A Day In The Life...

YOU HAVE TO SEE...

After waking up from our night of partying, we decided to get an early start on our sight-seeing. Our first stop, McDonald's. Some of us haven't had any McD's in months and felt that we should start the day off right.

With McD's checked off our list we rode the tram from Termini to the Vatican City stop. Once we got off the tram station it was a 15 minute walk to the surrounding walls of the Vatican. At the entrance was a looooooooong line that extended around the corner 1/4 mile away. Since it was still early, I had decided that I was going to brave the length of the line and wait to go in. But as luck would have it, an English tour guide was asking us if we would like to join in on their group which was only a few hundred feet from the entrance. We quickly said yes and in 30 minutes we were going through the security point within the Vatican Museum.

All I can say is "WOW!" The Vatican was totally amazing. Our tour guide was awesome as she gave thorough explanations about all the exhibits. In the Octagonal Courtyard there was adorned with many marble sculptures such as Perseus and Apollo. We then ventured thru the Hall of Busts on our way to see the bust of Hercules, which is believed to be the model that inspired Michelangelo when painting Adam on the Sistine Chapel. Our next exhibit was Michelangelo’s Tapestry Room which was dimly lighted to help preserve the ancient crafts. It was pointed out that the ceiling was painted in such a way that it looked as if it was three-dimensional. The shadowing technique was effectively used centuries ago. It was also effective is some of the woven tapestries. On Rafael’s ‘Resurrection’, one can witness the stone slab Jesus has his foot on follow the viewer as they walk past it. It was simply amazing. I was like a kid in a candy store. I was in awe as we enter each room. The Sistine Chapel was UNBELIEVABLE. It’s absolutely breathtaking. Seeing first hand this body of work and realizing the conditions at which he worked in to complete it is unimaginable. Unfortunately photos were forbidden from being taken. It’s said that flash photography harms the pigment of the paint.

After absorbing Michelangelo’s greatest work, we then entered St Peter’s Basilica. That church was absolutely enormous. Measuring 118 meters long makes it the largest church. Michelangelo’s Pieta is encased on the immediate right and was surrounded by eager on-lookers. The church had various tombs that were adorned with many statutes designed by notable sculptors such as Bernini and Fontana.

Though our tour was satisfying I feel I need to revisit The Vatican City as well as Rome itself. There is simply too much to see over one weekend. So hopefully before I depart from Italy next year I’ll be able to explore Rome once again…And you should too.

P.S. Don’t forget to visit Naples, Pisa, Florence and the birthplace of Romeo and Juliet, Verona.

posted by Frogue @ 3:16 AM 1 comments

WHEN IN ROME...

For several weeks, I was contimplating what to do over the Veteran's Day weekend. It was my first time that my duty didnt fall over a long weekend and I really wanted to do something, anything. After surfing the net for flights, I came up with some reasonable choices: Paris, Rome or London. Paris was at the top of my list since I found a roundtrip flight for about 100 Euros. My only problem though, was to find someone to take me to and from the airport. I could take an Italian taxi, but that would cost 60Euros. I asked several people but no one could give me a firm yes or no...So after 2-3 unsuccessful days I had to switch to Plan B.

Plan B was to go to Rome. A friend of mine mentioned he and another friend were headed to Rome for the holiday. He also mentioned that two separate groups were also going. I called one of those groups and asked if there was room for me to tag along and he said, "Sure". So we purchased our tickets at the airport Friday morning to catch an afternoon flight.

After a short 45 minute flight we took a taxi into Rome to check in to our hostel. Once we located the building and set down our bags and decided to get some Chinese food at the restaurant below us. After savoring there jasmine rice and sweet and sour chicken, we decided to met up with one of the groups at another hostel. There, we ate some more dinner, drink beer and began to party with international students. George and Yala were the 'host and hostess' and invited us to go out with them to the Capo di Fiorni.

Bars to the left, bars to right, we were surround by at least 15 bars and all filled with people; students, tourist, locals, you name it....Drink, drink, drink and we did....we stumbled home around 3'oclock in the morning....

posted by Frogue @ 2:53 AM 0 comments