When in Rome...

Wow, it's been quite a time since I last posted. And this time it's due more to business than lack of doing exciting things. In all actuality, the past 2 weeks have probably been the most exciting I've had since getting to Spain. One major reason for that was the visit of one Jordan Allen, a college graduate-turned Cracker Barrel 3(or 4)-star employee who luckily had nothing better to do than visit me in Europe. During his 2 weeks in Europe, we had many adventures, including a week-long journey to the hub of ancient civilization: Rome, Italy.
Since I had a long 5-day weekend and Jordan wanted to come, we took this chance to make my first Euro trip outside of Spain to Rome. After we made our reservations, we got the great surprise that Dustin and Bethany would be joining us. Bethany is doing the same Fulbright teaching grant I'm doing, only in East Germany. Her husband Dustin is just there along for the line, surprisingly studying Spanish at a German university. They are two of my good friends from Georgetown, so it was great to see them and have them join in on our adventure.
Jordan arrived to Spain on Wednesday morning (Dec. 2). I was able to get off work at the last-minute to pick him up from the airport. I had told him that I was going to be late because I had to work, so just to wait for me at the airport. But instead of waiting outside of the security area for me, he waited inside. After I walked the length of the airport 3 times looking for him for 2.5 hours, he finally decided to walk out of the baggage claim area and realized that where he had waited before was a place I couldn't get to. Eventually I find him and bring him back to my piso to wait for me while I go to work for 1 afternoon class. Right off the bat, adventure #1 out of the way. Later that night, I took him all around Madrid and tried to show him all the greatness that is Madrid so he'd love the city before going to see the amazingness of Rome the next day.
After a full day of class on Thursday (and by full day I mean 1 class), Jordan and I boarded a luxurious RyanAir flight on our way to Rome. On the flight, we had the fortune of sitting in front of a girl who talked literally the WHOLE flight to Rome. And she talked to a dude that was sitting next to her that she didn't even know. By the time we landed in Rome, I think everyone within a 4 row radius knew her life story.
After a short bus ride from the airport to Rome's main train station, we were able to meet up with Dustin and Bethany who had arrived earlier that day. Again, not an easy meeting. We waited for 15 minutes or so at the metro exit, only to realize we were at the wrong one. Instead of going to the normal metro exit where most people go, we walked to the shady exit about a block and a half away. But in the end, we found each other and they went with us to our hostel. Oh, and another great addition to the arrival story. While I meant to print out instructions on how to get to the hostel, it escaped my mind before leaving. So as our plane is taxiing in Madrid (the last minute possible, since I couldn't use my phone in Madrid), I was able to call Katica and get her to look up the hostel address for me. From there, we figured we could play it by ear and ask someone at the train station for directions to the street. Luckily this worked out and we got someone to circle the street on a map for us.
We made it to our hostel at about 9:30. The hostel we stayed in was actually a Bed & Breakfast called RitmoBlues B&B. There were only 4 rooms in the place, and our room was just a king-sized bed and it had its own bathroom. Pretty much it was a hotel. And Sabino, the B&B owner, lived right down the hall. It was a pretty sweet place, even though I think Sabino was worried about us being crazy partiers at first since we came in with Dustin and Bethany, who were staying at another hostel because our's was full.
The first morning, we woke up bright and early to head over to Vatican City. Again, us meeting up was a big ordeal. But an hour later, we went into the Vatican Museum to find Dustin and Bethany waiting for us there. When we get inside the Vatican Museum, Bethany is walking frantically towards the information booth. We see her and say hi as she tells us, "Hi. Dustin is being detained by Vatican security. We need someone who speaks English." So we look over, and yes, Dustin is standing against the wall with 2 Vatican security officers in front of him. Neither of them speak English, but they will not let Dustin move. Bethany is searching all over the lobby for someone to translate for them, and finally finds a guy at the information booth. He tells Bethany that the guard wants them both to leave the Vatican and not come back, but will not tell them why. Apparently Dustin went to get his checked backpack back from the bag check and they took off the security tag, which for some reason was a big no-no. After about 20 minutes of Bethany talking with guards, and finally finding one who spoke English, they had to apologize (for who knows what) and we were able to go into the Vatican.
The Vatican museum really was amazing. There was room after room of art, most of it painted on the wall itself. From works by Raphael to cool carpet tapestries by lesser-known artists, it was just amazing walking through there. We also got to see the Sistine Chapel. Even though we couldn't take pictures, the images of that room remain in my mind. It was not as big as I thought it would be, but it was still just covered with masterpiece after masterpiece from Michelangelo. There were also a lot of old relics and sculptures that I didn't know much about, but was still able to appreciate.

While you weren't able to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel, I got some other good ones. This is a Raphael fresco. He painted himself into the painting, too. He's in the right side right before the door frame arches wearing a beret.

After going through the museum, we moved on over to St. Peter's Cathedral. As we walked inside, it really was the most impressive church I have ever seen. The little side chapels were just as big as a normal church, and the main area was massive. It was really cool to walk in there and just know how much history was in that spot. We even got to see the catacombs down below with many of the old Pope's sarcophagi. I stood on the very spot where it is believed St. Peter is buried down below. I touched the foot of the St. Peter statue that millions of pilgrims have touched over the years. It was so cool just to be in that building. We didn't get to go up to the top of the dome because it was raining, but I was able to see all of the Vatican that I needed to see.
We continued on that night to see the Castle St. Angelo. Many of you all might remember it as the Illuminati Lair in Angels & Demons. So we went inside at night, got some great night pictures of the castle and of the view to St. Peter's, then called it an early night after dinner. We packed a lot into that day, so of course we were worn out.

Luckily I didn't wear my speed suit to St. Peter's.
The Jubilee Door inside St. Peter's. This door is only opened every 25 years and will be opened next in 2025.
The inside of the cathedral was amazingly huge. And underneath we got to see the catacombs where many famous Popes are laid to rest.

St. Peter's was amazing at nightfall, even with the rain.
A night view of Castle St. Angelo from across the river. The angel on top is lit up, leading the way to the Illuminati lair.

On Saturday, which was Dustin's birthday, we had an early morning at the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. These two places were probably my favorites by far. It was awesome to see so much history still intact after thousands of years. And to know that millions of people had walked on the exact spots that I was walking on. Even though it was Saturday, luckily neither site was too crowded and we were able to spend pretty much all day there. That night, we made our way over to see the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. Those two spots were also really cool. We got to look up through the top of the Pantheon where there's the hole, and see the Trevi Fountain all lit up at nighttime. We liked it so much there that we'd make our way back there anoher night.

2 of the Fulbrighters in front of the Colosseum. If only Jordan Sanderson could have been there, we'd have all been together.
Dustin loves to play Frisbee, and on his birthday he got to throw frisbee in the 1,000's-year-old Roman Forum. Pretty cool.
The guys (Dustin, me, Jordan) inside of the Colosseum as the sun was setting.
The hole inside of the Parthenon. Architects have tried to recreate a building like this, but still can't figure out how they were able to build it.
This is another fountain we visited that night, Bernini's Four Rivers. It was where the fourth priest died in Angels & Demons.

On Sunday, we planned a more relaxing day of seeing the Pope and searching for the Appian Way. We started the day off right with a run. Jordan and I ran around the Colosseum and up to the top of Capital Hill from our hostel. The sun was rising and it was a great way to start. Before seeing the Pope, we threw frisbee for a while along the river. Apparently, the Appian Way part not so much. We ended up walking miles, only to get to the start of the Appian Way at night. What the Appian Way is is the road that people used to come into Rome in ancient times. It has a lot of cool stuff on it apparently, and we thought it was closed to traffic on Sundays. Apparently by the time we got there, it was opened back up to traffic. And the road was barely big enough for the two lanes of cars that were speeding down it, yet alone the four of us trying to walk down it. So instead of making it to the cool part of the road, we decided to trudge on back in the cold darkness and wait for a bus back into the city. It was fun, but sad that we never found it.

Jordan running past the Colosseum.
Running at sunrise on the Circus Maximus, one of the oldest tracks in existence.
Us waiting to hear the Pope talk. This is where we stood thinking we had an amazing spot to see the Pope come out of his apartment, which we thought was above St. Peter's...
But for some reason all the other people were looking to the side. maybe that's where his Pope-Mobile rides in...
But no, they were all right. His apartment is on the side of the Vatican. It's okay, we still got to see him.

Monday was Bethany and Dustin's last day there, so we stuck around the city center so they could catch the bus to the airport. We went to two different cathedrals, one with Bernini's grave and the other with the Saint Teresa in Ecstasy statue. They were both really famous churches, so I'm glad we got to see them. But by this time, all the churches kind of ran together. From there, we went to see the Spanish Steps and walked all the way up them. None of us are really sure of their significance, but they were fun to see. And then we went to Piazza d'el Poppolo, another really cool plaza with some churches and a big obelisk in the middle. They had a lot of artifacts there that they just took from the Egyptians. That was pretty much what the Romans did, took whatever they wanted from other cultures and made it their own. Good work, Romans. We had to say goodbye to Dustin and Bethany, which was sad. It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with them, and I can't wait to visit them in Germany. Too bad it's really expensive or I'd be there a few times over the next couple of months.

Jordan throwing a coin into Trevi Fountain on one of our return visits.

On Tuesday, after we said goodbye to D & B, Jordan and I took a day trip out of the city. We went to this town called Tivoli about an hour outside of Rome to see these two amazing villas. The first one, Villa D'Este, had a lot of amazing fountains and a really cool house. It was used by old Cardinals in Italy. The other villa belonged to Hadrian, and was thousands of years old. It took us a while to find this one, and we had to walk a lot to get to the cool parts, but it was worth it. The villa is thousands of years old, so you can imagine not many of the building were there. But the structures that were there were worth seeing, as were some old sculptures that were still partly intact. Even though it misted rain all day, we still had a great trip and I'm glad we went out there.

Jordan and I in front of one of the massive fountains at Villa D'Este.
Some of the remaining sculptures at Hadrian's Villa. These are thousands of years old. Pretty sweet.

On our last day there, we just had a very relaxing one. We started off with another run with the same course as last time, and still just as picturesque. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral where it's thought that Paul might be buried. And we went to St. Peter's in Chains, another big cathedral. From there, we relaxed in the hotel and went out for a final pasta dinner. We had to wake up at 4:30 the next morning to catch our bus back to the airport to get our flight to Madrid, so we called it an early night and left early Thursday morning. When I came back on Thursday, I went in for a short day of work and then got to hang out with Jordan and show him the city for the next week, which will be talked about in a later post...

And on an ending note, this one's for the parents.
Yes, it's the Disney Store in Rome. And yes, there was a line of about 50 people waiting to get in. Crazy Romans.