Rome, Day 3
**DISCLAIMER**
We did not meet or see the Pope. Sorry to get your hopes up.
It is getting increasingly harder to get out of bed in the morning due to the intense and incessant pain that my feet feel the minute they leave the comfort of my bed and touch the cold ground. We’ve been walking so much; I’m not mad about it, but my feet definitely are. It’s okay, though. They can suck it up and deal with it, because Italy is Worth it with a capital W.
Since I got to bed pretty late last night, I decided to sleep in an extra 45 minutes, skipping breakfast. Once I was ready, I had a shot of really bad hotel espresso to attempt to wake myself up. I have to say, it really did work…until I started to doze off during our media visit with the some of the employees in the Vatican communications department. However, Em gave me a good punch in the leg that kept me awake, so I really didn’t miss anything.
Just in case you don’t know, the Vatican is its own state, free-standing from Italy (even though it is surrounded by Rome). Because of that, their media also stands alone and is broadcasted, printed, shared, etc. in multiple languages across dozens of countries. Since the Pope is the public figure of the Catholic Church and all of the relevant Catholic information comes out of the Vatican, it has to have it’s own communications department and, therefore, its own media outlets.
(You can check out an extra honors assignment I did on the Vatican media by clicking this link here.)
That was a pretty long media visit and discussion, but it was extremely interesting, especially after having researched a good bit of how their media works for my side project. The three people in the picture were all extremely knowledgable and had a lot to say, and a lot of students had questions and were able to ask them at the end.Here’s a pretty low quality picture from our visit!
After we concluded there, we ate a delicious lunch, where Em and I got two meals and split them (always a smart choice when you’re at a restaurant and just can’t decide. I’m thankful for friends who like that strategy as well). I’m also getting really tired of paying for water when I get it at a restaurant. Normally, we can get a whole liter for 2.50, but this afternoon we each had to pay 2.50 for a bottle of water. Not a fan, Italian restaurants.
Following an extremely complicated splitting of the bill (no ability to split checks? you’re killing me), we headed to the Vatican to meet with the same tour guide who took us through the Colosseum (she’s so wonderful). My, oh my, is the Vatican absolutely and overwhelmingly beautiful. There really are not words…honestly. The artistry, the detail, and the history packed into that city with a population of 600 is amazing. But, I think it’s better to show rather than tell, so enjoy some pictures from our visit! My measly, amateur, unedited pictures in no way do it justice, but they’re still beautiful to look at. (Click to make them bigger)
Not pictured: The Sistine Chapel. HOLY MACARONI MICHELANGELO. When you enter the Sistine Chapel, you are not permitted to talk or take pictures. That doesn’t stop people from doing either, unfortunately, but it was a good reminder for me to put my camera down, spend some time alone in my thoughts, and just take in the art. We got to see years and years Michelangelo’s life work in the paintings on the wall, and the famous picture of Adam and God (when God created Adam…you know, the fingers almost touching).
After leaving the Sistine Chapel and turning on our cameras and our voices again, we visited the largest church in the world, St. Peter’s Basilica. It was pretty darn big, folks (it would honestly take an hour just to go around and see everything). Here’s the only semi-good picture I have from inside:
By the time we left the Basilica, we were all dead tired. It had been raining since we got into the Vatican, we had just walked for hours, pushing ourselves through other tourists, and just wanted to go back to the hotel to lay down for a little bit before dinner. This is when we hopped onto a very crowded bus and stood like sardines for 30 minutes on the bus before being told that our bus had been going in the wrong direction the entire time, meaning that we were on the wrong bus line and had to get off. We were not happy. Luckily, we were able to correct the situation, and we got on the correct yet equally crowded bus to ride another 30 minutes, transfer to the tram, then ride in more crowded conditions to finally get off and get back to the hostel. Pictured are my three travel companions all crowded together, wishing very badly for the ride to be over:
After laying in our beds in hope that the throbbing in our feet would soon subside, we headed out to dinner and ended up very crowded (yet again…) in a lovely little pizza shop. I’m going to steal Beth’s picture to show you, yet again, how photogenic this food is. It tastes better than it looks, too! We tried to get gelato after we were done, but Google Maps lied to us and said that there was a place down the street that was open until 1am. It was not open until 1am.
I know I’m writing a lot, so my sincerest love and gratitude to those who are continuously reading these posts. The length of the blog is mostly so I can remember the big and small details from the day just as much as it is to share my experiences with you all. So a big THANK YOU to my faithful followers!
Tomorrow we have two media visits: Art Attack and La Repubblica. Stay tuned!
Peace + love,
Carrie
P.S. finally found a bathtub that’s big enough to fit my long legs! Hoping it won’t make my checked baggage weigh too much.