I Found Love

I can’t say it enough: Rome is absolutely the highlight of the trip so far. 

Could I have found more to do in some of the earlier stops I made? Sure. But there is no place that I dreaded leaving like I did Rome, so let’s wrap up the few days I didn’t yet talk about.

When I went to reserve my ticket for the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, I was a bit alarmed to find that there were no tickets available. Not for the particular day at which I was looking, and not for any day that I was going to be in Rome. This ended up being quite the blessing in disguise.

There were two premium options available: an early admission or a Happy Hour admission, and I decided to splurge and book the early admission that also included breakfast. I know some of you think of this as me being on some sort of semi-permanent vacation, but to me it’s much more than that. That being said, I still have objected to anything that requires me functioning at 7:30. I’m just not a morning person. 

So I grumbled when the alarm on my phone went off at 5:58 on Wednesday (does anyone else set their alarm for non-5 and 0 times? I don’t wake up if the time ends on a 5 or a 0. Don’t @ me.), but then I reminded myself that I was going to be in a small group of people with the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel all to ourselves.

The way I envisioned it in my head didn’t even come close to imagining just how special that was.

Take this photo of the Gallery of Maps, for example. There’s literally no one in front of us. You just don’t get that type of experience without doing something like this, making the price so entirely worth it.

I thought the Gallery of Maps, with its various cartographic representations of Italy, was amazing, considering the time period in which the maps were made, but I was about to be blown away even more and had no idea.

The Raphael Rooms. 

They were all incredible, but it was the second that will stick with me forever.

The Room of Segnatura. On one side, the theologians. On the other, the philosophers. Including on the academic side are such names as Plato and Aristotle, Pythagoras and Euclid. Raphael painted himself here, humbly off to the side but always watching the person viewing his work, and he included his not-so-humble rival Michelangelo. I found it quite interesting that not only did Raphael have — and the Pope approved — having religion and education on the same level, but that it was poetry that bridges between the two. Art, in all of its forms, is so important, and it as much as anything else part of the essence of humanity.

The entire visit that morning built upon itself. The Gallery of Maps was better than the sights before it, and the Raphael Rooms were better than the Gallery of Maps.

The Sistine Chapel 

I legitimately did not breathe for several long seconds, my mouth agape for the maximum amount of time one be in that position without pushing past the brink of drooling.

If I receive nothing else from this trip than the appreciation that I now have for Michelangelo, then it will have been worth it. I am encouraged to really study this man, and I think when I am further along into that, he will rank among my favorite historical figures. I am developing a lengthy list of homework for when I return stateside, and at the top of it is delving into Michelangelo’s life.

With our hushed viewing of the Sistine Chapel complete and after enjoying the “American” breakfast that was included (apparently Italians think Americans really like bacon and eggs because the hotel advertised such a thing also, and both it and the Vatican had those two things in common), I contended with my first long line of the trip.

To reach St. Peter’s Square, you have to leave the Vatican Museum, walk back into Italy (you better believe I’m counting this as my fifth country visited), around the outer walls, and then down a street until you empty out into the massive square. The line to get into the basilica probably wrapped more than halfway around it, but thankfully it moved quickly while also giving me an opportunity to read up on what I was about to see.

It is all incredible, but you already know what stole the show for me, right?

Michelangelo. Sculptor, painter, architect.

It is the tallest dome in the world, and you could play an American football game from floor to ceiling with room to spare. Yet this incredibly large space magically feels quite intimate… because they put a SEVEN-STORY TALL altar under it. 

I’m not Catholic, and honestly there’s a lot about Catholicism that I don’t understand. But this entire place is truly somewhere that I think people of any faith or no faith can genuinely appreciate for its significant holiness. 

Nothing that there was a special Vatican City post office, I couldn’t pass the opportunity to send an old-school postcard back home to my parents, so I bought one from the gift shop, penned a note, and went to purchase a stamp only to find out that they only took cash, which I haven’t had any of since I’ve been over here. Slightly disappointed, I made the most of it in my head and thought it would be quite funny to just hand deliver the postcard, and so I turned to walk away.

That’s when a person with a British accent offered me some money. I went back-and-forth with him a couple times before finally accepting his kind offer, and I walked back to the window and handed the change over. It wasn’t enough, so I now thought the story was going to be even better when I put the note into their hands in March. But this group of younger British folk were persistent, gave me more money, and I got my stamp. 

Humans are cool. 

You know what else is cool? The Colosseum and the Roman Forum. 

The ticket I purchased was good for 48 hours including an entrance to both, and so I went to the Colosseum first on Friday. I also paid a little extra to be able to explore the underground of the ancient arena, and even though I wasn’t able to download the app that explained what I was seeing, it was still an amazing experience being able to roam around where the gladiators would be alongside the exotic animals underneath the stadium floor. 

I’ve been in a lot of sporting venues. None of them as cool as this. Maybe it was that I watched Gladiator the night before, but it wasn’t hard at all to transport myself back and time and imagine what it had to have been like when packed for those brutal, bloody battles. 

The remaining bones of the Forum also made a Saturday afternoon stroll down those same ancient streets feel at least a little bit like what it must have been like so long ago. 

Even if it’s hard to imagine what the buildings might have looked like, it takes not any mental gymnastics to realize that you’re walking down the same streets that Julius flipping Caesar walked down. 

Incredible. 

I spent one last great meal at my favorite restaurant, coincidentally getting one of the best tables they have outside with the Pantheon right in front of me, the table lit by the dancing flames from the heat torch behind me. I enjoyed another limoncello spritz or two, and I did it as the Italians do, taking my time and not rushing. I didn’t leave the table for two hours, and I could have sat there for two more. 

I thanked Rafael who was my server all three nights, and then I strolled back to the Trevi Fountain and found a seat, enjoying soaking up being firmly in modern times in this ancient world. 

It was nearly midnight by the time I returned to my hotel, doing one more lap around the square in front of the Pantheon and taking it all in from the vantage point behind the fountain as pictured above at the start of the post. 

I stood there, madly in love, and I vowed that I will return. 

I already can’t wait.

I Found Love | Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies