Rome

Ryan and I have talked about traveling in Italy for as long as we've known each other. Our idea was that we would take an "eating tour" of the country. If we saw some sights, great, but what we'd really do is eat our way through the country. We joked that we would pack only sweatpants so we could totally gorge ourselves on Italian food. So when my dad's family decided that Italy would be the destination for a reunion/gathering this fall we jumped on the chance to go.

Well, it wasn't quite the "eating tour" we imagined, but we did have lots of great food. Our first three days we spent in Rome. We stayed at the Hotel dei Borgognoni (I had a REALLY hard time pronouncing that...turns out the second "g" is silent, as in "lasagna"). It was in a great location between the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. The morning of the first day we arrived we ambitiously set out to see some of Ancient Rome. We quickly realized that we were in way over our heads because despite the weeks of research we had done on everything from the history of Rome to Greek and Roman mythology, we had NO IDEA whether the rubble before us was the remains of some famous ancient temple/market or just road construction. (We later discovered that it was the Trajan Forum.) I'll blame it on the jet-lag, but we were definitely pretty clueless. So we gave up on serious sightseeing and decided to just wander and soak in the vibe of the Eternal City. We had a terrific afternoon, discovering some beautiful little side streets and hidden gardens. We all crashed early.

Day 2-- We went to Vatican City and stood on a very long line to get into St. Peter's Basilica. One of the most moving parts of that experience was going down in to the crypt of the popes and seeing where John Paul II was buried. It was a very simple marble slab with his name and dates on it, but there were bouquets of flowers and candles all around. It was sort of amazing to think that there lay the man who had led and inspired 800,000,000 Catholics, and who had played such an instrumental role during the Cold War of sustaining the faith of Catholics behind the Iron Curtain. I just thought of all the people, literally hundreds of millions, who loved that man. It was really awe-inspiring. By the time we finished at St. Peter's, the Vatican Museum and the Sistene Chapel were closed for the day so we headed back home on the subway.

Day 3-- Abby arrived, bringing her incomparable energy and humor (not to mention unflagging appetite for gelato). We decided to hire a guide to take us around the ancient ruins. We asked our hotel concierge to arrange a guide for us...I think he just called his boyfriend because our totally flaming guide, Stefano, spoke barely passable English, and his only real credential was that he was a 7th generation Roman. Abby and Ryan were not so annoyed with him, so they would give a different account of this story, but I thought he was definitely not worth the king's ransom we had to pay him for a private tour. In any event, I'm sure that gave us a better understanding of the ruins than we possibly could have gotten on our own. Oliver had a complete meltdown in the middle of the tour, so that probably had something to do with my sour experience.

Day 4--Abby and I decided that we would try to see the Sistine Chapel. Ryan volunteered to stay at the hotel and let Oliver sleep in. We had a train to catch to Florence at 12:30, so Abby and I would have to make a very quick trip. We got to the Vatican at what we thought was an early hour (8:30...it doesn't open until 9:30) but already there were literally thousands of people lined up. I have never seen such a line. It was totally crazy. So we decided to bite the bullet and pay for a tour (with the way the dollar is trading, by this point it felt like we were just hemorrhaging money) so we could skip the line. We ditched the tour as soon as we got inside (still it took an hour in the tour line) and raced for the Sistine Chapel. The Vatican Museum was amazing (at speed-walking pace!), we could have spent weeks there and not have seen it all. We finally made it to the Sistine Chapel which was, after all, worth all the hassle it took to get there. It was beautiful and sumptuous. I wish that a) we had had more time to spend there, b) it was not quite so crowded, c) I had brought binoculars. I would say, "next time", but I honestly don't know if I could endure those crowds ever again. We raced back to the hotel, scooped Ryan and Oliver up, made a mad dash to the train station, nearly missing our train, and finally settled into our seats for the hour and a half trip to Florence. Ahhh...