Vatican City- Rome day 4

St. Peter's encircling arms

 Sunday was a fantastically lucky day. We thought we would head over to the Vatican and try to see a few things, maybe get into St. Peter's and see mass if the lines weren't too bad. When we got there, there was a huge mob of people near the center of the square. We knew something must be happening, but didn't know when or what.

The basilica

 So we went straight into the sanctuary which wasn't at all crazy crowded and saw the beginning of mass. After seeing the inside and all its splendor, we climbed up to the cupola which involved hundreds of narrow winding stairs. From the top the view into the church was amazing as was that of the Vatican city.

Inside- the most enormous church I've ever encountered

We came down from the basilica worn out from the stairs and it seemed the crowds were growing. We made our way to the center of the square in hopes that if something were to happen, it would be around noon. And as the clock struck 12, we heard the cries and cheers from the crowd, looked up, and there was Pope Francis in the papal apartment. He came out, waved, and said a few words to the people down below. It was all in Italian, but I think the gist of it was "Hello Rome, I'm happy to be here with you. Happy Sunday and bless you all."

Francesco!!! He's very small, but he's there. 

It was such a lovely surprise and very lucky. It all felt very surreal and it was amazing how silent the whole crowd was the entire time he was speaking. With that, we felt our trip to Rome was everything we had hoped for and more.

The rest of our day was great, getting in the last few sights and then coming back to the hostel to rest and get dinner. Our dinner ended up being a sort of family style dinner in the hostel kitchen since we couldn't find an appropriate St. Patrick's thing to go to and I was seriously dehydrated and getting sick. It was still a nice way to spend out last night together.

On Monday we had until about 3pm in Rome. But it was raining and miserable so all we actually achieved was finding one of the best restaurants we had found all weekend where we ate fantastic pasta and listened to the locals and regulars next to us. We said goodbye and were out of Italy, on our flight to Geneva. I think I've now spent less than 1 hour in Geneva and it was already too much. I don't know what happened, but our flight got into Geneva around 7 or 7:30 and we had planned to take the train back to Grenoble, but we didn't worry about booking tickets because we know there are a lot of commuters between the two cities. We got to the train desk just to be told that not only were there no train to Grenoble that night, but there weren't any trains to France. The man then proceeded to tell us to go into the center of town to find a bus, which we did, only to be told by that woman that the only bus to Grenoble only left from the airport and the last one for the night was in about 30 minutes. So we sprinted back to the train that would take us to the airport and somehow made it to the airport in time to sprint around finding the desk for the bus and the bus itself. We then got to sit and catch our breath on the 2 hour bus back home. Which means we got in around 11pm- I walked into my host family's apartment and they were thrilled to hear a quick resume of my weekend before I went and passed out in my bed.

Roma- day 3

Villa Borghese

 Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, and we took advantage of that by going to Villa Borghese after some espresso. Just the four of us now, which was really fun. Thomas speaks great English which combined with our French made communication very easy. And we all got along so well. Villa Borghese is huge and filled with huge trees that the boys enjoyed climbing, museums that were sold out until Sunday, and lots of entertaining Italians enjoying the sun as well. We sat in the park and listened to the birds and soaked in the sun. Ah! And at one point we came across the Irish national rugby team- that was playing Italy in the Six Nations tournament that day. Sarah is a huge fan and couldn't believe her eyes.

BENVENUTO FRANCESCO!

After the park, we walked to find lunch and eventually more churches. Gesù was great- one of our favorites. The art spanning across the roof was absolutely stunning.

Chiesa Gesù

We spent the entire day crossing and recrossing all of Rome. We found ourselves at the Trevi fountain again and the Pantheon and on the river. At the end of the day, we headed over to San Lorenzo for dinner and met up with an Italian friend of Thomas' who took us out all night. A sort of final hurrah before saying goodbye and continuing just the three of us.

All of Roma

Venerdì- Rome day 2

The Ancient City

Friday we were up quite early to get over to the ancient city. But first, we went on a mission to find pastries, which were delicious. We started at the Palatino to see the ruins of the Roman empire (our new friends in tow- so 6 of us total) and spent hours there. It just doesn't seem real and it's difficult to wrap your head around people building these immense structures and living there so long ago. 

Brick upon brick

I feel like we were there forever, when I think we left around 11am. It was just so huge and I never really knew where I was or where it started and ended. And then we were on to the Colosseum!

Colosseo

So incredibly huge and packed with tourists. Thankfully Greg's dad told us to get our tickets at the Palatino and we got to feel special as we skipped the line of hundreds of people. I really loved going up to the second level, because we went up these crazy, steep stairs that were worn from millions of visitors. 

When we left the Colosseum, we exited through the Circo Massimo (where the chariot races were) and headed in some direction, trusting Greg and Thomas. I remember Sarah looking at the map and insisting we were going the wrong way, but Thomas was at the front just waving and saying, "Just follow me. No matters. We go this way." But that's how our whole weekend ended up being- trusting Thomas, who had already been there for a week. And it was great, because without him we wouldn't have seen a lot of the little things that were so great. 

In the middle of a residential area that seemed weird to be walking through, he stopped and showed us a door. Then had us look through the key hole. I didn't know what to expect as I heard everyone go before and ohh and aww. And it was amazing. I'm not going to say what you see, because not knowing made it more special. 

Buco di Roma

After, we went to the Bocca della Verità, which is an old stone that was used to judge different matters. Apparently it was to determine the liars from the truth tellers and if you placed your hand in the mouth and you were a liar it would bite your hand off (by the power of the gods, I do believe). My hand is still  in tact. Lunch was in order as we were absolutely exhausted and starving- we found a nice place before saying goodbye to two of our new friends (who were both leaving Rome that day leaving just the three of us and our Français. 

Bocca della Verità

We headed off to more sights and it was determined that Marina's art cravings needed to be appeased. Rome is the perfect place for that. There are works by Caravaggio just sitting in churches- 3 of which we found. It's so beautiful and I was getting a little emotional a every one. And the churches they were in weren't too shabby either. We ended the day watching the sunset from stairs that overlooked the Vatican and the Roman rooftops. 

Caravaggio- pretend you don't see that 'no photo' sign

Roman Holiday- day 1

First sights of Rome

CIAO! I just got back from Rome last night and what a weekend! So, we booked our tickets on Monday to leave Thursday morning and were sad to hear that the Pope was chosen Wednesday night. We wanted to be there for the Conclave, but it's a good excuse to go to Rome anyway. Thursday I left with two friends, Sarah and Greg, and we made it into town in the afternoon. While the Conclave was already over, the city was still buzzing and there are posters everywhere that say, "Benvenuto Francesco!" that I loved seeing.

We got in, dropped our things at our hostel, and got started. No plan in mind, just start walking and see what we come across. First, we found the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Piazza Venezia which just dwarfs everything around it.

The tomb at Piazza Venezia

 We explored it a little before continuing on and finding arguably my favorite thing in Rome: the Pantheon. It's just so incredibly beautiful, not to mention revolutionary in terms of architecture. I couldn't look away from the ceiling with it's gigantic coffers and huge oculus opening the entire room to the sky.

The Pantheon

Oculus

Next we continued to cross Rome on our way to the Vatican. We saw Piazza Navona, which was full of vendors selling art, and the Tibur river, strong and brown.

Piazza Navona

The Tibur River

We didn't spend much time at the Holy See the first day (as we would return Sunday), but we wanted to at least see it. So many people and a really gorgeous place to see. 

The Vatican

The sun was setting as we left and we made our way back into the center to find somewhere to eat. I had lots of amazing pasta and we drank gallons of Chianti. And as a treat before going back to the hostel, we stopped by the Trevi fountain to watch the hordes of tourists around it.

Fontana di Trevi

My favorite part of the day was when we returned to the hostel, resolute to stay in for the rest of the night. Instead, we met some of the other people staying in the room we were in and ended up hanging out with them. We all got to talking, making the awkward first introductions and then one suggested we go walking and grab a drink together. I wanted to be social, so I voted yes and all three of us joined them. There was Thomas, the Frenchman, Shun, the Japanese man, Barbara, the Argentinian, and Pamela the Columbian. Together, we followed Thomas who told us he know of a good area close and somehow walked for around an hour just to realize we had made a huge circle. It was great though, getting to know them and seeing Rome at night.