in my tree: Eurotrip '05: Rome

Sun, June 26, 2005 (Day 26)

Back on the train again. Man.. it seems like this is the only time I write anymore… but that’s mostly because we’re so busy during the days that when I come home at night all I want to do is crash.

Arivaderchi Roma! Just pulled out of Termini! Let’s recap. Arrived in Rome on Saturday (25th). Dropped off the bags at the Youth Station Hostel and headed straight to St. Peter’s Basilica, or San Pietro as it’s known here (the largest and most famous church in the world, at the entrance to the Vatican). So fuck us boys if we don’t get turned away at the door for wearing shorts. Stupid us thought the no-knees rule only applied to women. D’oh!! 1.5 hours later (due to a sorely lacking metro system) we returned. I’m glad I did. I was dumbfounded. The inside of St. Peter’s was so breathtaking I can’t describe it. I nearly lost it when I walked in though the front door and saw the cover of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons right in front of me (I happened to be reading the book at the time… so it’s cool when you can relate a cover photo to something real). Wild! Poked around inside there for a while. In our absence, Kay and Ginny had decided to climb the ungodly number of steps to the top of the dome. We decided we weren’t gonna bother with our heavy jeans on as such. Went out that night to see the Trevy Fountain (gorgeous) and the Pantheon (super old, former pagan church.. very cool as well). Unfortunately, I lost my bank card in the friggin ABM on Tritone street on the way to the fountain tho! Thank god for my second account with RBC or I’d be quite fucked for money.

The next day (26th) was the last Sunday of the month… and that means that there is no fee for entry into the Vatican. The downside: every man, woman and child shows up for it. We get down there at 9am thinking we’re fairly ahead of the game. Not as such. The line, nearly a kilometer long, stretches all the way from the Vatican entrance almost all the way down to St. Peter’s square. After 2 hours in the Roman heat in jeans we got in, and as I had hoped it was worth the wait. The roof of the Sistine Chapel was pretty spectacular. All the build-up all those years still didn’t really prepare me for how awesome it was going to be. Michelangelo’s “creation of man” being the centerpiece of the ceiling. Very awesome… and of course… no pictures, right Kay?

In the evening we headed on down to the Coliseum – equally stunning. We decided to spring for a guided tour, as it was only 4 euro on top of admission, and we got to skip the rather large line. The guide told us all about the history of the site… all the gory and bloody history. It truly is unlike anything this earth has ever witnessed. ‘So great, so terrible’ as the guide put it. Then we walked around the ruins for a bit. Unfortunately the main ruins were locked up for the day, but such is life. Eventually, we made our way back home to the hostel. All in all a good time in Rome. A few kicks in the balls, but that’s par for the course when you’re traveling. I really wish I had more time here. 2 days really wasn’t enough.. but unfortunately our ferry to Greece is waiting! We gotta go! Youth Station hostel was good.