Pearls in Rome, Day Eight (Arrivederci, Roma!)

Wednesday, March 27

As I come to the end of this series about our fabulous Roman Holiday a little over a month ago, I realize that there are so many pictures I never even got around to sharing, pictures of some of the most iconic sights in Rome--such as Il Vittoriano, or the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II), the famous white marble edifice located in the heart of the city that has been nicknamed  "the Wedding Cake."

I took a few quick pictures of this impressive and imposing landmark (including the requisite selfie) when we passed by it on our second day in Rome, as we were making our way over to the Colosseum for our tour (my head was on a swivel, I'll tell you, and my eyes were just about popping out of my head, taking it all in!).

There are other places, too, that I never got around to talking about--such as the Castle Sant'Angelo on the bank of the Tiber River. This structure was originally built by the emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum but later became a papal refuge.  There is a secret corridor that connects it to the Vatican, so that the pope can flee to safety if Vatican City comes under siege.

I took some photos, including this one, of the Castel Sant'Angelo on the days we visited St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums.

Actually, this might be a good time to tell you that if you haven't been following along and want to catch up with the "Pearls in Rome" series, here are links to Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, Day Five, Day Six, and Day Seven.  (Even though these posts have a lot more pictures than words, going through so many of them probably seems a bit daunting.  So suffice it to say that we saw a lot of amazing things and it was just about the best week ever...and I have fallen head-over-heels in love with Rome!)

I chose a travel-friendly outfit for the long flight back to the US.  I almost always dress in a skirt and tights for air travel, a holdover from my husband's early days with the airline (way, way back in the late 1980's!), when there was a strict dress code we had to follow if we wanted to take advantage of the perk of free stand-by flights.  But for this day of sad farewells, I chose a casual ensemble of jeans, a flowy, loose-fitting top, and a soft, open-front blazer. This 3/4-sleeve jacket was a staple of my wardrobe for our week in Rome, and it even fit nicely under my roomy trench coat on the cooler days.  (It was an inexpensive Walmart find--and if you haven't ever shopped for clothes there you should really check it out!)

Our bags were packed and sitting by the door.  [Sniff!]  Before we walked out that door for good, we did one last quick check of the apartment to make sure that we hadn't left anything behind and that the place was as immaculate as possible.  (As VRBO homeowners ourselves, we know how much it is appreciated when guests treat the property respectfully!)

There was a taxi stand right next to the Pantheon, which was a few minutes' walk from "our" little apartment.  So we left at 7:00 a.m. and dragged our roller-bags over the cobblestones toward the Pantheon to catch a cab to the Termini train station.

That's my guy up ahead.  I was lagging a bit...reluctant to leave!

Good bye, Pantheon!  I'll miss you!

We boarded the Leonardo Express, and I couldn't stop taking pictures (from my seat on the train, through the window)--even as the city rushed past us in a blur.

Before we knew it, we had been assigned seats on our flight-- together up in First Class (woo hoo!).  That's all I needed to feel safe and comfortable on the trip across the big, blue ocean: my OBALP (Old Building and Loan Pal) sitting right beside me.

Actually, I needed one other guy with me, too.  I always hold this St. Joseph holy card in my hand when we take off, and I say the Unfailing Petition to this powerful saint that is printed on the back of the card.

(I say all I needed was those two guys to feel comfortable...but the cocktails, four-course meal, dessert cart, and movies-on-demand didn't hurt either!  I can't lie.  Those things definitely helped to take the sting out of having to leave my beloved Rome.)

I watched a couple of movies.  I read a book on my Kindle (Ornamental Graces by Carolyn Astfalk--I recommend it!).  And before I knew it, we were back on American soil.

I still can't believe we went on this trip!  We had talked about it many times over the past 15 years or so, and had even started to make plans on several occasions; however, more important family-related matters came up and we had to put our dream of a Roman Holiday on hold.  But we finally did it!  We actually made that dream come true.  I have to pinch myself sometimes.  Ask my husband how many times I've said recently, completely out of the blue, "Thank you so much for taking me on that trip!"  (His reply is always, "No, thank YOU!")

Our meals since we've been back home in VA have had a heavy Italian influence.  LOL!

I know I'll never forget our time in Rome.  But I also think that these blog posts documenting our days there will help to keep the memories fresh for me.

I hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane!  And if it is your dream to visit Rome one day, I hope you get to do it.  You will not be disappointed!

Pearls in Rome, Day Seven (Vatican Museums--Including the Sistine Chapel!)

For the entire time we'd been in Rome thus far, my hubby and I had seen nothing but sunshine and blue skies.  (If you haven't been here in a while and you want to read the first six posts about our recent Rome trip, here are links to Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, Day Five, and Day Six.)

Tuesday, March 26

On Day Seven, we had our first experience with gray and gloomy weather.  It was raining lightly but steadily as we walked over to the Vatican Museums in the morning and waited in a fairly long ticket line. Luckily, the coat I'd packed for this trip was a loose-fitting, water-repellent trench with a hood attached, so I was able to stay dry enough.  We didn't have umbrellas, and we probably should have bought one from one of the many vendors trying to sell them to us as we waited in line.  But my husband decided he could deal with the rain bare-headed, and fortunately it never really poured down hard.  Before we knew it, we were inside anyway.

We rented two sets of audio tour equipment, which consisted of headphones plugged into little battery-operated boxes that hung about our necks.  These devices gave audio narrations explaining all that we were seeing, room by room.  If you missed a bit of information about a particular piece, you could hit the replay arrow and listen again.  The rooms and many of the individual works of art in them were numbered, and we used the little audio tour boxes to select the numbers we saw as we made our way through the museums.  (Did that make sense?  I hope so.)

The Vatican Museums display a vast collection of priceless works of art which have been amassed by the popes throughout the centuries.  There are so many pieces of precious artwork housed in theses museums, including world-renowned ancient Roman sculptures, giant tapestries depicting the life of Christ, and some of the most acclaimed masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance painters.  There are rooms filled with  magnificent frescoes by Raphael.  And that's before you even get to the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo's famous and indescribably beautiful paintings on its ceilings.

Friends, readers, bellas...I don't think I can describe what we saw.  As usual, when it comes to this Rome trip, I'm going to have to mostly let my pictures do the talking.  (And luckily, until we got to the Sistine Chapel, visitors were allowed to take as many photos as they pleased.  So what do you think this visitor did?  That's right, you guessed it: she took a whole slew of photos!)

The first rooms were filled with artifacts from ancient Egypt...including actual mummies!

Then there rooms filled with hundreds and hundreds of Roman sculptures, astoundingly life-like figures created by the hands of incredibly skilled artists.

The tapestries were breathtaking.

The opulent beauty of everything the eye beholds as you walk from one section into the next is indescribable.  If you are a lover of art, or architecture, or just plain beauty in general, a visit to the Vatican Museums is for you.  Actually, I can't imagine any human who could help but be moved by the majesty of it all. The term "awesome" is overused in our day and age, so that it has kind of lost the power it should have; but that is the perfect word to describe this amazing place.

My husband and I both felt unutterably moved by the almost otherworldly beauty of Raphael's paintings.  We spent a lot of time in the rooms adorned with his frescoes.

I remember thinking, "How can the Sistine Chapel be any better than this?!  How can Michelangelo's paintings be as good as Raphael's?"

I was about to find out...because when we finally got to the last stop on the tour, I was completely blown away.  My husband and I spent quite a lot of time in the Sistine Chapel, standing in the midst of throngs of noisy tourists, listening to our audio boxes and replaying some of the sections.  We just couldn't tear ourselves away from that magnificent chapel.  People were admonished to be quiet and remember that this was a holy place, a place of prayer, but it got loud at times.

When we first entered the Sistine Chapel, I didn't notice any signs saying that photography was against the rules (later, my husband would explain that the warning sign near the entrance had been hidden by the thick crowds), and I saw dozens of people pointing their cell phones and cameras at the walls and ceilings.  So thinking that it was okay to do so, I started to take photos with my iPhone, too, until I was told to stop.  (After that, numerous announcements were made over the loudspeaker reminding visitors that photography was not allowed, yet most people kept snapping away. I am a rule follower, though, so I stopped as soon as I was told to.)  I actually have a few beautiful pictures of the huge wall fresco known as "The Last Judgment" on my phone, taken when I didn't know photo-taking was a no-no; but I don't feel right publishing these "forbidden" images at the blog.  So here's one that I found on the Internet.

I was also thrilled to see (and get a photo of) this beautiful lady Michelangelo painted on the ceiling, an image that I'd tried to recreate with charcoal pencil as a very amateur teenaged artist (I once wrote a short post about this subject here).  Something about this face has always appealed to me.

My husband and I ended up buying two souvenir books at the Vatican Museums gift shop, one called Raphael's Rooms and the other titled The Sistine Chapel.  These picture books are filled with all the glorious paintings by those two unparalleled artists that we were lucky enough to see with our own eyes on our seventh day in the Eternal City.

We had purchased our tickets at about 11:00 a.m., and we didn't emerged from our long day of touring the museums until 5:45 p.m.!  Wow, that was some experience!  By then, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining again.  We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather than we had during our time in Rome.  The temperatures were mild, and other than that not-too-heavy rainfall on the morning of the seventh and last day, it was simply glorious all week!

As we left the Vatican area, we passed by Old Bridge and this time there was no line, so we enjoyed some cones piled high with gelato. (Later, after dinner, we would each order another double scoop over at Giolitti's, just before we headed back to our apartment and called it a night--because we thought our last full day in Rome deserved an extra treat.)

They had an Oreo flavor--and it was molto delizioso!

Walking back across the Tiber River, as the sun began to set, the view from the bridge was incredible...I mean, just look at this stunning picture I got--with the dome of St. Peter's there in the distance.  (#nofilternecessary)

This was another night that we had a later dinner than usual, and it was the only time all week that we didn't dine al fresco.  Looking through a guide book one day in our apartment, we had stumbled upon a recommended restaurant called Fraterna Domus di Roma.  Located in the heart of ancient Rome (near the Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and the Vatican), Fraterna Domus is actually a convent where the sisters in residence serve a family-style meal each night of the week except for Thursdays.  We had made a reservation, and starting at 7:30, we were served a four-course, home-cooked dinner (soup and/or pasta, salad, pot roast with potatoes and green beans, fruit) by the most friendly and adorable Italian-speaking nuns.  We thought having dinner in this cozy and welcoming convent dining room was a fitting way to end our week-long sojourn in Rome.

Even the tiny chapel in this mid-city convent was inordinately beautiful.  I couldn't help snapping a quick picture as we passed by it on our way out of the building.

After dinner, we strolled to our Pantheon neighborhood.

We were kind of stuffed (the nuns did not take no for an answer when they came around with heaping platters, offering seconds!), but we had to have one last gelato at Giolitti's.

After that, we went back to the apartment to start the packing process, because we were going to have to catch a taxi at 7:00 the next morning, and then a train to the airport...

It was almost time to say a sad arrivederci to Roma...

More to come!

Pearls in Rome, Day Six (St. Peter's Basilica)

If you've been following along with this "Pearls in Rome" series, you know that by the end of the first five days of our Roman Holiday last month, my husband and I had visited three of the four major basilicas of Rome: St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. John Lateran, and St. Mary Major.  (If you haven't read those previous posts and want to get caught up, here are links to Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, and Day Five.  These posts are mostly pictures, so it really doesn't take that long to get through them.)

Now it was finally time to visit the big kahuna--the most important of the four, the Mother Church for all of Christendom, the Papal basilica located in Vatican City: Basilica di San Pietro (St. Peter's Basilica).  We had decided to save the best for last.

And oh my, it was worth the wait!

Monday, March 25

Before I get started, I am going to note (because it will be significant as far as what happens later in today's story) that it was our routine during our week in Rome to only eat one meal a day.  I would have a cup or two of coffee in the morning before we left our cozy little VRBO apartment, made with instant coffee picked up at the local grocery store and water heated up in the microwave, and my husband would have juice; but otherwise, we would wait until early afternoon to find a nice outdoor table where we would sit and have a cocktail and then order and enjoy our main meal. (Yes, we were like Jerry's parents in that Seinfeld episode where he visits them in FL, and he is flabbergasted that dinner happens at about 4:00 p.m.!  We're old folks now, and this is how we roll--early bird special all the way!)  Later in the evening, after continuing our post-dinner sightseeing, we would stop for our daily gelato fix before heading back "home" for the night. But we really only ate one true meal a day.  This was partly because it really is true that you can't (and don't need to) eat as much when you hit--ahem!--a certain age; and also partly because trying to find a decent public bathroom along the crowded streets of Rome can be pretty tricky.  Sometimes, we would duck into a café and I would order a cappuccino, just so we could use the facilities.  But as a general rule, we decided that the less we ate and drank before heading out for a long walk, the better!  (TMI?  Sorry!)

We tried to get an early start, but still, there was a rather long line already by the time we got to St. Peter's.

I'll tell you, though, if you have to spend time waiting in line, it's a lot less painful when it's a gloriously sunny day, with the bluest sky imaginable.  Not to mention when the scenery around you looks like this.

Before long, we would see all of these giant saint statues up close!

There was a couple ahead of us in line, taking turns photographing each other doing all sorts of wild poses--including jumping in the air with arms spread-eagle--with the basilica behind them in the background.  I admired their ability to get the Instagram-worthy shots they desired, no matter who was watching, and decided I wanted to have my husband take my picture.  (You know, for proof after we got back home that I was really there!)  Here is the wild-and-crazy pose I chose for my big moment.

"I don't know what to do with my hands!"

The line actually moved along pretty quickly, and before we knew it we were inside St. Peter's.  I am going to let the pictures do the talking for me (these are just a handful of the hundreds I took!).  I was so in awe of its beauty that I was left just about speechless, with a lump in my throat.  And I felt so privileged to be there!  I know there are many Catholics who would give anything to be able to see this magnificent church and might never get a chance to travel to Rome--and I am aware that it was a blessing and a gift that my husband and I were able to do it.  As I said in previous posts, he has been to Rome on numerous occasions for his job as an airline pilot (so he has been to St. Peter's multiple times); but this was my first time ever.  And being there together was an indescribably special experience for both of us.

Anyway, on to the pictures.

I couldn't stop snapping pictures with my iPhone!  Everywhere I looked, there was a feast for the eyes.  Everything I saw made my soul feel lighter and closer to Heaven. I even got to see Michelangelo's Pieta up close, and was thrilled that it was not against the rules to take pictures of this famous masterpiece.

Just as we were passing by one of the side chapels, we saw that a noon Mass was about to start there; so we had the unique privilege of attending a Mass at St. Peter's, which hadn't been on our list of activities for the day but was a happy accident indeed.

After we'd spent a good bit of time exploring the main floor of the basilica and the lower level crypt, which is the burial place of St. Peter and other popes and saints, we decided it was time to go up, up, UP!  We took an elevator to the inside of Michelangelo's cupola, or dome, where we had a bird's eye view of the interior of the basilica down below.  From that vantage point, we could see up close all the mosaics that make up the dome's design.

Next up: climbing to the top of the dome!

This was where the lack of food and drink (mentioned earlier in this post) kind of got to me.  When you get higher and higher up in the dome, the staircase is very steep and narrow, and the walls kind of close in on you (not a great situation if you have claustrophobia!), and because you're walking along a curved surface you feel like you're off-balance.  I was following behind my husband--and the line of climbers was moving along at a good clip--and I suddenly started to feel light-headed and faint.  I got a little panicky and made him switch places with me; if I fainted and fell backwards, I wanted to land on him and not some stranger! I probably shouldn't have attempted this climb on an empty stomach, but I ended up making it all the way up with no problem (as soon as I knew he was going to be there to catch me if need be!).

And I have to say, the views from the top made the difficult climb totally worth it!

Only my hair was having a bad day.  In every other way, this was pretty much the best day ever.

Here is a picture I took of my husband on the way down the stairs--just to give you an idea of how intimidating it is!  (And to make myself feel like less of a weakling for nearly fainting on the way up!)

After our descent from the dome, we took some time enjoying all there was to see from the lower level.  It was so neat to be standing so close to those enormous saint statues that are high up atop the colonnades outside the basilica.  They look so small from ground level!

And to be this close to the outside of the iconic dome--wow!

Before taking the elevator all the way back to the bottom, we stopped at a little café located near the base of the dome, and we got some drinks and split a bag of potato chips.  Feeling more fortified, we headed down.

It was sad when our visit to St. Peter's came to an end.  But before we left, we got to see a couple of Swiss Guards on duty--which was definitely on my wish list.

After we left St. Peter's, we browsed one of the many religious gift shops located near the Vatican and I bought a souvenir transferware plate.  Then we went to a nearby gelato place called Old Bridge, which was recommended to me by author A.J. Cattapan, one of my Instagram friends; but the line was too long, so we decided to try again the next day when we came back that way again to visit the Vatican Museum.

On our walk back toward our neighborhood near the Pantheon, we ducked into Santo Spirito in Sassia (Holy Spirit in Saxony), the church that is home to the original Divine Mercy painting.  My husband says that this church is often overlooked because of its proximity to St. Peter's, which is the real draw in the area.  But he wanted me to see it (and when we prayed the Diving Mercy novena recently, starting on Good Friday, I couldn't help but be reminded that I had actually been inside this beautiful church--lucky me!).

It had been a long, exhausting, and utterly fantastic day!  It was already past our usual early dinnertime, but we felt like we needed a little rest.  So we had our "cocktail hour" back at our apartment.  We stopped at a grocery store on the way "home" and picked up some sodas, nuts, and chips, and we relaxed--put our feet up, literally!--for a bit before strolling over to the Piazza Navona (my favorite of all the piazzas) to find a good place to have dinner. We ended up at Strepitoso's.

There was a trumpet player putting on a little free jazz concert in the doorway of the restaurant as we ate our dinner al fresco a few tables over.  It was almost too good to be true.  As was the food.

Sometimes, you have a hankering for just plain old spaghetti with marinara sauce.

So that was the end of Day Six.  (Except for an after-dinner visit to Giolitti's, of course, where I got a double scoop of a gelato flavor called "White Cream," which I ordered pretty much every time--because even in Rome, I'm a boring vanilla-type person.)

Just one more day to go.  ([Sniff!]  Grabbing my hanky here!)  All good things must come to an end, after all, even once-in-a-lifetime trips to Rome...but not before we got to tour the Vatican Museums--and see Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel!  So stay tuned!