Rome Again, Roam Again, Jiggity Jig

Sorry, everyone.  It’s been awhile, I know.  Time has gotten away from me.  I just can’t believe that the semester and my time here is already half way gone.  That’s scary to think about. 

Now I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m blogging about Rome again or why I went back to Rome again.  I’m in Europe for only a short while, as was just discussed, and shouldn’t I take advantage of the time to see as much as possible?  Normally, I would agree with you, but I think I went back to Rome for a VERY worthwhile reason- one of my favorite people in the whole world, Kara Anne Miller, was in ROME!!  Kara is one of my dearest friends from Rockhurst and was brave enough to live with me all last year and has lived to tell the tale.  She decided to come to Europe to see me and another friend, Allison, who is studying abroad in Prague.  Kara flew into Rome to see the Eternal City and then would go to Florence to hang with me for a little while then go to Prague to see Allison in her natural habitat. 

Kara got to Rome first and I joined her as quickly as I could catch a train after my last class.  Allison, in all manners Allison, showed up considerably later than we expected to see her.  Right as we were about to reach the verge of panic and had started contacting her mother because, of course, she had lost her phone the previous weekend at Oktober Fest (not that I can judge too harshly because I also lost my phone the same weekend in Croatia), a very confused desk manager came to tell us that someone said they were supposed to be staying in a two person room where two people were already staying.  Once we got that mess sorted out, we were all together and it had been too long.  We basically spent a considerable amount of the night talking and catching up with each other. 

The next morning we set out to explore with no real objectives in mind, but I should probably take a moment to explain the dynamics of the group.  I, obviously, had been to Rome and seen all the major highlights, so I was more eager to show Allison and Kara my life in Italy and try to hit up the not-so-common spots.  Allison is, by all terms of the definition, a nerd.  She studied LATIN (of all ridiculous subjects) all four years of high school and did an independent study of Latin at Rockhurst.  She is a Theology and Literature major and with an Art History minor.  The city of Rome was to be Allison’s candy store for the weekend.  This girl’s enthusiasm for Rome could not be contained and Kara and I would greatly feel the impact of that.  Then there was Kara, who we have to remember just came from a week of mid-terms and was battling a case of jet lag.  While Kara was excited to see the city, she mainly cared about just being with me and Allison.  So with this diverse dynamic, we set out. 

We stopped at the first major church we came to and explored.  It was nice to be exploring a church with people who just got it and appreciated it as much as I did.  That had not really been my previous experience.  We explored a lot of churches over the course of the weekend, so I’ll spare you the details because after awhile they all start running together and they are ALL simply astounding. 

From there we headed to the Colosseum, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill.  It’s not every day that you get roam around the ruins of one of history’s most prominent societies and if I had a dollar for every time Allison asked one of us to take a picture of her with some significant something or rather, I would have a considerable start for student loan payments.  There are so many cool things to see and you just can’t fully wrap your head around the fact that you’re actually where you are.  We saw the Senate and Allison ensured that we saw every point of significance. 

After lunch we just happened to stumble across the Church of St. Ignatius.  What else is more perfect for three lovely Jesuit ladies such as ourselves!?  This was probably our favorite church of the visit.  All the artwork was ridiculously lifelike.  To the point that all the figures looked like they could be real their dimensions were so good.  The one by the window had all our jaws on the floor.  It looks like the man’s fingers actually extend into the open space in front of the window.  We were flabbergasted.  No other way to put it. 

Look closely at the fingers of the man with the extended arm- CRAZY.

The church also had this weird model of other churches.  We had no idea what it represented or what it was used for, but we were entirely transfixed by it.  Our guess is that is symbolizes all the places in the world that the Jesuits have churches or communities.  Oklahoma was even on there!  We could be wrong, but that’s the hypothesis. 

The Pantheon was next and Allison and I allowed ourselves an Angels and Demons geek out moment.  I can’t really tell you why I like the Pantheon so much.  I just do.  I think I like the history of it and its uniqueness.  If you ever get the chance to go, do. 

On our way to the Piazza Navona, we found an empty church.  I had a calendar once that gave pieces of advice for every day of the year.  One of the pieces of advice that it gave was to pray in an empty, ancient cathedral.  And we did just that.  I don’t know if it classifies as ancient and technically it wasn’t empty considering there were three of us and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t actually a cathedral, but we’re going to count it. 

While strategizing for the following day, we were looking up the Vatican and saw that during the months of September and October, the Vatican is open until 11pm on Fridays.  It was a Friday and we made the impulsive decision to go.  We raced there as fast as we could and made it before the final entrance time.  For an hour and a half, we had the whole Vatican to ourselves.  It was glorious.  We could not get over ourselves the entire time that we were there.  This was really the experience of a lifetime.  We didn’t have to fight with a single person to see anything, it wasn’t ridiculously hot, and I could actually hear myself think.  This really is the way to see the Vatican.

The following day we returned to the Vatican and begrudgingly had to share it with half the population of Rome.  We saw some different parts of the museums, but the real highlight was going up in the dome of the cathedral.  We walked up 510 steps and got to see the top of the inside on the dome which was amazing and we went to the very top of the building and could see all of Rome from our perch.  It was wonderful.  St. Peter’s is easily the biggest structure in Rome and the city is at your feet.  To the greater glory of God, my friends. 

Once we were back on the ground, we found a side altar having adoration in the Basilica, so we popped in for a few minutes and stayed for the benediction.  I haven’t done anything like that in quite a while and it felt so perfect to do so with two good friends and in St. Peter’s Basilica.  Our exploration lasted long enough that we decided that we would just stick around for Mass, and so we did.  I can now brag about going to Mass at the Vatican in St. Peter’s.  If only the Pope had been the one doing the Mass, then the moment would have been completely made. 

I also got to creep on the Swiss Guard, so no complaints there!

That evening, all the museums in Rome were going to be open late and be free to the public.  We saw this as a perfect opportunity to continue to see the city and not spend a whole wad of cash.  However, everyone else had the exact same idea.  It was an absolute mad house.  The first museum we had wanted to go to had a line that went all the way down to a major street in the city.  We gave up on that conquest very quickly.  We stopped in a park to come up with a plan of attack and while Allison and I were battling out where we wanted to go and how we would get there, we had left Kara behind in the normal world while Allison and I had entered  the world of full out nerdy-ness.  I often give my Mom crap when we go on vacation for taking us on death marches of the place we visit rather than vacation.  This, unfortunately, had been the case in Rome and Kara was the one feeling the brunt of it, especially in her jet-lagged state.  When I finally left nerd world and returned to the normal world and turned to Kara to see what she thought of the plan we had come up with, I saw the most venom filled face I have ever seen from Kara Miller, even after many, many nights of me depriving her of sleep due to snoring or my inability to shut up.  She then flashed me a forced, painful and cheeky smile to cover her exhaustion.  I was laughing before I could stop myself and every time I looked at Kara the rest of the night, I would start laughing again.  Kara was a good enough sport and saw the humor in the situation as well and we would both collapse into laughter at random moments, much to Allison’s confusion. 

We finally found a museum that looked like it would be interesting and when we got there, the crowd was manageable.  It had a cool display of Roman history being projected on the walls outside of the museum, so what sat outside there for a little while and enjoyed the evening and let Allison try to be artsy with the camera. 

Allison's handiwork.

The museum we had picked out was simple but pretty dang cool.  We didn’t realize it but the museum was home to the altar of peace that Octavian built when he had finished his conquest of Egypt to symbolize the end of war and establish an era of peace.  It was pretty impressive and had a unique history of its own.  It had been moved several times and Mussolini had tried to do something with it, but didn’t get around to it in time, thankfully.  They had a live guitarist playing creating a very desirable and soothing atmosphere.  We wandered about for a little while and called it a night.

The following morning we started at the Piazza de Popolo.  It was pretty calm by Roman standards and the day was very nice.  There was a look out above the Piazza and we decided to go up and had a great view of the city.  The view reminded me of a scene from one of my favorite movies, Return to Me.  I might have to do a little research and see if that was where they filmed it.  We would have stayed up there all day if we hadn’t been motivated to go see other things.  We also had a mission to find a gelato place that had been recommended to us.  You can’t neglect your duty to gelato. 

The recommended gelato place was located on Tiber Island.  The day was so beautiful and being along the river was very relaxing after our whirlwind dash through all the major sites in Rome.  We stayed there for a little while longer than we expected and went back to the gelato shop for a second helping.  What can I say- When in Rome! 

From there we went to see the Mouth of Truth which supposedly can tell if you are faithful to your significant other or not.  If you are unfaithful and you stick your hand in, it will bite down.  There’s a fun little piece of culture for you.  The church connected to it is also worth a visit. Next to the church is the Circus Maximus and we let Allison have her fun there before we headed to the hostel for a little R&R. 

We had been trying to go see the city at night, but were too tired to actually make to each of the sites at the end of the day.  We knew this was our last shot and we were going to make it worth the wait.  I was forced to “dress up” and we treated ourselves to a dinner that consisted of something other than pizza. 

This night will go down in our personal history books as one of those nights that nothing can ever tarnish.  As Kara likes to quote, this night, “we were infinite.”  We started at the Spanish steps and started our photo shoot for the evening as well as a bottle of Limoncella that Allison’s friend insisted that she should not leave the city without trying.  While I can’t say a whole lot about the quality of the Limoncella, I will say that everything after was perfect.  We wandered from the Spanish steps to a gelato shop to the Trevi fountain.  The Trevi fountain is a must see at night.  It’s just a lovely as it is in the day time without the crazy crowds.  We simply sat and soaked it all in.  And we talked.  We talked about anything and everything.  We cried.  We said good-bye to all those things we’ve left behind as we begin our lives as young adults.  We laughed.  We remembered all those treasured moments that hold us together and relished the moment we were currently creating.  We celebrated.  We acknowledged all the struggles we had faced and all the potential our futures held.  We were infinite. 

When we finally moved from the Trevi fountain, we found the Piazza della Repubblica.  We got some nice shots there and made our way home for the evening, each of us on cloud nine. 

Or on tree stumps..

The next morning our only goals and priorities were to check out, find food, and make sure we all caught our trains on time.  After a quick lunch and a recap of the previous evening over a shared Kinder bar, we said our good-byes.  It was sad to see Rome come to an end, but we would see each other the following weekend in Prague, and after our Roman weekend, we had great things to look forward to.  

Enjoy the day!
Samantha