11/24/2001,9:41 PM
"We are safely ensconced in our room at the Hotel Oceania. Stay here--you will like it.
Once we arrived at the airport, we perused the risqué "pisselle" calendars before boarding the train to Termini.
Termini...what
a crazy place! After we spent some time at the Netgate (there
I checked e-mail and found two notes from Mark...Mom called
home as the connections went down), we avoided the gypsy
cabbies and took the Line A metro. By then we were
fairly whupped (but not hungry--we split a sandwich before
realizing that we would be served a meal on the plane) and
REALLY ENJOYED the stairs to the fourth floor Hotel Oceania
location. No Stefano; I suppose we will see him tomorrow or
Monday. I'm just glad to be here, even if the bathroom
isn't quite as fancy as the one in Paris. The room is
large, the location is very good for sightseeing, the people
are friendly, and (bite your tongue, Veronica) there is a McD
down the street that advertises a salad bar. Breakfast
is included. I'm hoping to wake early enough to determine
whether I can catch the Pope at St. Peter's. I think it
probably won't work out."
11/25/2001,10:32 PM
"Great day! We didn't see the Pope, but I think we both had a good time anyway. After GOOD coffee and breads, we walked back to Termini station to pick up the "Stop 'n Go" City Tour bus. The bus follows a circuit that takes riders to 14 stops throughout the city, allowing tourists to hop on and off the buses at will. At first we rode together, but then we split up for the day.
One of my goals is to see each of the four pilgrimage churches. Church Number One: San Giovanni Laterano, where I attended Mass and took communion ("il Corpo di Cristo")...shared the peace of God ("Pace", pronounced "PAH-chay")and met briefly a German monk from a small town outside Nürnberg. He was surprised to meet a German-speaking American. I also met some very nice people in the gift shop (!) who thought my Italian (really my modified Spanish) was pretty good. We all agreed that "Dio è amore" (God is Love).
There is something to be said about Latin Mass. I found the format very close to the Lutheran liturgy. The readings and sermon were spoken in Italian. Altogether, a very high-church experience.
San Giovanni Laterano (St. John at Lateran)
Some interesting notes on this church:
Churches of Rome: San Giovanni in Laterano
San Giovanni in Laterano - Building Features
I hopped back on the bus for a visit to the Vatican and St. Peter's, Pilgrammage Church Number Two.
It was a BAD day to visit the Pope, as he canonized four new saints that morning and celebrated Mass at St. Peter's that day. Even after Mass, the line was VERY long and each person entering the Bascila was searched. I couldn't even get into the building. I did hang around for a while, as it was a beautiful day (blue sky) for Pope-watching..maybe JPII will come out on his balcony?.
At St. Peter's Square
Afterwards I stopped at the Pilgrimage Church Number Three, the Basilica of San Paolo fuori le mura (St. Paul outside the walls) and visited the site where St. Paul and St. Timothy was buried. Note the VERY open confessional.
Links
Churches of Rome: San Paolo fuori le mura
San Paolo fuori le mura: Building Features
I skipped Santa Maria Maggiore for now, as the guide wasn't so enthusiastic about the site. The other sites were amazing. I can't begin to describe the look and feel of these great churches. They are beautiful and terrible at the same time; built to the glory of God on the backs of so many common people...
I
finished all my sightseeing at around 5:30pm or so, ending up
at Termini. I checked my e-mail, then walked back to
the hotel. Mom had a taste for Chinese, so we
walked past one Chinese place to another…that was a
mistake. The staff was completely occupied with serving
a large group of Chinese guests. Oddly enough, all the
men were at one table and the women sat at the other. I'm
not sure what the occasion was--perhaps an after-church
meeting for the Chinese Methodists downstairs? Dunno.Tomorrow
we are going back to the Vatican for another go at all the
goodies."
11/26/2001,10:20
PM
"Lord knows that I have a thing for collars...
This morning Mom and I went our separate ways after taking bus line 64 to St. Peter's Square. She was not interested in the Vatican Museum. I was, so we agreed to meet back at the hotel. I went straight through the Pinoteca, a very beautiful gallery of paintings, icons, and tapestries. Afterwards I skipped the Egyptian and Etruscan works and gawked my way through the rest of the gallery to the Sistine Chapel. There is really no way to adequately describe the Sistine, except to say that pictures don't really do the room justice. I once read that most critics name the Chapel as the greatest work of art by a single human being...and I would agree. It's hard to believe that Michelangelo did the ceiling on his back, on scaffolding...I would call the Chapel one of the artistic wonders of the world.
No point in taking pictures...here's a very nice link to view the Sistine Chapel artwork. Click on the link, then click on the individual pictures to the left on the page:
Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel
After taking the “tour guide” shortcut back, I made my way into St. Peter's basilica after pausing by the Holy Doors:
I don't have all the adjectives to adequately describe the place. Commentaries point out that Rome was in the midst of a Counter-Reformation propaganda war, showing the faithful the glories of heaven with glitz. .
Pilgrims traditionally kiss Peter's toe...
Papal altar
View standing near baldicino, looking up to the dome
This place is HUGE:
Floor markers indicating the relative sizes of cathedrals (Boston, Constantinople, Westminster) if they were placed inside St. Peter's
Rome succeeded in that aim, although Martin Luther would disagree. Being there made me want to be Roman Catholic for the day.I wandered around for quite some time, even checking out the Treasury and the Crypt. I saw where Peter was martyred,
the place he is reported to be buried,
and where Pope John Paul I is entombed...I suppose that JP II will be placed somewhere nearby...
then I took the lift up to the level of the bottom of the dome...
and walked the 320 steps to the top of the cupola.
I wasn't the only "pilgrim" to pause on the way up. What a beautiful view from the top!
A dead Pope: Crypt Tour
I came outside, and on the way out became engaged in a conversation with a Josephinium grad (from Columbus!) with a year to go before taking his vows. As I said, it must be the collar; he and his friend (from Illinois) were to the point where they were allowed to be lectors.Now I can't remember their names...we had a nice talk about ecumenical issues and such. They convinced me to return for Mass, and specifically mentioned that I shouldn't take communion: I told them that I would be good.
St. Peter's, at night
Links to St. Peter's
San Pietro in Vaticano: Building Features
Between the time of our conversation and 5PM mass, I found a little place to eat VEGETABLES! At this little bar they heated up a plate of mushrooms, eggplant, and perhaps greens. I had a little veggie and cheese sandwich to go along with it. I returned to the Basilica for Mass (no communion) and then left there to go back home on the 64 bus. I must have just missed a #64, because I had to wait forever. We were packed like sardines (just as we were on the morning route) and I ended up getting home almost an hour after I left the Vatican. Crap. After I returned to the hotel, we received recommendations for dinner. We ate at Hostaria Romana; the desk clerk gave me a card with the name of Ivan, the owner. I told Ivan to choose my dinner for me. I had some kind of spaghetti in a golden sauce with pork? bacon? then veal medallions in a wine sauce...then homemade cheesecake, then Limoncino. Of course there was white wine with the dinner, warm bread, and some kind of funky greasy rice ball as an appetizer. Pretty damn good! Met Maggie, a 29-year-old American woman who had just quit med school in Seattle. She is living as a nomad right now, trying to decide what she wants to do "when she grows up".I can relate...
Here's something gratuitous...for all you guys who wish you had the body of Michelangelo's David...well, now you can...while you are cooking!!
To me, this speaks volumes about the Italian people. They are fun. They don't take themselves too seriously. They appreciate beauty...
And they love to cook!