Sunday

Today was a lot more relaxed through several interesting twists: certain places where unexpectedly closed and then it started pouring like anything. It’s Sunday, and we were all supposed to meet outside the Vatican museums at nine-thirty, but I decided to make my first solo expedition and leave for St. Peter’s Basilica early in order to go to 9 o’clock mass (then meet up with everyone else after mass). I knew that St. Peter’s (or Petrio’s, as all the signs say) wasn’t too far away: I would have to walk down the street from the hotel and catch a bus, then get off after roughly eight stops, once you can spot the dome of St. Peter’s and before the tunnel. That, at least, was the plan. Unfortunately I didn’t realize that you have to press a button on the bus to ring a bell, which tells the bus driver that you want off. Eventually, however, I found my way to the Vatican. It was interesting…not at all what it looks like on TV and in movies. You’re in this narrow little street and all of a sudden there’s a whole bunch of columns in front of you. You make your way through those and all of sudden you’re in St. Peter’s square with the Basilica on your left. It’s different of course if you come from the right direction, but still not what I imagined it to be like. First I started walking directly toward the Basilica, but then I realized that to get in, you have to walk in this very roundabout way because of the many barricades (confusing looking wooden fences that make it hard to see the entrance). Basically, you have to look for the line of people waiting to get through security (that’s right…you didn’t think you could get into the Vatican without going through a metal detector, did you?). Random fact: a lot of the Italian police are really hot – it’s true.

St. Peter’s Basilica is huge. Really, really, really huge. To get to the main area where Mass is said, you have to walk all the way to the back, which is fenced off so that people wouldn’t be wandering through it constantly during mass. Mass was…hmmm…how to describe? Not that impressive, actually. A whole lot less music and singing than what I would have imagined. Basically, the organ played during the procession in and out, and for communion and the alleluia. It was a lot more like a daily mass, than a main Sunday mass (all the other masses that day were held in side chapels, so I’m assuming it was the main mass). Although most of the Italian went straight over my head, I DID recognize the Our Father, thank you Mr. Minick! Going up for communion was a lot like my grandma’s Lithuanian church – everyone stampedes forward and then kinda crams into semi-recognizable lines. I think it’s a European thing, LOL. There were about five priests saying the Mass – I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t even one cardinal or bishop. =D After Mass I made a quick stop at the front, right chapel where the Pieta stood behind a protective glass (about ten or so years ago, a maniac got into St. Peter’s and started attacking the statue with a gun, which resulted in a lot of damage to its right side and the loss of one of Mary’s hands and her nose). Oh, and I stopped in the middle of the church to see the….hmm, what would you call it? Basically, there was a rail and you could look down into this tiny chapel which had a wall that said something like, “Here lies Peter” in Italian, or something like that. The chapel is built upon what is believed to be the remains of Peter, the first Pope. It’s pretty cool, but you can’t see much from where you stand. Think: Angels and Demons, without all the lame conspiracy theories, lol.

The Vatican museums turned out to be closed, but I eventually found my group *yay* and we all headed over to Capitoline Hill instead. Ok, so a quick explanation here: Rome is built on seven hills. Capitoline Hill is the seat of Roman municipality. You walk around the Memorial for the Unknown Soldier, up some stairs, and you get to a piazza which is surrounded by the Capitoline museum (which houses lots of very, very old and famous statues, such as the one of the wolf nursing Romulus and Remus). In the middle of this piazza is a copy of the large equestrian statue of Marcus Arelius (sp?), one of the earliest Roman emperors. The original is extremely old and can be seen inside the museum. Although most bronze statues from that time period were melted down and reused for something else, this statue survived the Christian de-paganizing of Rome because it was believed until just recently to be a statue of Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome. Alright, alright – enough of the history lessons, right? I’m sooorry…I just think this is all so fascinating. ANYWAY, so we didn’t actually GO to the Capitoline museum, just the piazza. After that we went to the forum (aka: the stereotypical Roman ruins, random columns, and bits of temples and churches) and finally ended up just outside the Colosseum where we all split up. Okay….I’m totally realizing that I’m starting to just give a blow by blow description of eeeeverything I do – which I’m sure ya’ll don’t want. Sorry, I’ll try not to do that, but you don’t understand…there is so much stuff crammed into my day, that one day feels like about two or three days. Mass this morning feels like it was eons ago! =) To make a long story short, I visited the Colosseum with a couple of other girls, then it started pouring so we ducked into a small Italian restaurant, I illegally bought an umbrella (heheh…apparently if the police catch you buying from an illegal street vendor both the vendor and you get in trouble…I think), then I came back to the hotel early because it was still pouring. Almost all the students ended up hanging out in the hotel lounge and having another impromtu internet powwow. I think that the staff have to know what we’re doing, but nobody’s complained to us. Dinner was interesting (lasagnia, then (pardon my spelling) shis kabobs (????), then a bowl of fruit), then a quick meeting to arrange our class times in Cortona and make sure nothing conflicted, then a bit more sitting around and gabbing while playing on our computers, and now…BED. =D hehe….if that wasn’t a run-sentence, then I don’t know what is. ANYWAY, this blog is long enough (it was written over a long period of time, don’t worry) so arrivederci! I’m goin to bed!