June 19, 2007 – First Day in Rome

The Castile Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City Chris and I in Vatican City The Pantheon After changing some money at the airport, we went through customs where they merely checked our passports and went to wait to get our bags. Everyone was standing around waiting, and we realized that our bags were already sitting there waiting for us. Yay! They were the first ones off the plane and we were on our way. We went outside to get a taxi. We didn’t realize what we were getting into. It was the ride of our life. We started out and our taxi driver was talking on his cell phone. Then he slowed down and another taxi driver drove up next to him. They rolled down their windows and talked to each other while they were driving. And they were driving rather fast. Then we got on the road going in to Rome. It was 10 minutes to 8:00 – rush hour. It was nuts. There were lines in the roads, but I don’t think lines are there for anything except suggestion. We were driving on the shoulder of the road; People on scooters were driving between the cars. They were literally inches from each other. At one point, someone was trying to get in our lane and we came within 2 inches of hitting the person. I gasped audibly at that point. Our taxi driver probably thought we were as funny as we thought he was. He was reading his newspaper while driving, picking his teeth and talking on the cell phone. It was so interesting. We drove by the Vatican museum where there were thousands of people in line, standing in the roads. Well, he didn’t care. He would have hit the people if they hadn’t moved out the way. Shew! We made it to our hotel and went up to Mom and Dad’s room. They hadn’t expected us until after 10, so we were there a couple of hours early, which I think was a pleasant surprise for them. Dad had just been getting ready to go buy flowers for each of our rooms, but since we were there, he decided to spend some time with us instead. Boy, it was good to be there. Jason and Kendra didn’t arrive until 10:00 and Stephanie and Dan didn’t get there until nearly 11:00. I was ready to see Rome! After they got there, we all decided to go for a walk. Our hotel was located in a wonderful location, very close to the Vatican. We walked by the Castile and saw an old Roman Moat. How cool! We saw the famous Bridge of the Angels and then went to the Vatican City. It was gorgeous. Absolutely incredible. We went into the Basilica and saw the grandeur of the inside. There were beautiful paintings everywhere, which we later learned were not paintings at all but instead, were mosaics. I never would have known because they were so perfectly done. We saw Michelangelo’s famous “Pieta” sculpture. It was beautiful. Such a privilege to see. And we saw where Saint Peter is buried, along with the other popes throughout the centuries. We did get to see where Pope John Paul was buried last year – it is a shrine, and people were kneeling before it. It was a little disturbing to me. We then walked down to Piazza Navona, which is my favorite piazza in Rome, ate Gelato for the first time – Dad’s treat, and saw the Pantheon, the oldest free-standing dome like that in the world. It was built in 125 AD. Amazing. Gorgeous. That is where Raphael is buried. On the way back to the hotel, we saw the Trattoria, which I had read about on the internet before coming. Quaint old streets where you see mostly locals, laundry hanging out strung between the buildings, etc. It was perfect. A perfect European street. It was my favorite street in Rome. We went back to the hotel and I laid down for a nap. We had to be at a meeting at 5:30. Chris took a shower and I asked him to wake me up around 5:00. He fell asleep as well, however, and I woke up at 6:00. We were late for our meeting. I was so embarrassed. Mom and dad later said that Kendra had knocked on our door and they had called 3 times. We must have needed the sleep, because we didn’t hear anything. We went to dinner with the entire Globus tour at a little hole in the wall restaurant not far from our hotel. It was very good. We started with water, champagne, white wine and red wine. Gross, gross, gross. Then we had antipasti, a plate with 5 different thinly sliced meats like prosciutto, salami, etc. and three scoops of mozzarella cheese. We had 2 types of pasta, and then we had salad and pork, and green beans. The dessert was wonderful – a cheesecake with 3 different berries in jello on top. Chris even liked it.