Rome-ing around in Roma

Upon our arrival in Rome, HH and I got lunch and a coffee. I walked up to the coffee bar and asked for a latte, as well as a cute little jam-filled cookie. When the waiter came with our order, beside my cookie stood a glass of milk, with a packet of sugar. Steamed milk. Then I remembered...latte means milk! If you want a latte you need to ask for a caffe latte! Ohhhh. It's not like in America. When in Rome...

Our first stop was Santa Susanna, the American church in Rome, where we picked up tickets for the papal audience the next day, and we heard mass in English! It was so comforting to not be straining at every word. Even though Santa Susanna isn't a particularly notable church for Rome, look at how beautiful it is! In the guidebook, I read that there are so many churches in Rome that it would take a full year to see them all if you visit 17 per week! After, we had a relaxed dinner (pizza for me) at a place promoted by our hostel's owner, Isla della Pizza.

Wednesday morning was the Papal audience. It was really cool to see Pope Benedict in person! And also pretty neat to see how many Catholics united in Vatican city to do just the same thing--pilgrimage groups from all over the world were there with us! By the way, you may have received a special blessing--at the end, the pope prays over and blesses everyone there and their families and loved ones. :)

After getting tickets for our next train rides, and grabbing lunch, we went to do some church-seeing--one of my favorite things--I especially enjoyed seeing such historical and architecturally beautiful churches! We peeked in the nearby Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. I was amazed at all the open space within--a different feel than a straight and narrow Gothic nave lined with columns. We walked southeast, to Santa Maria Maggiore and San Giovanni (St. John Lateran), which is the oldest of the Papal basilicas, consecrated in 324.

Approaching Santa Maria Maggiore

Interior -- beautiful mosaics, some dating from the 400s A.D.!

Belltower and statues above St Maria Maggiore

A view of the altar (and crypt) in St. John Lateran. 

At some point during the day, we stopped at a cafe in exhaustion, and had the best cannoli ever! I also succeeded in getting an authentic Italian caffe latte! :)

Wenesday evening, we met for a dinner with Jonas, a German guy staying at the same hostel as us. He took us to Trastevere, a quaint and quieter neighborhood of Rome. Jonas is an art history Ph.D. and he showed us a pretty church (with medieval mosaic artwork), Santa Maria de Trastevere. We also found more authentic Italian food in this quarter of Rome, and had a very nice dinner (HH and I split an apple and cheese salad and a pizza). It was great to have him along, because he knew Rome and knew Italian, and was quite interesting to speak with. He told us some cool stuff about art history and his career path, and we discovered that he was about to be a father with his girlfriend of 11 years (who, incidentally, was also in the art history field)!

HH and I agreed that in order to see the "essentials" we had to do some more serious sightseeing the next day! We began Thursday with a mass (in Italian--during the homily I tried to understand, mostly by watching hand motions-Italians DO talk with their hands!) and confessions (in English, whew) in St. Peter's. We saw Michelangelo's famous Pièta, and marveled at the beautiful dome, etc.

Touching St. Peter's foot

Then we entered the formidable Vatican museums! We tried to stick to the essentials because there is so much amazing artwork there that we knew we wouldn't make it through all of it. We saw the School of Athens and other frescoes by Rafael, and of course, the highlight is the Sistine chapel which really was incredible. After, we had lunch on the Spanish Steps, watching old men feed pigeons. We tossed coins into the Trevi fountain and picked up some delicious gelato to eat there. It was actually warm enough in the sunshine to enjoy it! Going south for the vacation was a great idea.

Fortified by our cones of gelato, we trekked to the Colosseum and Roman forums, and imagined the historical figures whose steps we were tracing...like the gladiators. In fact, we got roped into paying for pictures with a couple of gladiators!! (My fault because I was trying to sneakily take a photo of them...)

We began walking back, stopping at the Pantheon and the Piazza de Navona. As the sun set over Rome, on our last night there, we caught an amazing view of the dome of St. Peter's.

Fountain of the Four Rivers in the Piazza de Navona

After all that, we were worn out sightseers and decided we deserved to pick up some delicious Roman pizza and retire to our room to watch...GLEE! What a great day, to end a great Roman holiday!