Roma - 26-28 marzo

From March 26-28, Joanna and I went to Rome. It was quite the experience because all the decisions and navigating were in our hands. The five hour train down to Rome included an interesting conversation with a guy named Merco. He doesn't live in Rome but goes there every other weekend or so. He loved being able to try out his English, and wanted our phone numbers to call us later if we wanted him to show us around. I just took his number and told him I'd call IF we wanted to do anything. After arriving in the station and buying Roma passes, we endured a rather hellish walk down to our hotel (including coats, suitcases, cobblestones, and traffic.) But we finally made it, checked in, settled in for a bit, then headed out for the metro station which was about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. We got out near the Spanish steps, where we didn't sit and take a picture unlike half of the tourist population. We made our way over to the Pantheon instead.



When we turned that corner, I teared up... I guess it just got to me seeing something of that historic significance. Meaning "all gods" in Latin, the Pantheon was once a pagan temple, but now a Catholic church. We weren't able to immediately enter as a mass service was going on, but after about 20 minutes, they opened the doors. The inside has many sculptures and the like, which are more modern additions. I would've liked to see it before all the things were added to it. But the structure remained the same. A large hole in the dome lets in light, and when it rains, the water drains into small holes in the floor and into a drainage system that the Romans designed and is still functional.
After that, we watched a man sing opera in the piazza, then ate a light dinner in view of the Pantheon. On the way over to Trevi Fountain, we watched a street artist paint.
Trevi Fountain was beautiful, and I imagine particularly because it was at night.


The sculptures that comprise the fountain seem to come right out of the wall. After getting a "Poloroid" picture taken by an Indian man, sitting around taking pictures and people watching, and throwing coins in the fountain, we walked back to the metro, then back to the hotel.

NEXT morning we planned on the Vatican City, because the Vatican museum is free every last Sunday of the month. We got there before opening time, and the line had already snaked around the wall of the city. I think half of the Chinese population was there that day. After waiting in line for at least an hour, we finally entered. It was a little crazy having SO many people in the museum, not to mention the layout is kind of confusing and we saw too many things that we didn't particularly care to. But we saw one of my favorite sculptures, Laocoon and Sons...



...and the Raphael Rooms, which includes the wall-sized School of Athens (another favorite)...



...and then the Sistene Chapel, which was just surreal!


The room was packed, and although talking and photos are forbidden, it's very hard to control talking and photos. But the paintings....so much detail! While Michaelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel, other artists (including one of my favorites, Botticelli) painted frescoes on the walls, all depicting Biblical scenes. I wish I had taken more pictures of the Sistene Chapel, but considering the guard was constantly yelling "NO PHOTOS," the fact that I got a few of the ceiling is enough.
After about four hours at the museums, we had some lunch, and walked out of the city to enter at another point to see St. Peter's Basilica, the pilgrimage hot spot (not exactly ours...) This is the Pieta, which Michaelangelo sculpted at the young age of 25.


The Basilica as a whole feels very open and naturally lit, which was really nice compared to some other major churches we've seen.



After we left the basilica, we sat for a bit to write and then mail postcards. (All the chairs in this picture below are for the crowd blessed by Pope Benedict about 30 minutes before we got to the basilica. Oops...didn't know that minor detail. Not like we care too much about the pope, it just would've been cool.)


We stopped by one of the drinking fountains, found a gelateria, then headed to the metro to go to the Colosseum.


OHmahgoodness, the Colosseum. I knew it would be close to the metro station but not THAT close! We walked out and there it was! Another amazing moment. We hadn't planned on joining any tour groups during our trip, but considering how we knew very little about the Colosseum, we joined an English-speaking one, and our tour guide was fantastic.

We learned so much!

With the price of the Colosseum tour group, we also got a free tour of the nearby Roman Forum -- however, after running through the Colosseum to meet our tour group just outside, we could not find them, and we couldn't even see them near the entrance to the forums. We were pretty bummed about that, but entered the area after some time anyways -- we just didn't have much time. We saw the Arch of Titus...

Photo by Joanna

...and the Forum...


This was about the time we decided to call Merco to let him know we hadn't forgotten about him and we'd like to know where a good place to eat near the Colosseum was? But it turned into a 10 minute conversation...I'm sorry he couldn't come to meet us that night, but no, we were very busy with teaching, we wouldn't be able to meet up anywhere else. No, we couldn't meet up with him in Florence some time. So sorry, have a nice evening.

It is very beautiful there, and the next time I'm in Rome, I would like to spend more time in the Palatine area, which looks even more beautiful.



After a long day, we found a restaurant with a view of the Colosseum at night. Another metro ride and a walk back to the hotel later, we crashed for the night before a morning of shopping and the Jewish district.

Monday morning, we took the metro back over the the Colosseum where we got a picture of us as we were on our way to nearby Mamertine Prison.

After the suggestions of my mom and a friend, we visited Mamertine Prison, aka Peter and Paul's prison, where they are believed to have been imprisoned. It wasn't much to speak of -- steps down to a small cell. But the thought of being in the same room as these great men was very powerful.



We had another quick view of the Roman forums...


...then made our way past the Capitoline museums (recognize this?)...

Photo by Joanna

...cute little Joanna...


...to find the Jewish district near the Tiber River. We walked along it for a bit, crossed the Tiber at the point of an island in the middle, then went back. We passed by the main synagogue, which is also houses a Jewish history museum...


...and shopped a bit. We stepped into a small Judaica shop to find our brother-in-law a prayer book. Score! We found one with Hebrew and Italian side-by-side! After a lovely light lunch at a Kosher restaurant...

Photo by Joanna

...we passed by the Colosseum one last time, hopped on the metro, and blitzed back to the hotel. The rather hellish walk uphill back to the train station involved Joanna getting hit by a van and a man complimenting me effusively in Italian all while we tried to powerwalk. We made it to our train platform with a few minutes to spare, and talked and napped the train ride home...

Salute Florida!

After a long day of traveling, we landed in Florida about a half an hour early on Monday evening, around 6:30 pm. That morning, Mrs. Walti and Hannah brought us to the Genova airport for our 8:20 am flight. When you put all of us in a car, we always have so much fun, and I miss them. (See you soon!) Our first flight from Genova to Roma was under an hour, then from Roma to New York (8 1/2 hours!), then from New York to Orlando (about three). Except for the cost of an extra bag, hours of flying or waiting in airports, my TV on the long flight freezing on a Japanese screen, and rechecking the bags in NYC, the trip back was, for the most part, pleasant. :) It was SO much better than the flight to Italy (an overnight flight). Joanna slept quite a bit during our flight to NYC; I tried not to sleep so I wouldn't throw off my sleep cycle even more, though I'm sure I dozed here and there. The people around us were pleasant, the food was pleasant, and we felt more relaxed this time around -- I guess we're becoming pros at this international flight business?
Anyway, we were very glad to finally land in Orlando and see the fam. Everyone except Mary & Co. and Dad (who was circling the airport) was waiting right outside security. The only reason it felt a little strange seeing them is that I know it had been three months since we had seen them, but it was just like going back to "normal life." They all had adorable welcome signs and cards. When we got home, Alex (Julia's boyfriend) stopped by. We gave out our gifts to the family, and to Mary, Ryan, and Jacob when they came by later. I love picking things out for people I love, so it was fun seeing them open them. I went to bed too late for being up that long (We had been awake since about 11 pm Eastern time the night before), but I guess I was just taking advantage of being home.
In the days since coming home, I've run errands, visited with friends, gone to the Y, and babysat Jacob. We've also been filling out job applications and, in Joanna's case, going to an interview at Disney, which resulted in scoring a photographer position! It's been hard trying to search for jobs from Italy, so I'm still waiting to hear back from multiple companies.
Well, there is church in the morning, and it's also Mother's Day, so it's time to call it a night. But tomorrow (today), more posts about Italy are coming up!
Ciao!
Rachel

Arrivederci Italia

Well folks, the time has come. It is 1:06 am here in Italy, I just finished packing, and we wake up in 4 short hours to get to the airport by 8:20 for our flights back to Orlando. It's so strange that by the end of this "day" we will be home, in familiar Orlando, with our family, friends, and other native English speakers. Thank you all for your prayers, interest, support, notes, and comments. We are still behind on posting on the blog, so after we get home, we'll post pictures from Rome, Paris, our Venice/Pordenone/Udine trip for Pasqua (Easter), and our day trip to Florence on Friday, along with videos from ESL, pictures from our last days of class, and pictures from our very pleasant and touching last day in Italy. Keep an eye out for these posts, along with entries about our favorite things and memories from our stay here.
Ci vediamo (we'll see you!) and if not, ci sentiamo (we'll hear from each other!)

Love to you all,
Rachel, writing for Joanna also.