It was our one day to spend time exploring Rome, and although I chickened out of climbing to the top of the dome at St. Peter's Basilica, I had a terrific day nonetheless.
My plan was this: sneak out of the hotel between groups so I could explore Rome on my own. unfortunately, I ran into our tour manager while I was waiting in the lobby for the first group to leave, and I had no choice but to leave with her to see the Spanish Steps.
I could not've planned it better! I'd taken a walk with the two conductors on the trip to go to the ATM two evenings beforehand and felt somewhat familiar with our section of Rome. Yesterday morning, I ended up escorting one of the guys on the trip to the metro station because he'd missed the group bound for St Peters. From there, I snuck to the grocery store--Simply Market, the same chain I used to shop at in Paris!!!!!!--to buy (you guessed it!) Camembert and bread for lunch.
I found my beloved individually wrapped Camembert bites immediately, in addition to the super yummy granola and Kinder bars (nearly emptied the shelves, it felt like), but I felt completely lost en it came tie to buy bread. I wasn't sure what the Italian equivalent to baguette was, so I waited and watched a lady order pizza crust at the deli counter. I figured I'd follow her example, and even thought I knew no Italian in their right mind would eat Camembert with pizza crust, I knew that somewhere, some Italian woman was enjoying the same crust so I decided to give it a go. I managed to order a quarter crust and some olives 1 euro worth) from the deli man, and rarely have I felt more proud!
My loot:
After waiting in line at the register for what seemed to be forever--they were severely understaffed--I made it back to the hotel with just enough time to store my purchases in the room before meeting the rest of eye group at 10 to leave for the Spanish Steps.
Did you know that the Spanish Steps aren't actually Spanish? (Leave it to translation for such an almost predictable and certainly unfortunate misunderstanding.) According to Laura, the tour manager, the piazza beneath the steps was Spanish territory, while the church and surrounding area at the top of the steps was French(!) territory. The Pope decided he'd had enough of their fighting, so he built the steps between the two territories that would conveniently lead to the Vatican. Cool, n'est pas?
I also had a major girl moment and bought a magnet with a picture of Audrey Hepburn at theSpanish Steps from her terrific film Roman Holiday AT the Spanish steps! OMG YAY doesn't begin to describe how excited I am to put it on my fridge..,
ALSO, turns out Keats once lived at the base of the Steps, and I couldn't resist visiting the museum! Not only was the girl working in the bookstore American who taught English in Rome after graduating college, but the girl living upstairs in the museum itself--Taryn--was from Dublin!!! She'd studied in Rome in college (they were both literature majors!) and decided to stay to better her Italian! It was super cool getting to talk with them!
Anywho, there was a huge collection of first edition Shelley and Keats in the museum, as well as some Byron and Oscar Wilde! (Apparently Wilde once lived in Rome, too, and used to send mail from the steps! It was pretty neat having seen his grave in Paris and studied at Magdalen, his alma mater.) Also, while I was in Keats's bedroom, I got mega chills on the back of my neck while looking at his death mask, only to later find out that he ACTUALLY DIED IN THAT ROOM!!!!! Who knows?! Maybe I have a new friend?
Did I mention they had a lock of Milton's hair?!
Yes, the same one--or rather, the other half--of the lock I'd seen at Milton's house. Apparently Shelley'd divided up the lock and mixed one half with his wife's hair. This was the half on display at Keats's house.
I nearly died.
Afterwards, I roamed around what I thought might've been Elizabeth Gilbert's street during her stint in Rome. And I ate my delicious lunch at one of the entrances to the original walls of Ancient Rome. It was pally special knowing that I was walking where those had walked 3,000+ years ago as they made their way into the western world.
From there I stopped by the Augusteum from EPL, and although Gilbert says its one of the most quiet places in Rome, it looked like a pile of ruins that had been allowed to deteriorate. I wasn't super impressed but it was still worth seeing.
What WAS super exciting, though, was going to Rome's cat haven! Yes!!! CAT HAVEN! Turns t, there are a bunch of ferrule cats that live at the square where Julius Caesar was murdered! Ironic yes? I would've thought they would have stayed away! Anyway, there all of these cats just lounging around these ruins, though they stayed away from they stayed away from the temples. They were also filming a documentary about the haven, and had signs posted that said , "come visit the cats!"
It was all I could do to not scoop one of them up and take them home! I also at lemon gelato at Gilbert's main gelato chain, bought some souvenir coffee at her cafe!
Walking to the Vatican was beautiful, but I was surprised with the number of seemingly illegal merchants selling any number of junky, touristy souvenirs virtually on the steps of one of Christianity'smostimportant churches.
The line to enter St. Peters wrapped twice--once, both ways---around the inside of the Vatican colonnade, but we eventually made it inside....and I was not impressed. It was grand, sure, but in a very flamboyant, non-Versailles sort of way. The giant 3D, gold sculpture of Peter and the heavenly host behind the high altar was so tacky, I thought, and the marbled dome, as beautiful as it was,was nothing compared to the arches of Canterbury or the flying buttresses of Notre Dame.
Singing at the Vatican felt like a complete blur. We had no wait in a chapel in the left part of the nave until vespers ended and had to RUSH to the choir loft--or, ya know, the 5 pews crammed together behind the organ, which itself was rammed off to the side. (It was clear that St. Peter's didn't place music at the forefront of its concerns. The organist had to keep playing pitches to keep the priest in tune...)
Back to rushing. W we so rushed, we started singing the first anthem before we were even seated in the choir pews. In short, our performance was mediocre, but the best part of the service was interacting with the clergy. The presiding priest recommend us directly, in English, at the beginning of the service AND he directed the end of his homily to us. He encouraged us to live our lives as an adventure with Christ and to look to him for the adventure. It was really special to be spoken to directly by someone of such prominence. My favorite part, though, was the transfiguration.
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During my Milton class, we studied the transfiguration, the moment during which the priest blesses the communion, as a larger metaphor for the relationship between a text and its meaning. We also learned the historical significance of the transfiguration, for while Catholics believe the bread/wine literally becomes the blood/body of Christ, Calvinists and Lutherans believe that it's merely a symbol and not the actual thing itself. Knowing this significance of the transfiguration and watching this supposed transformation AT THE VATICAN still gives me chills. (I also couldn't help but daydream, 'What would Milton say if he saw me here?', for he vehemently hated the Catholics...)
We ended the evening with a few bottles of wine sitting in the hotel lobby and enjoying each others company.
What a great day!
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