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Day 5 (6/9/11):
This morning we went to visit the Vatican! It's pretty cool that it is free to enter such an amazing place. Once inside, we saw:
* The Holy Doors, broken every 25 years, only on a holy year
* The Pieta, the only sculpture Michaelangelo signed. He made it when he was 25 years old.
* Said a prayer for everyone in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament
* Touched the foot of Saint Peter for allowance of 50 days of indulgence (that should cover most of my days here in Italy... eating way too much!)
* Bernini's Baldacchio - the altar over St. Pater's tomb made out of melted bronze from the Pantheon's portico
* St. Peter's thone witha stained glass dove window
* Chapel of the Baptismal Font - there was a real baptism going on! How cool!
* A list of all the Popes and their years as Pope carved intto a large stone, starting with Saint Peter.
There are masses in the Vatican almost everyday, and free admission to the museums the last Sunday of every month! Plus, every Wednesday and Sunday that the Pope is in town, he does a blessing to the crowds in St. Peter's Square. I definitely want to come back :o)
We decided to climb to the top of the Basilica since neither of us had done it before. Luckily, it wasn't too crowded on the way up. The stairwell was very narrow in parts, and the ceiling started to curve as we walked up! We were literally walking in some parts where we were bent to the side in order to fit in the stairwell. We eventually got to the top and saw amazing views of the city!! It was gorgeous and we marvelled at the view for a while before cl,imbing back down.
In Saint Peter's Square we stood on the spots where all the columns appear to line up in one row (instead of 3), which was an interesting little architural tidbit. Then we headed towards school to grab a quick piece of pizza from the place next door (mine was tomato, mozzarella, and basil and was delicious!) before going into class.
Class was a little harder today since we began learning something new (the imperative verbs), but that's probably good since we are learning more!
After class, Jackie, Donna (our new Australian friend), and I met up to book our trains and hostel for the weekend. I got to practice my verbal Italian a bit while calling a hostel and asking about room availability! It was fun :o) We were pretty hungry afterwards, so we went in search of an aperitivo nearby. We fis stopped at a tiny corner cafe and each got a glass of wine and some of the food buffet. On our walk to part ways, though, we spotted an amazing banquet of food at a place around the corner from school. They had 2 very large banquet tables covered in delicious looking appetizers so we had to stop in! My favorite was a slice of bread with a thick slice of cheese, and piece of strawberry, and a basil balsamic vinegar on top. Oh my goodness... YUM!!
Jackie and I went right home after our immense apperitivi to get ready to go out for the night. It was time to experience the Roman nightlife! We ended up meeting some people from school in Campo de' Fiori and went to a karaoke bar. It was interesting seeing everyone get so excited about the Italian songs they were singing! Maybe one of these days I'll know the words well enough to sing along...
- comments
Veronique Yup...still jealous.
Patty You are getting to see so much. . now you know why people LOVE Rome! I climbes those stairs to the top of St. Peeter's. It is a very steep and slanted climb but the view is magnifico!! Keep on blogging, it's great! Love you..
Mary Imperative verbs are important. Think of all the commands you/I/all of us give everyday! There, I just gave one!