They say beauty is pain right? With all this rain, I certainly did not feel it.
This morning was similar to the last, the breakfast set up was the same. The only difference was that we were leaving at 9:30a.m. and I needed as much energy as possible to get through the day.
After a poor attempt of staying caffeinated and another poor attempt of eating enough before we left, we left for today’s media visit which would be with the Vatican News media. As you’d expect, even the Vatican News struggled to make the transition to include social media as part of their news platforms when spreading the messages of the Pope and what’s going on in the Vatican. It made being a PR and AD student (former student? recent graduate?) seem useful.
I thought the visit was so interesting. Could you imagine that? The Vatican needing to use social media and having to deal with PR issues that could spread faster than wildfires thanks to online media. I never would’ve imagined that if you’d told me that social media was something to worry about when I grew up attending Catholic school where we’d listen to the radio for news on the Vatican. Fun fact: Pope Benedict XVI was chosen as the next Pope after the death of Pope John Paul II when I was in the 3rd grade. We actually listened to the announcement in class on this old dusty radio.
Since we’d talked so much about the Vatican News, it only made sense that our next stop would be visiting Vatican City and touring the Sistine Chapel.
Did it really take much to know that this small city-state would be still remain beautiful even during a rainstorm? Standing under an umbrella listening to the rain hit the ground, Vatican City was too beautiful. Even when inside, it still felt like you were admiring from afar, almost like you weren’t granted permission to take in its beauty (despite taking a guided tour).
I mentioned that we got to go into the Sistine Chapel, which we did… we just couldn’t take photographs. So allow yourself to use that imagination again.
To get into the Sistine Chapel you had to go through multiple corridors leading to stairs and more stairs and bumping heads with other tour groups that were trying to do the same thing.
Right outside the chapel was a courtyard where our guide explained a few of the stories behind Michelangelo’s paintings inside of the chapel. Once inside, it was a matter of looking up and seeing if you could remember what those stories were… almost like a spot the difference.
They tell you to keep quiet, not take photos, and to keep moving. Honestly, there wouldn’t be enough time in the world to soak it all in. And as I stretched my neck to look up at the painting while also holding my bag in front of me to avoid being pickpocketed, I could acknowledge its beauty even though my back hurt from standing for so long.
Finishing the tour and going back to the hotel was the hardest part of the day. Part of the group separated because they had another schedule for dinner, another section was allowed to explore the area and find their own way back home, and finally there was my group of exhausted/hangry students, guided by one of our tour guides.
Our guide was with us so it was supposed to be smooth sailing, right? Not quite… I’m a very patient and quiet person and the trip back was like entering hell after being granted entrance into heaven (picking up what I’m throwing down?)
We ended up waiting for over 30 minutes only to end up taking the wrong bus because it was heading in the wrong direction, then got off at a random stop after realizing the mistake, waiting for another bus, getting to the correct bus stop before transferring to the Tram/Train-car/Subway–missing the first train because it left as the rest of the group finished crossing the street and waiting again for another train before getting to our final stop.
We’ll omit the parts in between where there was a lot of complaining and on all forms of public transportation we were packed like sardines in a tin can.
But I’m thankful that we made it back in one piece and didn’t end up leaving anyone behind despite all the transferring and moving around. Being a tour guide is hard and I can only imagine the hidden frustrations in having to round up any group more than 5 people in a foreign country.
I was too tired to go back out for dinner once we finally got back to the hostel. They say you gain weight when you’re abroad, but it feels more like the opposite.