So, with a little divine providence, I finally made it to Rome. My travels from Brussels to Rome were more than a little difficult, but things always seemed to work out at the last minute (although my credit card did come into play at one point). On the way to the airport, which took a good 5 hours by the end of it, I met my first Canadian (of all the time I had been in Europe). He had asked for directions to the bus right after I did and was told to follow me. I eventually realised he was following me once I had realized that I was lost, so I set off with my new Quebecois friend to find the bus. He ended up convincing me to cut in line (to avoid missing the bus AND my flight) and helped me get my luggage on the bus, but I never did get his name. Once I was at the airport, about 5 minutes before boarding I was forced to pay 135€ for my boarding pass (LOONG story). Basically, my supposed 40€ flight ended up costing over 250€!!! I know one thing for sure: I will NEVER fly Ryanair again! But, after a few tears and a waffle from the vending machine, I was on board for what felt like the longest and bumpiest flight of my life. It was ALLL worth it as we were landing in Rome, though, when I looked out the window of the plane to see St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vitoriano Monument and the Coliseum :) On the bus to the metro station I met a very nice Belgian couple who were outraged to discover that a girl of my age was taking the metro alone at night in Rome. As it turned out, they were going to the same stop as I was so they accompanied me (AND bought my ticket)! At around 10:30pm I finally arrived at the convent where we’re staying and was reunited with Rebecca! It was and is soooooo good to see her again! We were up talking a little too late Friday night...
Saturday it was 40 degrees celcius in Rome; at 5:00. FOURTY DEGREES!!! I have NEVER experienced heat like that in my life! We were pretty busy all day, too, visiting the Vatican, St. John Lateran (main Catherdral of Rome), The Church of the Holy Cross and the Holy Stairs. Yes, we climbed the Holy Stairs, on our knees, in 40 degree weather - talk about penance! Honestly though, it was an incredible experience. Just before that, waiting for it to be open, a random man (tourist) approached us to tell us about the church of the Holy Cross, which contains relics such as Thomas’s finger (doubting Thomas), thorns from the crown of thorns and a piece of the true cross. I had heard about this Church (the young from SJ stayed there with fater Peter last year) but had no idea where to find it... and kind of forgot about it, to be honest. besides the relics, tt was also a very nice, COOL place to take a break and mostly deserted so we stopped in the Eucharistic chapel to pray a rosary together as no one else was there. If that guy hadn’t approached us at random we would have never found this church! It was then that we realized we didn’t need a guided tour of Rome (or Italy or France for that matter), because God was our tour guide. And that’s only one example of many! For the evening we had a lovely Italian supper and walked around a bit by Piazza Navona and the Pantheon and, of course, ate more Gelato. Very relaxing evening! That night, however, was not so pleasant. I was EXHAUSTED, but really not used to the intense heat and had a really hard time sleeping. It didn’t help that someone very nearby was sick to their stomach most of the night, which woke me up lots. I woke up VERY tired and with a sore throat this (Sunday) morning.
After breakfats this morning we set off for the Vatican so that we could get a few things blessed by the Pope at the angelus , go to mass, and so that I could climb to the top of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica – something I missed last time I was here. I was a bit stressed on the metro because of was the first Sunday of my trip that I did not already KNOW where and when I was going to mass in advance. I was afraid that by the time we got there and found a mass we’d be too late (it was shortly before 10). Our tour guide, however, knew exactly where we’d be going. As we approached St Peter’s Sqaure we passed the walls of Vatican City and Becca commented “hey, that sounds like an organ coming from in there”. Sure enough, people were rushing around the corning and through the doors and a small chapel. We walked right in and mass started no more that 2 minutes later – we couldn’t have timed it better if we had tried! After mass I climbed the dome (extremely worth it, but I would definitely have prefered not to have climbed 350 stairs when its 35 degrees). We spent the afternoon eating pizza, drinking endless bottles of water from the fresh taps all over Rome (its so nice not to BUY water anymore) and traveling to St. Paul’s Outside the Wall – one of the 4 major Cathedrals of Rome. It was a beautiful church, although my less impressive from the outside, which is built on the tomb of St Paul and, again, a small relief from the sun so we stopped for another Rosary. Once we were done there we decided to retreat to our room to prepare for tomorrow while the sun was still out. We plan to go back out this evening for supper and to the Trevi Fountain when it’s a little more bearable to be outside.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’m so utterly exhausted / sick or because I’ve been to Rome before, but as wonderful as it is to be back in Rome I really need a break from all the walking an sightseeing. Rebecca agreed (and she’s been in Rome for a week now) so we’ve decided to go to Assisi early tomorrow and spend the day there doing nothing but relaxing and resting. We will have a full day there on Tuesday before heading to Florence and Pisa on Wednesday.
Oh, and I almost forgot, the shopping in Rome is even better than I remember! ;)
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