The Forum and the Coliseum

-- On September 30th --

 

     So we were supposed to go to the Forum and the Coliseum on the same day we went to the Capitoline Museum, but there was a dumb strike that day. The Romans love the sciopero. We had to go on Sunday, which was very annoying at first, but that’s okay. I wasn’t able to go to my usual Sunday Mass, but the Vigil was not crowded at all and the psalm cantor had a beautiful voice, so it was all good.

     So off we were, Sunday morning, towards the Metro. This was the first time I took the lovely B line. By lovely I obviously mean creepy. Take a look at this beautiful train we kind of didn’t want to ride:

  

     It was worth it, though, because the first thing we saw when we stepped out of the station was the Coliseum.

     After waiting for quite a while and finding a vestige of 3^rd Century Peanut M&M’s, we finally entered the Forum with Prof. Lev, one of the coolest teachers ever. She can make just about anything into a witty, sarcastic, and intelligent joke. It's amazing.

 

      Not long after we got there, it started raining. So we had the lovely experience of the ancient Roman Forum in all its... wet splendor. It was still cool, of course, and the rain really wasn't that bad at this point.

Trajan's arch, built after the Romans destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem in the
 first century AD. It even has a relief depicting a menorah on it, which is cool

The emperors' backyard

This is probably my favorite part of the Forum. Look closely at the window of the emperors' palace;
click on the pictures for a larger view if you need to. :D And then tell me that isn't awesome and comforting.

     The next stop was the Coliseum, which we did not have an actual tour of, but just explored on our own. I was actually less impressed once inside than I thought I'd be. Well, downstairs, anyway. Upstairs was pretty cool, though getting there was minorly arduous, thanks to the many and precariously steep stairs.

Best part of the Coliseum. It made me so happy to see a cross on this site
 where so many innocent people had been killed in the name of "entertainment."
The Coliseum has been declared sacred ground, and the Papacy has prevented
it from being torn down, since it is a monument to the martyrs.
 

Though, I have to say, we make a pretty bad bunch of Caesars. Cruel, hearless, and all that.

      Shortly after the group picture was taken, it started raining again, this time harder. It sure didn't dampen Erin's spirits, though!

My roommate having a Titanic moment in the rain, at the Coliseum.
Yeah... Somehow it works, though. :)

     (Although I had lived in Rome from 1997-1998, I had actually never been into the Coliseum until this trip. We drove past it every week to church when we lived here, but never went in.)

     And here is definitely the most humorous part about seeing the Coliseum in the rain:

     A Roman centurion holding a pink umbrella over some lady whose clothes match her umbrella. Tell me that isn't one of the cutest and funniest things you've ever seen. I dare you! :)

Meditation (sort of) and Summary of What's to Come

     Okay, I know I've been abominably bad this past week and a half, but I have had makeup classes (making up for time lost, not cosmetics), a test, a paper, a presentation, a trip to Florence, a Canonization, a tour by the president of the college, and lunch with a cardinal; so I hope you'll forgive me my business. (I also have a trip to Paris coming up this weekend.)

     However, I am not going to write about that here. I will instead share with you some of what I wrote in between homework this evening as I sat in front of St. Peter's. It's kind of messy, but that's because it's diary-style, not academic paper-style.

 

------------

     Oh my gosh, I’m like the luckiest kid ever. I’m doing my theology homework in St. Peter’s Square, and the Pope’s at home, and I can see the lights are on in his windows; I’m listening to “Ave Maria” in one ear; the other ear hears seagulls flying above my head, their white bellies against the dark blue sky like moving stars, more like snow, with their pretty voices. I can hear the fountains behind me, and pilgrims and priests are walking past me every few minutes. There are still tapestries of the new saints hanging from the windows of St. Peter’s, AND my computer shows that there’s a network called “SANTOSPIRITO” that I could connect to if I had the password. It’s a fairly clear night, the weather is lovely. The Swiss Guards at St. Anne’s were wearing the stripes, which means a special occasion is tomorrow (because tomorrow started at Vespers or some other prayer this evening). I am drinking water from  the drinking fountains in St. Peter’s Square; and as my computer’s background, I have a picture which I took at the Papal Audience, in which I sat in the FIRST row, and the Pope-mobile was RIGHT in front of me. I almost could have touched the Pope! I’ve seen him in person like 4-5 times, heard his voice live at least as many times. I’ve gotten his blessing thrice, once for each time I’ve gone to a special thing. I was at the Canonization of like the second Filipino saint EVER and of St. Kateri, which is huge for America. I’ve heard the Pope in ten  different languages at least. I don’t even know how many times I’ve been in St. Peter’s Basilica, for Mass or not. At least ten. I just can’t believe this. The Pope is practically my next door neighbor! If I ran out of my bed and there were no cars, I could probably get to the Holy Walls in under 60 seconds. 60 seconds! I’m in St. Peter’s Square on average at least three days a week. Probably more like four. I’ve had the chance to gain SO many indulgences since I got here and I don’t even know it. I had lunch with Cardinal Arinze yesterday. I sat next to the president of my college at lunch today in a totally informal setting; he gave me a hug and remembered my NAME when he saw me yesterday. How many people can say they’ve done that? Gotten a hug from the president of their college?! And in St. Peter’s Square?! How many?! How many people have had the Pope mention their college? Not while we were here, but I know he has before. Man, I’m one lucky kid… To have been in the Vatican enough times that you recognize about five of the people who work there. That many times! I can follow the Latin Mass (Novus Ordo) pretty well without having anything in front of me, I can sing at least the first verse of "O Sanctissima" by heart; I actually know the meanings of some terms that so many people take for granted, like “cosmos.” Heck, I even know why we think of apples when we think of Adam and Eve! So much stuff that almost no one knows anymore. I can follow chant notation; I can’t read it, but I can see when to go up and down, and when to hold. I can PRONOUNCE Latin! I can pronounce it ecclesiastically! I understand the symbols in Christian art, I know the stories in the Bible and the stories of the saints. Not many, but a number.     St. Peter’s is like LOTR. [The Lord of the Rings] Actually, I should say that LOTR is like St. Peter’s. You notice something different every time you’re here. I just noticed either more gold or more lights or both on the cupola. Just WOW.     I also saw them open the special doors in the Holy Walls when they had to fix something.
     I also know what incense smells like, and have noticed the different smells of different kinds.
     And the moon is REALLY bright and really clear. And I see bishops every time I pass through here; or at least everyday. And on Sunday there are always bishops and a cardinal concelebrating Mass.
     Now it’s getting cold. I just want to sleep here. [NO, I wasn't going to. I'm not that stupid.] It’s so peaceful at night, even with people taking pictures and goofing off.      I’m now listening to Christmas songs, the more traditional kind. The REAL traditional kind. I can’t imagine how cool it would be to be here at St. Peter’s for Christmas if it snowed and there were pine branch decorations… That’d be so cool. But I think the American idea of Christmas is not what would be experienced in Rome so much. That’s more English and German.      Everybody keeps staring at me. I guess it IS weird for someone to just be sitting on the ground against a fence facing St. Peter’s, especially when they’re typing on a computer. I’ve never seen anyone else do that, but it can't be THAT weird. Who cares. I’m not doing anything wrong. And the police must’ve seen me, because the laptop is bright. And they don’t seem to care. I’m not  blocking traffic, I take up less than half this aisle. And I’ve had a number of Americans pass by.

Orvieto

     Saturday was like a mini-Pilgrimage, except that no one piggy-backed on our Mass. About a third of our group went to Orvieto with two of the directors and with Fr. Bergida. We took three trains to get there: the Metro, a “regular” train, and a funicular train. (Like the song, “Funiculi, Funicula.” You’ve never heard of that song? Yes, you have. Look it up on Youtube. You’ll recognize it very quickly.)

The other car we passed on the way down

The view from the funicular train

 

     The weather there was gorgeous. The sky was halfway between clear and overcast, so there were white clouds, grey clouds, and patches of bright blue. It was chilly, so it felt like fall. So refreshing.

     The town was quiet and clean, kind of like a midpoint between Assisi and Siena. The first thing we did was go into the Duomo and look around. The facade looks a lot like that of the Duomo in Siena. In a side chapel we got to go to Adoration before an altar cloth stained with Blood: a Consecrated Host started bleeding during Mass. Afterwards, Fr. said Mass for us in the crypt.

 

 

     The Mass Fr. celebrated was the Corpus Cristi Mass. One is allowed by a special privelidge to say that Mass in Orvieto even when it's not the Feast of Corpus Cristi. This is because the feast originated with the miracle. The miracle actually occured in a neighboring town, but the altarcloth is in Orvieto, and on Corpus Cristi there is a procession from one town to the other.

     We were not the only Americans in Orvieto. The Bishop of Pittsburgh was there with a group of pilgrims, and they had Mass in the Duomo.
     After Mass was lunch, and I had for lunch the most awesome gnocchi ever. It was delicious. Then I wandered around and found this building that confused me: it looked like a church, but wasn't. I mean, maybe it was originally, but that's not what it is now.

 

See? It looks like a church.

     Then I found me a small park. So happy to see grass. And cats. I saw five or six stray cats in Orvieto, one of which was very unhappy with me because I refused to share my coffee with her. And here's some of the view from the park by the Duomo, which is right next to a pretty steep drop.

 

A castle!

 

     In this city there is a crucifix which spoke to St. Thomas Aquinas and the Well of St. Patrick. (We're not really sure how this well is connected to St. Patrick. Maybe it's another St. Patrick.) Did I see either of these? No. But that's okay. I spent some hours in the afternoon in the peace and quiet, and that was marvelous. I also had some really good hot chocolate, very thick stuff.

The outside of this church was deceptive.
The inside was not as pretty as I thought it'd be.

     On the way back, I had a good and needed talk with Fr. Bergida on the train. Fr. is great to talk to, whether for advice, venting, or just having a fun chat. We are so blessed to have him with us.

Sept. the 12th

     Now, exactly a month later, I will tell you what I did on Wednesday, September 12, 2012, Pilgrimage Week.
     Father said Mass for us at Santa Chiara that morning, and we left for Siena that afternoon. We went from Umbria to Tuscany and saw a lake with a mountain in it on the way.
     Our hotel in Siena was awesome because it was right next door to St. Catherine's house. When the windows of the conference room were open, we could hear people praying in the chapel. It was really nice. (It also made finding the hotel easier.)
     Although the bathrooms were hideously decorated, we had an awesome view of the Duomo. We also had REAL room keys, the old-fashioned kind. As cool as they were, they were hard to figure out.
     The end. Anti-climactic, I know, but most of the day was spent in packing, traveling, and unpacking. Thursday was more eventful. :)

The Pope.... Again!

     As if the Papal Mass on Sunday wasn't enough, I got to see His Holiness again on Wednesday! That did, of course, involve getting up early, walking for fifteen minutes with wet hair, and starving for a couple of hours, but that's okay. (Especially since Erin and I got to pick-pocket Theresa while bored in line. That was fun.) As close as I was to the Pope on Sunday, I was even closer on Wednesday. Front row, man!

 

 

Not zoomed up. :) We were THIS CLOSE.

 

   Christendom College was also announced during the English part of the audience, so that was really cool. Besides speaking in German (duh), English, and Italian, the Pope also spoke to the people of the following languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Arabic. It was so cool to hear the Pope reading in Arabic. I was really surprised that there were Catholics in the square who were from the Arabian world. Good for them! Go Catholics of Kazakhstan! The cutest part was when the Pope got to speak to his flock in his native tongue. He barely glanced at his notes for the first half of the German part. It was so nice. I like German. I don't know why some people insist that it's an ugly language. (Then again, I'm the girl who will listen to 80's British pop, Bollywood soundtracks, Japanese techno-pop, mainstream 90's and 2000's things everyone knows, modern Arabian hits, and Korean boy band songs in the same sitting..... Then I'll often go from that energetic stuff and change the mood with opera and chant. Apparently that's not exactly normal.)

     Anyway, we and our families got a special blessing from the Pope at the end of the audience. I loved the fact that people were there from all over the world. There's nothing like going to the Vatican to really feel the universality (catholicity; "catholic" means "universal") of the Church: you've got people of every age, language, and color all packed in the same space to see their spiritual father on earth and show him their love. You get the same feeling going to the Vatican at any time, really. You hear all sorts of languages as you wait in line; you see Korean nuns and African priests; you find vacationing couples from everywhere stopping in the adoration chapel to say hi to Jesus. Can you guess what my favorite foreign country is? :-) :-) So happy to be here... Now I know what the Christendom brochures mean when they stress the coolness and importance of being here "in the heart of the Church." It really is spectacular if you take the time to notice it.

 

There was this group of Italians in traditional dress; they all got
 up and danced at the end of the audience. I soooo wanted to join them.

The group above had a billion pictures taken with the Swiss Guards;
 during the photoshoot this one guy looked SO bored, that I just had to get a picture.
The look of sheer and utter ennui on his face was just hilarious.
And I knew my brother would appreciate a shot of a dude with three medals.



     And speaking of taking the time, I learned something in the first week of the semester: DON'T always take pictures of cool stuff. Don't. It's a bad idea. (Taking the pictures above, however, was a good idea. ;-) ) Sometimes you really just need to relax and to look with your eyes only. It's more rewarding in the end. Sometimes you ought to take pictures, and you'll be so glad that you did, but other times you just can't. They won't always do the subject half the justice anyway. This is why I was really glad, though vexed at the same time, that a lot of the churches on Pilgrimage forbade the taking of pictures. Of course, some people do it anyway, but that really is to their detriment. If you're just seeing everything through your camera, you really miss out on the experience. Sometimes technology just needs to hide in a corner and not exist. I didn't take my laptop with me on Pilgrimage, and that was such a good decision. Did I miss it? Not till the end. I was relieved to not have it with me. I felt as if a great burden was taken off me. It's amazing how attached and addicted we get to things. Those things grab us and hang on; we want to let go, but we're to weak to even try.

     Anyway, back to the chronicling of events. After the audience and lunch, we headed toward the Catacombs of St. Priscilla. When I hear that name, I tend to think of a stereo-typical British spinster, prudish and everything. It's actually a Latin name, though. If I'm not mistaken, it is the feminization of "Priscus," as in Tarquinius Priscus. (Roman naming was patronymic: all the kids were named after the dad; kind of like the Russian naming tradition, only the Russians had the middle name of the child be the father's, not the first name.) Not sure what the name means, though.

     On the way to the catacombs, I learned that the Capuchin monks invented cappuccino. Thank you, brothers!

 

Yeah.... Some of the guys stopped at Burger King after lunch to get MORE food...
And yes, they wore those cardboard atrocities all the way to the catacombs, not taking them off until we got there.

     Down there, we got to see THE oldest painting of the Madonna and Child known to us, dated around 180-220. We saw some other early paintings: the three men in the fiery furnace (from the Book of Daniel), the trial of Susanna ("), the Good Shepherd, Jonah being spit out by the whale, Moses striking water from the rock. We had Mass after the tour, said for us by Fr. Sean, an American priest.

     Yesterday, the Pope officially declared the start of the Year of Faith. Alas, we were not there when he did, for we had class.

     The Terminal, a weird place where we had group lunch on class days, is such a priest hangout. After being at St. Peter's Square, they'll often go to the Terminal for lunch, dozens of them in cassocks. It's so cool to see priest in cassocks; way cooler than the normal outfits you see priests wear back home.

 

Bishops looking cool in their cassocks and whatever-the-sashes-are-called

 

     Last night was a small dance party held in honor of Katie Shannon's birthday. I was SO happy to finally dance for the first time in five months. I even got to do this (in a simpler and sloppier form)!!!



 

 

     By the way, O you who will come here later, have fun with the singing washing machine. :)

What a Weekend!

     This weekend was the first of the three free weekends of the semester. These weekends are long (starting Thursday evening), and many students use them to travel to different places in Europe. The second free weekend, I will be going to Paris (and I can't wait), but this weekend I decided to just hang around and chill. Is that what I did? Well, kind of.... Not really.

     Friday morning, I slept in, even though I didn't want to. It's really hard to wake up here, due to the fact that the shutters and the blinds make the bedroom super dark, and it looks like it's 2am, even when it's 9. After my late breakfast, I did mega-laundry and cleaned the "house." The refreshing feeling when I was done was extremely rewarding. I also made garlic mashed potatoes, which are wonderful when you're starving. In fact, I feel like eating some now, even though I just had two bowls full for dinner, and dinner was kind of late.

     That afternoon, I went to the Spanish Steps. I actually didn't climb up them, I went around because I saw a cool little fountain and a golf ball. At the top is an Egyptian obelish with hieroglyphs on it, and a church with French nuns. Before I went it, I enjoyed the amazing view-- until one of the obnoxious rose guys found me, when I left and went into the church. (There are these immigrants to Italy, Indian and Middle-eastern, who walk around with roses at night in Rome, and probably all day at the Spanish steps, due to the large number of lovebirds who go there. They will give women roses, and then demand that they pay for them.)

 

 

Beautiful painting inside the church

 

The church, the obelisk, and some of the steps.
The bottom ones were really crowded.

     After seeing the church, I wended my way back to the Metro, which was very slow and VERY crowded that day: I was literally pushed into the train by the mob behind me. I got off at Ottaviano, which is closer to St. Peter's than it is to Candia. Got this feeling that I should go to St. Peter's, so I went. On the way there, I found this really cool gothic-style church, a rarity in Italy. (Italians were not fond of the style; they thought it uncouth, since it originated in the countries which were barbaric in the time of the Roman Empire.) I couldn't look around, though, because Mass was going on, so I went to St. Peter's, hung out, and started heading back. At the Gate of St. Anne, I realized that I had only a few minutes left before the girls were heading out to dinner, so I dashed off to Candia, arriving at the back gate in only seven minutes. (It usually takes about ten minutes of fast walking.)

 

The facade of St. Mary of the Rosary, which I got to look at in depth on Saturday.

 

     After dinner, Elizabeth Walsh, the female residence coordinator, took us to the island that's in the middle of the Tiber. It's a pretty big island, considering the size of the river. It's even got its own church! Thus ended Friday.

 

Tiber Island

 

     Saturday was an even more eventful day, even though I slept in then, too. Saturday was homework and voting day. Mailing in my absentee ballot via the Vatican Post Office and with a Vatican stamp on the envelope was one of the coolest and funniest feelings ever. As my roommate put it, "So much for separation of church and state!"

     Before 2pm, I went into St. Anne's, but I had to leave because there was a wedding. I went into St. Peter's at some point that day, as well. I think after I mailed my ballot.

     After that, I went church-hunting, and went into eight more churches in about four hours, about three of which were spent walking.

     Because I was only able to pray in seven of the ten churches (I crashed a vigil Mass in one, and the wedding at St. Anne's; St. Peter's was too crowded to pray and the adoration chapel was closed), I guess I kind of did my own unofficial seven-church pilgrimage. We'll be doing the real thing later on this semester.

     I was able to go into Santa Susanna, which was my family's parish while we lived in Rome. My sister was baptized there, and there I made my First Confession and my First Communion. What's awesome is that I remembered part of the church.

 

Santa Susanna! And check out the American flag to the left of the altar! :D

 

     The church down the street from Santa Susanna, Santa Maria della Vittoria, had what looked like an incorrupt saint there, but I can't figure out who she is! It's so frustrating! I want to find out, so I can see who she is and if she's really incorrupt, or if that's just a really good statue. She was young and pretty, and had a slash-mark in her throat.

     On the way home, I found the Coliseum again, which was cool. By the time I made it back, I had taken two Metro lines (switching lines, I had to hop a turnstile, and from the wrong side, too; because I was a genius and started going the wrong way), a bus, and had done tons of walking. I was very happy to get back home, where I could eat and get water. And go to sleep. Before that was an amusing conversation with Donna, Colleen, Elizabeth, and Gabe (our other residence coordinator), swapping stories about junky cars and tickets.

     Now for the events of today: the Papal Mass. It was AWESOME. I cannot sufficiently stress its awesomeness. So after going to bed rather late last night (because I got distracted and wanted to Skype my family), I got up at 6:15, and made it to the place along the Vatican walls between the Gate of St. Anne and the Doorway of the Angels (Rome ones-- do I have that translation right?), where I met up with Colleen Anderson, Donna Kelly, and Annie Willson. They got there some 5-15 minutes before I did, which was at 7. We stood in line for about an hour, and then they finally let us all into the square. Between Colleen's charging and my speed-walking, we managed to get really good seats. We would have gotten decent seats even if we had been slow, due to the fact that we had tickets, but the speed helped us to get even closer. Then we sat and waited an hour and a half, part of the time being spent saying a Rosary with everyone else in the square.

 

It was pretty chilly outside until nine, when the sun started hitting our backs.
The rays were very welcome.

     Finally, Mass started, and we got to see the Pope!!!!!! Because his chair was behind the altar, it was not possible to see him for the ceremony and for the first half of Mass, but we did get to see him incense the altar, which was so very cool.

 

YAY!!!

 

 

     Today the Pope proclaimed Sts. John of Avila and Hildegarde of Bingen to be Doctors of the Church, which was pretty sweet. There were plenty of very excited Spaniards and Germans to be found at Mass. Some of the more important Spanish women who were up at the front were wearing these HUGE mantillas, complete with big combs. The Germans weren't as decked out, with the exception of the lady in front of us who was wearing a dirndl.

     There was row after row of clergy, and we thought that they would be giving out Communion, until the Liturgy of the Eucharist, when suddenly, MORE priests come pouring out of the Vatican and onto the steps. The priests who were giving out Communion in the main aisle had these dudes next to them with these Vatican umbrellas. It was both awesome and hilarious at the same time. I was very disappointed that our priests didn't have them. Alas. The deprivations we suffer.

     After Mass, we had the Angelus and the Pope read to us concerning... Well, I honestly kind of forget. Sad, I know, but I was so psyched that he was speaking English, that I kind of had a hard time paying attention. He read in several other languages as well.

     Next, the Pope-mobile came careening up the church steps, and the Pope got inside and drove past everyone. People everywhere, including priests in cassocks, got up on the plastic chairs to get a better view/picture of the Holy Father. We thought he was done, the girls and I moved to the back of our section so we could leave once the gates opened. Then the Pope came right past us. We were SO CLOSE! I was standing just three people away from the barrier! It was amazing!

 

 

 

     Getting out was, of course, something of a miniature madhouse, but that's okay. It was a happy madhouse, and we were too psyched to care. It wasn't that bad, anyway. Getting in was worse. No sense of personal space. :) On the way out, there was a fence to my left with people lined up against it, and a Swiss Guard on my side of the fence. I think the lady behind tapped him, because he turned around, and there was this adorable little girl (she was about three years old, with curly blonde hair, so cute). So he shook her hand and wished her a happy Sunday before he left for some other post. I think that made the mom's day. It was adorable.

     By the time we got out of the country (so much fun when you remember that it's its own country), it was about 12:15. I realized that I had spent five hours going to and being in the Vatican. Five. Then came the rest of my breakfast and a very long nap.

 

     And that was my totally awesome weekend, with each day better than the last. The awesomeness level just kept escalating.

     So is living in Italy inconvenient? Definitely. Is it fun to get up early and stand in line for an hour, only to have to wait for another hour and a half? No. But it's so worth it. If nothing else, the events of today make up for all the annoyances of the past month.

Vatican Gardens

      Saturday morning was a wonderful and refreshing experience: a trip to the Vatican Gardens. This was my second and perhaps last trip beyond the gates to the left of the Colonnade of St. Peter's. Getting back there is very hard: you need to either be with the Roma Christiana tour bus or have connections. Apparently, we have connections. Thus, a group of ten of us got in.

     Yeah, I had to get up on a Saturday morning, but I can't think of a time (other than going to Mass or Confession or something along those lines) when it was more worth it. The gardens were beautiful. It was a wonderful escape from the noise, the bustle, and the ugly concrete of Rome.

     One of the first things we saw was a wedding going on in this little chapel past the all the gates. So cute! We've actually come across quite a lot of weddings here, at least one each week. Then we had one of those cool landscaping jobs in which the different plants and thier colors are used to make a huge picture on the ground. Which one? Well, this IS the Vatican. You can kind of guess. Next was the cactus wall. The Vatican Gardens has lots of different plants that were donated from various countries.

     Besides these different plants, there were statues, beautiful fountains, the cool towers you can see from the back gate of Candia, and.... GRASS!!!! And shade. I was so happy to see grass. I went ahead and sat on a patch even though that probably was a faux pas. I kind of didn't care, as there was no one around except for my group. I loved being in the quiet of the gardens, and having the shade of trees. Such a wonderful getaway.

      Here are a few pictures. I'll try to get you some more later.

 



Suess-like tree-thing on the cactus wall

 

 

We the lucky ducks who got to go.



A frog fountain!!! I was very sad to not see any real
such creatures. :(  I've really missed them.
 

I was so in love with this tower. I must've taken like 15 pictures of it.
Too bad I couldn't get into it. Rapunzel moment!

The "chairs" in this one area were just too much fun.

Seminary and Scavi Tour

     This day-- Tuesday, not today Saturday the 29th-- was in interesting day. First thing was Mass said by Fr. Bergida at the North American College, Pontifical, seminary. Being a woman within the seminary walls was REALLY weird for the first hour, and felt dreadful. It felt like I was tresspassing in men-only territory, even though there were nuns who worked there. After Mass, Fr. gave us his special first blessing, which is a plenary indulgence, as he is still a brand new priest.

     It is not without reason that Fr. said to us "Welcome to Little America." The college is populated by seminarians and priests from the US, Canada, and a few other places in the English-speaking world. It was so nice to be able to read inscriptions, and to see the names of our states on the walls. The sports' room had various Steelers' merchandise and the TV room had Lazy Boys. It was almost like home. :)

View from the roof of the seminary, where we had cornetti (croissants)

     That afternoon was the Scavi Tour. Scavi = excavations. Under St. Peter's are the remains of an older basilica and an ancient Roman cemetery. It was kind of eerie, but also really cool to see the ancient burial chambers and to walk in the alleys of the cemetery. Some of the burial rooms are really well preserved, with the mosiacs on the floors still preserved. One room still has the ceiling intact. What is extremely interesting is that there is one area where Egyptians were buried: there is a painting of Horus or Ra holding an Ankh in his hand.

     At the end of the tour, we got to see some of St. Peter's bones, which was REALLY cool. They are directly underneath the Balduccino (the huge main altar surrounded by the four bronze pillars) of St. Peter's.

     Alas that pictures were not allowed. They are very particular about the preservation of this space: climate-controlled (meaning it's warm and moist and sickening and it smells) and everything. Here are some sites which have pictures:

http://saintpetersbasilica.org/Necropolis/TombC.htm
http://thecatholictraveler.com/expert/vatican-scavi-tour/
http://www.awesomestories.com/assets/vatican-necropolis-tomb-of-the-chariot

     I can, however, give you pictures of the side of St. Peter's. You are not allowed to go back here without special permission (such as seeing the Scavi, which must be booked months in advance), so it's really awesome that we got back here. It was so white and so clean, truly amazing.

Under the arch/big-window-thing is the guarded
gate which you pass whenever you exit St. Peter's Basilica.

     That night was a viewing of Gladiator up on the terrace. It was pretty awesome to be watching it in Rome, projected onto a wall. Well, it was awesome until I started really wanting to throw empty wine bottles at the projection of Commodus' FACE. Be that as it may... Oh, and then the computer died during the last five minutes of the movie. The last and most important battle! And I had never seen the movie before! It was torture! Thankfully, they got it up and running again and we were able to finish the movie.

     Thus concludes Tuesday, a week ago today, October the second of the Year of Our Lord two thousand twelve.