il Colosseo and the part of the museum had once been a Roman temple, so the walls are visible and you can walk under the arches. It’s great and has been my favorite museum so far because it has pre christian, Roman sculpture, art upward to Baroque ceramics and there’s a Caravaggio I fell in love with. They didn’t let me take it with me as a momento. Whatever! AND the Colossus is there! Brilliant!
That night Heather and I went to mass with Fr. Pat at Sta. Maria in Trastevere. I believe I’ve written about this church before, and it’s a must see… it’s absolutely breath taking! Actually, Heather and I caught a bus right outside the Musei Capitolini to Trastevere. Inter city traveling is easy, Italy has the public transportation system DOWN. The mass was lovely and we were there on a night when about 30 bishops from around the world were visiting. A handful of them read from the scriptures and spoke on their own accord to the congregation… usually it wasnt in English. Luckily, the church provides head sets for translation purposes and all I had to do was switch it to the “English” channel and I followed along like everyone else! The choir was outstanding as well. It was some of the best music I’ve ever heard in a Catholic church - quite catchy and I never once felt awkward trying to sing along. Definitely a great experience - I’d go back. Father Pat told Heather and I that the people who run the church and their affiliates were in the running for a nobel peace prize (possibly last year…?). They are very involved with peace activism and helping the poor in Italy and all over the world (hence the massive amount of bishops at the mass). Fr. Pat knew some of them - this guy knows everyone and everything, it’s crazy…
http://www.romecity.it/EnglishVersion.htm
((I tried this, for some reason it doesn’t always load as English, but there’s great pics and info))
(Two weeks later I get back to this entry… It gets hectic around here)
WHEN IN ROME: San Luigi dei Francese and The Pantheon
In San dei Luigi Francese (located near the senate building in Rome) are three of Caravaggio’s paintings of S. Matteo in the chapel to the left of the altar. If Father Pat hadn’t told me of this church and what i’d find in it, I would have walked right past it to the Pantheon, as the Pantheon is right down the road. Change is good to have in San Luigi dei Francese because theres a machine that needs to be fed in order for lights to shine on Caravaggio’s work. LAME… but it’s so worth it!!! There’s no admission to walk into the church and the Pantheon is free too, so as much as I felt like punching the machine every time the lights dimmed, I’d throw in a couple more euros.
The Pantheon knocked me on my ass. It was awesome. It was huge and so old I couldn’t stand it. I had to sit down and write a letter to a good friend because I was excited and extraordinarily happy to be alive at that moment. (It’s good to carry paper around, a couple of envelopes and some stamps because i know my friends/fam have enjoyed my stories a ton - ask them to keep the letters so you can have copies, it’s like a journal you never meant to write.) A couple of my friends from the program went to the Pantheon when the group first arrived in Rome. Unfortunately they didnt get to go inside because a mass was being held and after that it was closed. I was there at around 10am and it was a perfect timing - no mass! While I was standing inside the Pantheon looking out of the oculus at the top I saw a helicopter fly straight across it. How odd to be standing inside a 2000 yr old building and see a helicopter fly by. Old and new. Neat. A small choir was singing inside the Pantheon, quietly, and the acoustics made it sound like 15 people. I loved it. After heather and i sat infront of the Pantheon on the steps of a fountain we had an Irish Coffee - not with Bailey’s. We discovered Irish Coffee with Irish whisky and it’s a whole new ball game. I suggest trying one.
DONE! (ignore the sp/grammar errors, it’s long and I don’t feel like reading it over right now… “scusa me”
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