A Catholic Experience!!!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Roma, day one! When we checked in to our hostel yesterday, they gave us a map of Rome and pretty much a route to take to see the sights. It was great! We were also told that Vatican would be better on Tuesday and rest of Rome on Wednesday because the pope gives his Wednesday address at the Vatican and it would be super busy. We had to check out this morning but were told just to leave our bags in the room, the key on the bed. Well, this older Italian lady who presumably cleans the rooms, came by and was telling us we couldn’t leave our bags and had to take them. She was confused as to why we left the key on the bed and just kind of yelling random Italian things. She didn’t speak a word of English so we just decided to comply and take our bags to reception to make life easier. So we grabbed our things, Heather took the elevator first (only fits one of us with all of our bags) and I waited for her to send it back up. In the meantime, the Italian lady had called the main reception and was talking to them and pointing at me. HAHA! She called me to come to the phone as I was about to get in the elevator. So I made my way to the phone and spoke to guy in reception. He said we could leave our bags that it was a misunderstanding but Heather had already left and I was still wearing my pack so we just brought them down anyhow. The people in reception were great and we all had a good laugh about it. Then we grabbed our free breakfast at the cafe around the corner. It was a homemade croissant and cafe or cappuccino. It was really yummy! A traditional Italian breakfast! We came back to use the internet for a little while since we don’t have wifi and needed to make some bookings/check our email. So by early afternoon we were again hungry and ready to go to the Vatican. We stopped at this little place on the way to the train station and everything looked so good. We ended up sharing lasagne, stuffed tomatoes and pizza and generous helpings of all. We were so stuffed after that and had to get to the Vatican before we didn’t make it. So we took the bus to the Vatican and were told by others that it is a good idea to do a walking tour so you skip the lines and actually know what you are looking at and for. So we joined this Californian girls tour and were the first to sign up. So we had to wait until a group was formed. It was ridiculous, in total we ended up waiting almost 2 hours before the tour started. We had some real winners in our group too. There was this mother/daughter from California and they were super dense. They forgot something everywhere we stopped and asked the most ridiculous questions. The guide would just finish explaining something and she would ask something that she had just said. We were really annoyed. They were also the last to arrive and would leave the tour to go to the souvenir shops...we all had to wait for them. It was a big waste of our day. The tour as a whole was really good though and the guide was great! However, we didn’t get to go up St. Peter’s basilica because it closed at 5pm and we missed it. We went down into the catacombs where all of the pope’s tombs are kept. It was really neat. At John Paul II’s tomb there was a security guard and a roped off area for people to pray or pay respect in front of the tomb. Quite interesting! We weren’t allowed to take pictures down there but we did everywhere except at JP II because the guard wouldn’t let you. It was the same in the Sistine chapel, you weren’t allowed any videography or photography but people were anyhow. It was also supposed to be completely silent, and wasn’t and the dress code of covered shoulders and knees wasn’t strictly enforced. There was a “situation” though! There was a young Aussie guy who was wearing a “wife beater” shirt and short shorts. He had to buy a scarf for his shoulders and to wear around his waist to cover his knees. The guide said it would be fine and it was only for St. Paul’s church and the Sistine chapel. Well, when we got through the security check and were on our way into the Vatican museum, a security guard came over and told the guide that he wouldn’t accept that dress. The guy put on the scarves and still the guy wouldn’t allow it. Which, he was annoyed about because it was fine for girls and should be the same treatment but obviously wasn’t. After much discussion, the man said the guy would have to go back out and get a t-shirt and then could be allowed in. The guy was embarrassed and angry so he left and met with the tour manager to get his refund. It was unfortunate but I guess that’s what you get for wearing short shorts. Haha! Our guide later told us that the guard was actually just demoted to a lesser power position at Vatican and was on a bit of a power trip. The Aussie guy was quite built and she thinks he was intimidated by him and had to use his “power” to make himself feel superior. It was pretty dramatic but our day was good! After the tour and then the catacombs we peeked into the gift shop, mailed some postcards from Vatican post and had a look inside of St. Peter’s basilica. It was a massive well I guess it should be since it is the biggest Roman Catholic Church in the world. It had so much marble and gold in it, it was overwhelming. Really amazing! The alter was really big and neat that St. Peter is actually buried under it. It even had confessional booths! We were both quite overwhelmed after seeing it all! Heather’s favourite part was the basilica and mine the funny looking Swiss guards and we both really loved the Sistine chapel. So much history and Michelangelo was quite the interesting character. To look at the ceiling of the Sistine chapel and the alter wall with “The last judgement” was spectacular. It took him a total of 4 years to paint the ceiling and 6 years to paint “the last judgement” so he spent 10 years in the Sistine chapel and didn’t want to do it to begin with. Painting was also not his specialty, he was a sculptor by trade and hated doing these paintings. It was funny to see the subtle paybacks he incorporated into his paintings. There is a bare bum facing down over the Pope’s seat in the Sistine chapel and a few more things. Pretty incredible! Vatican done! We went down to Sant Angelo castle and took a little look around. We wandered back towards the bus stop and Heather bartered for a new cheap pair of sunnies and we found some Piazza’s to look around. It was neat! We ended up in some back alley’s lined with shops and restaurants. We finally found one that we decided to stop at for supper. It was really cute and had an outdoor terrace, like all the rest! We were convinced to order the appetizer special which was massive. It had bruscetta, prosciutto, salami, mozzarella, tomatoes, and melon. It was amazing but really big. We also had pasta plates coming each. Oy vei! Another gluttonous meal! But like they say, ‘When in Rome’! We also had a nice bottle of wine and some limoncello to wash it all down. We walked through the streets some more after dinner and ended up at Piazza Novana. It had street performers, artists, scam artists and heaps of tourists. We got scammed into paying for these string bracelets by this guy on the street. He wanted 5 euro but we refused to pay for it, since we didn’t want them in the first place and said no heaps of times. We ended up giving him 2. 46 euro since it was all I could discretely dig out of my purse, since yes there are pickpockets everywhere. After, we headed back to the hostel, had a beer with the manager and headed to our new dorm room. There was a guy from Hong Kong in our room and one other, who was MIA. We met a few Canadians down the hall since we all (8) had to share one bathroom. We had a pretty quiet night and headed for bed.