Friday May 28, 2004

Our train left for Rome at 9:30. The ride was great. We had a small room of six seats all to ourselves and the ride consisted of sweeping views of the mountains peppered with olive groves, vineyards, small towns and wild poppies.

We composed our postcards, talked and admired the view. It was a most pleasant two hour trip.

Arriving in Rome, we found our hotel and checked in without much incident. Rome seamed like an entirely different country again! The city actually felt much more like Paris. We heard English, French and German almost as much as English! To be honest, after our intense experience in Napoli, Rome seemed to feel like Italy Lite. Crossing the streets was easy, the drivers and the pedestrians were both rather timid, and the city felt very relaxed and safe. At least compared to Napoli.

Our room was 70 euros. While this sounds expensive, it was actually quite reasonable for Rome. Staying in the city is pricey, and I would say that, while bigger, our 70 euro room in Rome was no better than the 40 euro room in Paris. It was very clean, the owners were quite friendly, but the room lacked character or style.

Once in the hotel, we consulted the guide to see what we wanted to see. We soon realized that the Vatican City was mostly closing up at 5:00 on Friday and was only open until noon on Saturday. We dashed back to the terminal and immediately hopped the Metro to Vatican City. We were actually rather proud of ourselves: Within an hour of arriving in a strange city, we had secured our hotel, dropped off our stuff, and successfully navigated the metro.

The metro ride to Vatican City took about 15 minutes. The metro was quite busy, but we both felt safe the entire time. Arriving at the City was a bit of a shock...

What an experience! Vatican City is like Disney World for Catholics. I honestly don't mean to be disrespectful, but it was the only part of our trip that we were majorly taken for, herded like cattle, and then expected to buy everything. As the museum closed first, we went there after grabbing a quick bite to eat. The museum contains many Greek and Roman sculptures, rooms by Raphael, the Sistine Chapel, many Renaissance works as well as an amazing room/hallway of maps of the old world. I have to say that the map room was at least as impressive to me as the Sistine Chapel. However, despite these amazing works, we both felt more than a little taken.

For starters, you are herded into an area with a metal detector. From there, you are once again herded to the ticket area. Entrance costs 12 euros. You are given no information before hand on what is inside, no information after you've paid your money, and the museum, while amazing, is very poorly labeled. To compensate for this, you are expected to buy the Official Museum Guide. This brings us to the next problem with the museum: They sell posters, pens and other trinkets in the actual museum. They cover up works of art to hawk things to you after you've paid $20CDN for the privilege of being there! And the trinkets aren't cheap. Posters for 8 euros, pens for 120 euros and we didn't even look at the prices for the jewelry. All of this being sold by disinterested and often rude employees.

In a way, I don't blame the staff. There were so many annoying guided tours that it would wear anyone down. However, as amazing as the museum was, the presentation of it detracted significantly from the experience.

Once we were through the museum, we went to the gift shop to get postcards. Sarah bought a pack for 4 euros. As we left the building and made our way to St. Peter's, we passed by many stores and vendors selling the identical set for 3 euros. That's right, not only do they advertise to their completely captive audience, they add their own special museum markup. Sarah was more than a little annoyed at this.

We made our way to St. Peter's, passing through another metal detector, walking through beautiful old arches. St. Peter's sits at the center of a massive square. It's quite a thing to experience from the outside, but this impressive view does little to prepare you for the interior of the shrine to the Catholic faith.

I would argue that St. Peter's cannot be described in words. Neither would postcards or videos do it justice. One really has to experience it. To be honest, had I not walked through it myself, I would doubt that such a building could possibly exist. If I had to select a single word for the building, it would be a toss up between opulent and excessive.

Sarah summed things up brilliantly when she said that Duomo was a structure built for the glory of God, where St. Peter's felt as though it was a structure built for the glory of the Catholic Church.

The building consists of massive hallway after massive hallway. The entire structure is made of marble. It houses sculpture after sculpture, mostly of the various Popes. The greatest work housed in the building is undoubtedly La Pieta. This sculpture by Michaelangelo was his crowning achievement. It is a sculpture of the virgin holding a dying Jesus. The cloaks look real, the muscles and tendons look real. It is fabulous.

After St. Peter's, we both felt rather overwhelmed and returned to Rome and the comfort of our hotel. We left for dinner soon after arriving home. We went to Trattoria de Bruno, an Italian restaurant that serves famously good pasta. Sarah and I had pasta and split a half liter of the house wine. It was a lovely time. We liked it so much that we decided to go back the next day for our final meal of the vacation.

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