Ancient Rome...It's not like home...
This is the start to the song that Kristie and Jenny wrote during our trip that has been stuck in my head since then, and after you hear it, you pretty much don't have to even go for yourself. We recorded it so you can probably check it out on facebook soon!
So Monday night, I spent the night at the Graef's, and we had to wake up at around 4am to be ready to be picked up by 5. We all packed super light and fit everything into just a bookbag. I really didn't bring much stuff and the heaviest things in my suitcase were my camera and lens. Our group consisted of me, Gela, Jess, Hannah, Leah, Grace, Kristie, Jenny, Becky, and Kathy. So we all piled into Hillary, went to the ghetto cheap airport of Bucharest that as Kristie describes it, has the feel of a bowling alley, and flew out at about 7am. We landed in Rome at about 8 am their time with the hour difference, and waited for the coach bus to take us into the city. On the bus, this man with the longest handlebar mustache I've ever seen sat down next to us. We kept trying to sneak pictures of him and at the end Jenny finally just asked him to take a picture with her pig, and that picture is definitely one of the top picks of the trip. Oh and Jenny's stuffed animal/puppet pig named Gravy is her travel companion who gets his picture taken every where they go together. I started a collection of pictures of Jenny taking pictures of Gravy. But anyways, we got to the Termini bus/metro/train station, got on the metro towards where we were staying, and then tried to find the right bus stop. Since we were behind schedule, Kristie came up with the bright idea that a couple of us should take all our bags and check in at the convent, while the others go ahead to the Vatican to make sure we get in on our tour. So Kristie, Jenny, and I loaded up with everyone's bags, went to the bus stop, and after waiting forever, decided to start walking. We were quite the spectacle walking down the street each carrying 3 bookbags. We finally asked a guy where a taxi place was, since you can't just wave one over in Rome, and the taxi driver took us to the convent. When we walked through the gate of the Regina Pacis convent, it felt like a little piece of heaven. There was a long straight driveway lined with big palm trees and flowers and lots of green grass. The nun that helped us check in was adorable, and obviously didn't catch that we were kind of in a hurry. We did our best to communicate with her in English and Romanian, and to our pleasure, the Italian language and accent is exactly what you hear on TV! She actually said "mamma mia" quite frequently and when she kept saying "allora," (which I googled when we got back...it means "then" or like "therefore") Kristie said, "Laura? I don't know any Laura's. We don't have a Laura in our group." She also showed us that my friend Peggy had checked in earlier, so it was a relief knowing she found the right place, but she had already left to look for us at the Vatican. The nun finally showed us our room and called a taxi for us to take us to the Vatican.
We got in on the 1pm tour of the Vatican, with still no sign of Peggy. We got little radios and headphones to be able to hear our tour guide lady without standing right next to her. It was interesting listening to her Italian accent and the stuff she was saying about the Sistine Chapel at the beginning, but eventually we all pretty much zoned out on her or took out our headsets while we took pictures and she droned on about every single painting and statue in the whole place. Once again, I can't even begin to describe the ornateness of the Vatican City, or country I guess, but every single room, hallway, ceiling, and door had some sort of paintings, carvings, statues, tapestries, or maps. Of course I took way too many pictures in there, but there was just so much to take pictures of! The Sistine Chapel was one of the main highlights of the tour of course, and although we weren't allowed to take pictures in there, I got some pretty good ones just from holding my camera at my waist and pointing it up. I got pictures of the famous part with God and Adam touching fingers and of the side wall that was the Final Judgement. I still can't believe Michelangelo painted the whole thing on his back for 4 years, and then came back 30 years later to paint the Final Judgement scene! The tour ended at Saint Peter's Basilica, which was of course ginormous and ornate. The statue of Mary holding Jesus was in there, along with the mummified bodies of some pope who died 40 years prior but whose skin was still in tact. The whole tour was 3 hours long and we were plenty tired and hungry afterwards.
After the Vatican, we found a nearby restaurant where we sat in the sunshine outside and enjoying being off our feet and eating authentic Italian food. Most of us hadn't eaten a thing all day, and somehow the like 8 ravioli's I got didn't quite fill me up. We all described our Italian food as decent, but not life changing. After dinner we walked to the Fountain di Trevi, where we got gelatto and enjoyed it sitting on the edge of the fountain. We of course all threw in a coin to guarantee we get to come back someday. We then headed to the Spanish Steps, which would have been a lot prettier if there weren't as many people there and you could actually see the steps, but I got some great night pictures there! Then we started heading back to the convent, and of course after getting off the metro had to wait for the right bus for a while. But we eventually made it back, settled into our rooms, which were very nice and clean and had comfortable beds, and then crashed. I stayed in a room with Kristie, Jenny, & Becky. I left a note on Peggy's door, but she still wasn't back when we went to sleep. The next morning we found out that she had been essentially following us around all day since she had the schedule, and had a fun time trying to get back to the convent by talking to many different bus drivers and eventually having an off-duty bus drive her there!
So at breakfast at 7:30 on Wednesday morning, I finally met up with Peggy! I can't believe it had been almost a year since graduation when I saw her last! For breakfast they gave us rolls that we could put nutella or jam on, yogurt, fruit, and they had a nifty coffee machine. The 1st thing we did that day was go in the Castel Sant'Angelo. It looked like your typical ancient castle with dungeons and hidden stairways inside. It just blows my mind that it was built in 135 AD by Hadrian! There was also a great view of the city and the Vatican from the rooftop. After we explored the castle, we went and saw some cool fountains and churches, which were everywhere and I honestly don't remember the names of them. Then we headed to the Pantheon. It's basically a large circular church with a giant dome with an open hole in the top of it. I really don't understand how it has been preserved so well with a column of water coming down in the middle of it every time it rains or snows! We grabbed some sandwiches outside the Pantheon, then started heading towards the Colosseum. On the way we saw a huge marble museum, some ruins of a portico kind of place, and a column that had carvings that described their conquering of the Romanian people.
Being in the Colosseum just seemed so surreal. Although it wasn't quite as well preserved as most of the structures in Rome, you could still easily picture it like it would have been back in the day. At one point, we all sat down and talked about all that had gone on where we were standing. Gela and Leah challenged us to think about how many Christians were tortured and killed for sport in this arena, and if we would have the courage to stand up for our faith like they did. It made me really appreciate the religious freedom we have today, and reminded me that I should live every day of my life in light of the eternal hope I have in Christ. Outside of the Colosseum, we got some great pictures with the guys dressed up like Roman soldiers, and then walked over to the Roman Forum ruins. Pretty much as soon as we started down the path, it started hailing! And of course it would hail/rain at the only place that isn't a building! We all got soaked but tried to hide out under some rocks or under a tunnel. Thankfully it stopped about 15 minutes later and the sun came out again. The Forum was a river, but it was still awesome to see the ruins of what used to be the large covered area where all the important things of the city took place. Next to this was the church where supposedly Peter and Paul were put in jail. Some of them went in to see it, and the rest of us sat outside and dried off because we didn't want to pay the entrance fee for a 10 min walk through.
We then went to the Mouth of Truth where we all got a picture of us sticking our hands in the statue's mouth. Then we walked to the Circo Massimo where they used to have a stadium for chariot racing, or the ancient version of Nascar as I would say. Leah said she would give 10 euros to whoever could run around the entire thing, and me and Hannah were the only ones who ran the whole circle without stopping. I guess all this walking has been good for me, but my legs and feet weren't too happy with me after that run! We found another little restaurant for dinner, and I got a 4 cheese pizza that was really good, once I added some sauce to it. We did a little souvenir shopping, and I got a mug to add to my collection since they apparently don't have a Starbucks in Rome. Everyone was beat so we started heading home, but I wanted some night pictures, so Jenny, Kristie, Jess & I walked to the castle & the Vatican to take some pictures of it all lit up. We then waited for the bus for about 40 minutes which gave Kristie & Jenny plenty of time to add lines to their song and perfect it. We got home a little before our nun curfew and once again did not have any trouble falling asleep.
The next morning after our breakfast, we took the metro to this pyramid that we don't really know anything about, and there waited for a bus for over an hour. The bus took us out of the original city wall on the Appian Way to the catacombs. These were the catacombs where supposedly Peter and Paul were buried at one point, and where the Christian would somewhat secretly bury their dead. We wandered all through the tunnels with rectangular holes cut out of the side of them where the bodies were once buried and covered by a stone. The tour guide pointed out to us many of the Christian symbols of the fish, the anchor with the hidden cross, and the symbol of Christ. The tour was very interesting and educational, and this was definitely a highlight of our trip. We then headed to Saint Paul's Basilica, which was another very large and impressive church, where supposedly Paul was beheaded and buried. It was gorgeous and had a lot of carvings or paintings that showed the stories of Peter, Paul, & Jesus, but it was also just sad to see how much they worshiped the saints or the pope more than they worshiped Jesus himself.
That was all the time we had for sightseeing, so we headed back to the main metro/train stop, bought our tickets, grabbed some food, and then literally ran to catch our train. This was my 1st real train ride and it was actually a really nice 30 min ride out of the city to the airport. We got on our plane at about 6:30 pm and got picked up by Hillary and Andrew at about 10 that night. It was a trip of a lifetime, and I loved hanging out with that gang of girls and getting to know them better! But I've also found that the more I travel out of Romania, even to the epic cities of Paris and Rome, that I appreciate living in Bucharest more and more. I love that it isn't a big touristy city, even though I'm kind of a tourist, and that it's way cheaper and we use lei where I can divide by 3 to know the dollar conversion, that the public transportation is reliable and consistent, that there are pastry & bread shops every couple feet, and that they speak a language that I can somewhat understand. So yes, Paris & Rome were so amazing to visit, but I'm so thankful that God's placed me right here in Bucharest for the time being! :]
Oh and once again, I took about 1,000 pictures, which totals about 3,000 in the past 3 weeks... so please be patient while I try to go through them all and post them!
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