We had to all wake up extra early this morning in order to get in line for the Vatican. The Vatican which is its own separate state within Italy (meaning it has all its own embassies, post offices, press, and police station) was jam packed with visitors all lined up waiting on the outside in order to visit it. We were lucky being in a group because we had priority over the other line where people had been waiting all night, and because of our status we were promptly ushered in at 8:00am sharp.
Once inside we met with Paulo (our tour guide in rome) and we went directly into the Vatican museum. The insides were unbelievable. The church owned corridors upon corridors upon countless marble statues and paintings. There were all types of art preserved and displayed from forgotten times. It was obviously a very beautiful museum, but what was even more astonishing besides being wowed by each room was the incredible amount of wealth that the catholic church had. Each pope in St. Peter’s Basilica seemed to be trying to outdo his predecessor by having a more elaborate tomb. I suppose in all reality this is the best way for them to be preserved for years to come (there ideas along with there bodies) but for the sheer amount of wealth and overall effort put into something that is supposed to be specifically a church, was really ridiculous. It was beautiful, I was wowed and stunned, but it’s hard to believe this was all really when it comes down to it for a church.
When we went into the Sistine chapel (the Pope’s private church) I was speechless. There was no words for such a masterpiece. I suppose my academic self came forward when I let the painting sweep over me, to think that one person did such a painting themselves on the ceiling of a church… it was really powerful to be in the presence of something great like that. Only downside was the swarms of people, and the neck ache from looking up for so long.
After getting out of the Vatican (I was upset that we didn’t get to spend more time with the art in the museum, because for some reason the gift shop is more important to people, go figure) we took the bus back to the hotel to plan our next move. I still really wanted to see the catacombs so we decided to take the green line bus, an archaeological running bus that would take us out that way. We met up with Kyle and his dad and asked them if they wanted to go, and after agreeing we were off. As we rode on the bus, we got to see Circus Maximus, where they had the old chariot races and we also got to see some of the ancient roman aqueducts.
The catacombs when we got there were surprisingly interesting. We walked down more then 20 meters into the gigantic tomb where over ½ million people were buried, 40% of which were children. It was so cool to be down there underground in view of all the old crypts from centuries ago, but what I found most fascinating was how workers before electricity had to use oil lamps to dig the crypts far down in the earth. I just kept thinking what if you tripped while you were working, down so far with nothing but darkness and dead bodies. And even if you did have a lamp they did not have maps of the tunnels, so you had to know your way through by heart or you could get perpetually lost in all the twists and turns. I bet people got murdered down there all the time, It be a pretty easy cover up, I mean your surrounded by crypts, there is no way they’d be able to find which one your body would be stashed in. Well, moving away from such grim possibilities, let’s just say that it was a very thought provoking visit.
When we had finally crawled out of the large grave, and my mind had calmed down from its wild speculations, we jumped back on the bus and stopped off at the church Santa Maria in Cosmedian, so I could stick my hand in the wall of truth which was originally a medieval aqueduct. I think everyone there thought it was pretty stupid (biggest tourist trap ever) but I needed to get the picture with me sticking my hand in it.
Then it was back to the hotel again to rest for the opera dinner. It was a fantastic time, and a great way to say goodbye to a lot of people that would not be continuing with us to Sorrento. The singers were very entertaining and they used audience participation often. One of the members from our group got a nice shave, and a guy actually pulled up my mom to dance with him during one number. There were a lot of laughs and we finished off the night with a night tour of lit up monuments of Rome.
Tomorrow is Pompeii and our last hotel in Sorrento.
Ciao
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