Cheers.
(Even just looking at my pictures, you can tell by my crap photography that my hands were probably shaking from excitement and an overstimulated brain.)
Like always, it begins with a train. :) Although our seats were positioned backwards - which tends to make me a little woozy - the ride went pretty well to the Termini. From there it was metro all the way to our hotel. Walking to the entrance of our hotel, you could see the very top of St. Peter's Basilica.
Butterflies.
We stopped for a really nice lunch at a small place near by. The waitress was the nicest lady. Every single one of us was "Bella" and she even served us lasagna made by her own mother. Um...drool. Soo good. Even after the hustle that comes with traveling, it didn't take me long to unwind with some beautiful food and damn good coffee, listening to Lorenzo tell stories.
^ Nice place, eh?
Following lunch, we jumped right in with a tour of the Vatican Museum. It was led by probably THE most adorable 70 year old italian woman you can possibly imagine. Her name was Roberta. Her knowledge was extensive and she had no problem pushing people out of the way so we could see things. Lady had sass. I like her style. She gave us all kisses before she left at the end of the tour.
The Vatican Museum is possibly the most overwhelmingly luxurious, historically rich place I have ever encountered. The art collection is beyond what I imagined. I have a few pictures, but I knew going into the front hall that I wouldn't even be able to get close to capturing it.
Gosh, I barely have any pictures to show you from that museum. There's just too many things to see. I'd have to go back a thousand times. I'm sorry there aren't more and I'm sorry they are kind of craptastic. : /
Things really started to hit home when I saw Raphael's School of Athens. The lunette was huge - so much bigger than in my art history text books!
The shining moment of this whole weekend for me is not hard to guess. Everyone who has ever seen it has alwaysalwaysalways raved about, cried over it, wished for it. People pray to see it before they die.
The Sistine Chapel.
I'll be completely honest and tell you that in my mind, the tourist attachment to the Sistine had become a cliche. I just didn't understand how so many people could fawn over it. I was skeptic. I was also afraid that it wouldn't live to all the hype. I was hesitant.
But I can tell you now, that no one who has ever seen the Sistine Chapel has faked the sentiment when they tell you how moving it is. If art, history, and spirituality are things you are passionate about.....this place will knock the breath from your lungs. That's exactly what happened to me. I didn't just cry, I wept.
The entrance to the chapel is a surprise. I expected something grandiose and overly decorated. Something gilded in gold. I don't know....something frilly and excessive. But the way to the chapel is just a few sets of narrow stairs down a plain white hallway and a small, humble door. That's it. Suddenly you are just...there. Consumed by it. It took me a second to understand the magnitude of the moment I had just walked into. Our lovely tour guide was hurriedly trying to whisper information and dates at us, but I couldn't make myself listen. I just needed to stop and see.
It is supposed to be silent inside...no photos, no video. These rules are strictly enforced by a guard who will not hesitant to scream "SILENCE" or reprimand you for trying to sneak photos. (I couldn't even try to take pictures. Didn't even want to. They would pale in comparison.) But even still, there is a definitive hum as a result of the collective whispers of a huge crowd. I wound my way to the back of the chapel so I could see the ceiling and the Last Judgement in their full glory. This is when it all hit me at once. I pretended the whole place was empty and it was just me standing beneath Michelangelo's masterpiece, caught in a place where history, art, beauty, and God just accumulated in one space. I felt humbled by my own insignificance in the great span of time. Humbled by the fact that I had some how been blessed enough to be here. Hopeful that beauty still exists. Amongst the huge mess that is our whole world - someone created a moment of beauty....and it was kept for me. In that very moment it was for me.
I can't articulate how tremendous the feeling is. But as with most significant moments in my life, a song came to mind. When the hum of the crowd became too much, I pulled out my ipod found the song. It said everything I couldn't, moved in a way I couldn't, and just solidified the moment in my memory forever. And all I could do was cry.
I can't recreate the feeling for you if you're reading this. But if you really want to know where my heart was....click on the link, stop what you are doing, close your eyes and listen.
I will never forget it. Ever.
St. Peter's Basilica was unbelievably humungous. Just as the Vatican Museum, it was luxuriously decked out. At times it was almost too much for me. Sometimes I get overstimulated and it causes me to lose all sense of focus or logical thought. St. Peter's messed with my brain. In a good way though!
The greatest part was seeing Michelangelo's Pieta. No words.
After the Basilica, my friends and I made it to the Trevi Fountain - which was beautiful in the night time glow. I couldn't get a solid explanation of the coin throwing system. Throwing one coin meant one thing, two meant something else....and then if you asked someone else they'd tell you something different. So I just grabbed a few coins and hoped for the best.
We caught a quick bite to eat at a pizza place before walking over to see the Pantheon. Unfortunately, it wasn't open and was also under a lot of restoration work.....but I tried to hug it anyway.
The next morning we got up and followed Lorenzo down to a cafe where we were treated to the BEST cappuccino and brioche I have ever had. Having Lorenzo as a guide was wonderful. I never felt rushed or in a hurry to leave or to get somewhere. Listening to him talk is so easy and so fascinating. Hours fly by while he speaks and you wouldn't even know. His brain is just.....huge.
We went from the cafe to the Christian Catacombs of Callisto. No pictures were allowed and the tour wasn't too long....but we traveled down underground to the tombs and small chapels dug out of volcanic rock. We only saw about 2% of the burial grounds holding tombs for over 1.5 million Christians. It was eerie. Shelves upon shelves of tombs - some for slaves, some for popes, some for children. The energy inside the catacombs was heavy. It made me sad, but it also got me thinking about the kind of faith it took to keep loving a God others say you can't. Even if you had to go underground and hang out with dead people to do it.
We forget sometimes in the United States how privileged we are to be free to practice our own religions. We also forget that religious and spiritual persecution still exists.
From the Catacombs we ventured to the Colosseum. (We ate an entirely overpriced meal outside of it first of course.) I've seen the Colosseum on a million calendars and postcards....but actually being there is entirely different. Bellissima - as Lorenzo would say. :)
And the people-watching wasn't half bad either!
The Roman Forum was next. It's so strange to finally give a physical setting to all the things you've learned or heard about in Roman history. Everything that was once seemingly fictional is given a reality you never expected.
^ This is what is left of the marble floors where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death. This is where he died.... WHAT?! I sat on that.
Rome was so much more than I ever expected. God....who am I kidding. This entire experience as a whole is so much more than I expected. It is consuming me right now in all the ways I hoped it would.
I don't really know what I did to deserve any of this, but I do know that I will never stop saying thank you.
You are beautiful. I miss you. I love you.
~Hayden
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