Roma II

A well known tourist tradition at the Trevi Fountain is to throw a coin in over one's shoulder. This 'ensures' a return trip to Rome. I threw my coin in and nearly hit myself on the head with it.

Elena led us a few streets over to the Spanish Steps, Embassy. The steps themselves I didn't find particularly interesting, nor the church at the top of the hill/steps. There was a cute sunken boat fountain at the bottom of the steps; but most of the attraction of this part of the city I found was the designer shopping.so called because they face the Spanish I could care less if my pants cost $500 dollars; actually, I'd rather that they not. So Mark and I just window shopped, avoiding the rain and the aggressive street umbrella-sellers.

[Side note: a couple days ago, Mark , for whatever reason, looked up the history of Louis Vuitton. He found that they began as a family-owned luggage company in the mid-1800's. During WWII, they were heavily involved in the Vichy government (Nazi puppet government in France). Today, the company is embroiled in a lawsuit against a Darfur charity; Nada Plesner, the artist who created the charity, drew a starving child holding a bag that resembled a LV bag. Look up the story; it's pretty awful.]

We enjoyed dinner at a Napoletano restaurant. The waiter was very nice and talkative and answered all of our questions about tipping (only for exceptional service; in Italy they actually have decent salaries). He was surprised but accommodating about the fact that we didn't want to order traditionally (a plate of each course per person).

That night Mark and I went to bed early so that we could wake early to check out the Mercato Portunese down the river. We had to be back to the hotel at 10am to be with the group to go to the Vatican. It was a cool early morning adventure. The Tiber was absolutely disgusting. It was murky and trash lined the banks and covered the trees. We got a little lost, but when we asked the carbinieri, we found that we weren't lost at all, and were only one street away. I doubt we would have missed the Mercato entirely- it turned out to be a few square miles worth of flea market. It was like Brimfield, but sketchier. Everything one could possibly want was put out on tables or blankets, hanging from tents or brimming out of buckets. I was going to buy Mum a bronze Roman sun medallion but it turned out to be 110 Euro. Even if it was real, it was more than I could spend.

We took a bus to the Vatican, and made our way immediately to Saint Peter's Square. Already it was bustling with people. There was a Catholic pop music concert going on for all of the Catholic elementary schools in the area. The little kids were going crazy with their blue and yellow balloons. The Pope was due to give his sermon around 12:30, and as we waited, the entire square filled up with people, thousands of people. He popped out of one of the windows of his residence and everybody went nuts. The sermon was in Italian but it was easy to understand because he too has had to learn Italian. His German accent was very apparent.

We waited in the metal detector line to see the Basilica di San Pietro. The church was so impressive because of its size. Light was streaming in from the outside, and each corner of the church had something amazing. Charlemagne was crowned king right around the entrance of the church. Off to the right, I found (I had no idea that this is where it is) the Pieta' di Michelangelo. She was behind glass, of course, due to the incident in the 1970's. The altar is apparently built over St. Peter's tomb. Further along, I stumbled upon the embalmed body of St. John XXIII, resting in a glass case, Snow White style. He is the most beloved Italian pope, and the one to initiate Vatican II.
We were able to find the stairs to ascend to the top of the Duomo and to the Cupola at the top. Hundreds of stairs later, I nearly passed out from vertigo, and emerged at the top. Everywhere one looked, there was a breath-taking sight.

Rome was a really great excursion. We're planning on returning, to see the Pantheon, the Colosseo and Forum up close, and many other things we weren't able to cram in. Ciao Roma!