Rome, second day
This has been a whirlwind of a day, and my body is definitely telling me it's time to put away my walking shoes and go home. I've never had swollen ankles in my life, but today, all the veins in my lower legs are throbbing, and hurt with each step. That coupled with the hurting feet are enough to send me home.
Breakfast at this hotel has turned out to be rather a poor affair: packaged pastries (though slightly redeemed when they brought out hot rolls), yogurt, and tar-like coffee. Thankfully, I'd stolen 5 Earl Grey tea bags from the hotel in Florence, and so was able to have tea instead of icky coffee. Breakfast was early since we had to start walking to the coliseum by 8:30. The walk was fun. Rome is a fascinating place to be, again, my favorite for it's own reasons. The architecture and history everywhere is amazing. We just walked by the ruins of the old senate building, and then an enormous temple to Venus. Unreal.
The coliseum was amazing, much more interesting than I thought it would be. I hadn't realized that there was a basement underneath the stadium floor, where not only did they keep the fighting animals, they had irrigation and sewer systems and an incredibly complex theatrical system, complete with tilting and rising platforms, tons of trap doors where gladiators and animals entered the arena, but also pulley-and-ropes systems that hoisted set pieces into the arena to make fights more believable. There was also a team of specially trained sailors to worked the huge canvas awning that protected people from the sun and rain. It was fascinating.
After our tour, the group split up for lunch. Mom, dad, and I went with the Bairds and Reeds to a little restaurant around the corner from the hotel, and they did the coolest thing ever. After the meal, they brought out big chunks of watermelon to eat with a fork and knife (I haven't had fruit in so long), and then shots of their specialty wine, which was a red, sparkling wine that had strong notes of strawberry in it. It was so good. Just...amazing.
Mom and I went to go try to find some sunglasses, since this has been a bad 2 glasses days for the Turners. Dad's reading glasses snapped in half, then his regular sunglasses, then the little screw in the corner of mine came out and broke, then mom's lens popped out and won't go back in. We never found any good ones, so we're all still squinting. Which results in splitting headaches for me.
We rested in the room for a while before heading out again. Being in the heat so much here absolutely wipes you out. Our air conditioner works wonders, and even though I have a knack for accidentally picking the uncomfortable, cot-type, extra bed that they pull in that's not supposed to be there, it felt so good to lay down.
We all walked in a humongous clump over to Vatican City which took about 30 minutes. It was hot, but not nearly as hot as Venice, and one of the locals told mom that we were lucky to be here now, not last week when it was sweltering. A little side note about one of my favorite things about Italy: they have fountains of pure, cold water everywhere where you can fill water bottles or whatever for free and it's so awesome. I wish we had something like that in Charleston.
Mr. Cross and Tiffany left immediately for St Peter's after the coliseum, working to get us into the basilica (even though we were singing the freakin mass). We got there around 4, and they had just finally gotten them to not make us stand in the line just to get in. if we'd've stood in the line (which stretched all the way to the end of the colonnade), we would have missed the mass. Just getting in the doors was like trying to see the president. Finally, after we went through a bunch of security, they led us around the back of the building, essentially backstage of the Vatican, to bypass the lines. We felt very exclusive.
I was prepared not to really like St Peter's. I had assumed it was going to be really overdone, and just very...Catholic, I guess. But I was wrong. Other than Canterbury, it is my favorite place we have sung. It was unbelievably beautiful, and tasteful, and spacious, and clean. The size is staggering. You just can't take it in. The church is filled with beautiful sculptures, thousands of them, and huge paintings, and different colored marble in beautiful patterns. I mean, it was just amazing.
The original Pieta was there too, really the only sculpture that bring tears to my eyes, and always has. That was worth the whole trip to see it with my own eyes.
The mass went really well too, although I'm not sure all the kids realized how amazing it was that we were actually singing there. It was an incredible honor, and tons of people stopped, and pressed in around the full pews to hear us, and asked for pictures and autographs, and all kinds of crazy things. First time this choir was ever treated like rock stars. I think they thought we were the basilica choir.
By this time, I was really tired, and my head, feet, and legs were killing me, plus I really had to pee. Sad to say, I turned into a little girl again. Aimee went with the Hakalas, so mom dad and I meandered back toward the hotel, stopping in multiple antique bookstores and trying to find gelato. It has been so nice and fun to spend so much alone time with them. I don't remember ever really having much of that until now, since it was always all 3 of us girls together. I've loved it. Eventually, we got back to the Piazza del Novana (the place to be in the evening in Rome apparently) right near our hotel, looked for a place to sit and have dessert, decided against it, and headed back to the little gelato place called “Chiuri, Chiuri” that we'd found yesterday. It was amazing. Again.
And now, I think I may to go bed early if I can. My brain is shutting down and all it can do is regurgitate the day's events, not add the interesting little tidbits that make travel diaries interesting, so to whoever is reading this, sorry :)
Everything in me is telling me it's time to go home, and I relish the thought more every minute. Yay for home.
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