Ok, well I suppose I need to begin this post with an apology: I'm sorry. I have been ludicrously busy traveling recently, thanks to Robert Humphreys, a family friend who taught with my parents when they taught for the Department of Defense Schools (DODS). Not only have I been traveling, but I have been attempting to cement my spots in various classes for this coming semestre, as well as organize a visit from my girlfriend, Allison, who will be arriving in Frankfurt on the 21st. So, I will give you a quick overview of how I am going to go about attempting to cover everything that has been going on:
a) this current entry will be about my trip to Rome, Italy
b) I will create a second entry (within the next couple days) about my trip to Prague, Czech Republic
c) by Sunday the 21st I will post a very short piece about the general events going on as the semestre starts up here
d) then we will be back on track and I will fall back to the weekly updates
So the plan was to take the train down to Stuttgart on the Friday the 5th, in order to arrive at Rebert's house that evening. However, there ended up being an accident with one of the trains near Karlstadt and so all of the following trains were delayed. As I was not yet packed (imagine that, a college student procrastinating) I decided that it would be more prudent to wait and leave the morning of the 6th and arrive around 11:00 a.m., because I didn't want to be navigating new areas during the evening/night. All went well this time and I rolled into Stuttgart at about 11:15 a.m. Robert was kind enough to pick me up from the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and we went back to the house. David, his son, was participating in a soccer camp, so I had the afternoon to relax and unpack. With regards to lunch, Robert asked if I would like a burger...the heavens opened and God proved to me his existence. It was the most amazing burger I have ever eaten. After being deprived of American food for so long the burger was my Mana and Robert my Moses.
That evening we went to the Cannstatter Volksfest, the second biggest fest in Germany (behind Oktoberfest). Robert and I happily ate our way through the fest as David and his friend rode some of the rides. On Sunday while David was participating in his last day of camp Robert took me to mass on the base and then afterwards to the store on base. It was amazing, I was able to stock up on American food staples as well as grab a couple gifts to cook up for the host family. Such a brownies, cornbread, Oreos, Reese's, and a couple jars of salsa. Fun little side note: While shopping for a salsa there I saw a brand which hailed from New Mexico, Albuquerque nonetheless! Pride for my state was boundless.
 |
| Fish frying |
 |
| Crêpes...yes, we donated to the cause |
My plane for Rome departed the Stuttgart airport on Monday afternoon and my return flight was on Friday afternoon. This gave me 3 solid days in the Eternal City, as well as a couple half days. I am going to stick with the format that I have been using to document trips, mostly pictures with a few stories or commentary here and there. However, if you have any questions or comments about anything, or just want to go a little deeper with the details of something, feel free to shoot me an email, or if you have Facebook obviously I am there too! Here we go!
DAY 1: Monday, October 8th
My plane touched down in Rome at about 6:00 p.m. local time. I tracked down my baggage, navigated the airport, and slowly sniffed out the airport train station, where I rode the Leonardo Da Vinci Express into the heart of Rome...Termini Station. Termini Station is basically the train station, as well as where all of the metro lines begin and/or pass through. I was aware of pickpockets, however I had no trouble with anything the entire trip through. Upon checking in to the American Palace Hotel EUR, I dropped my stuff off at the room and then decided that I had just enough time to explore the immediate area of the hotel. It was very interesting and I ended up finding a market to buy a bottle of water. I also stumbled upon a shop where I ordered a calazone for dinner. It was different than the American one though...it had almost a sweet bread and was mostly bread with a little bit of filling.
DAY 2: Tuesday, October 9th
This day was huge. I spent 11 hours hitting some of the biggest names in Rome as well as just walking around and exploring the city a bit. Also, I want to warn you that you are about to see an army of pictures of the Colosseum...I'm sorry about that. It makes for quite the photo subject though and it seemed like every time I saw it the lighting or angle was different and inviting.
 |
| The first site to greet me after ascending the stairs to the city from the metro station. You cannot see it in this picture (there is a better one later) but this is Circo Massimo...the site of all of the ancient races and such |
 |
| Ruins on the Palatine. These next few pictures were taken on the Palatine Hill, the location of the houses of all of the great nobles that lived in the city |
 |
| The Colosseum from the Palatine |
 |
| Another picture from the Palatine...my favorite picture of the Colosseum actually, maybe the tree does it for me. |
 |
| The city of Rome |
 |
| The gardens of the Palatine |
 |
| From the Palatine: If you strain your eyes and look into the distance... |
 |
| ...you can see the big boy himself. Hello St. Peter's! |
 |
| Palatine stadium |
 |
| The Colosseum from the temples by the Foro Romano |
 |
| The Foro Romano (Roman Forum) |
 |
| Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (National Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II) |
 |
| I finally actually made my way to the Colosseum for a tour |
 |
| The innards of the Colosseum. It actually legitimately had lifts which were used to raise animals or props up onto the competing surface of the arena |
 |
| The colosseum from the inside. It had something like 80 entrances/exits, held around 60,000 spectators, and could be completely emptied in 15 minutes. |
 |
| Arch of Constantine |
 |
| Fontana Trevi |
 |
| The Spanish Steps |
 |
| "Holy Moses! There's a baby in the river!" |
 |
| Rome had some of the most beautiful bridges |
 |
| A statue on one of the bridges |
 |
| Even though I told myself I was saving the Vatican for Wednesday the Catholic inside of me could not hold back....I just wanted to make sure it was still there after having seeing it on the Palatine Hill |
 |
| Circo Massimo |
 |
| Old aqueduct, if I'm not mistaken, on my way back to the metro |
DAY 3: Wednesday, October 10th
 |
| Just to give you an idea of what separates Vatican City from Rome |
 |
| Inside St. Peter's Square |
 |
| Chairs are all set out and people begin to fill in for the papal audience, of which I was lucky enough to be a part of, thanks to a free ticket from Robert via the USO |
 |
| Papa! |
 |
| Benedict XVI throwing a quick blessing down |
 |
| Now within the Vatican Museum |
 |
| Just a normal Vatican ceiling |
 |
| Herakles |
 |
| Supposedly the sarcophagus of St. Helen |
 |
| I think this picture shows the difference between Vatican City and Rome well. The street to the left of the wall is Rome. |
 |
| The famous Map Room of the Vatican |
 |
| The ceiling |
 |
| The entire wall was covered in these paintings of maps. One of the former popes had every region of Italy documented on these walls. |
 |
| St. Peter's from one of the museum windows. I unfortunately never made it into St. Peter's Basilica. However, I made it everywhere else and I think I made it to potentially a better place...I will show you later. |
 |
| Holiness is always on sale near Vatican City |
 |
| The Pantheon |
 |
| These pictures cannot even begin to describe how huge this building is. This is the most expansive dome I have ever seen |
DAY 4: Thursday, October 11th
Thursday I was quite tired of all of the people, lines, and hecticness of the main Roman haunts so I decided to have a more relaxed day. I slept in a bit, then leisurely explored a different area of the city, specifically on a quest to find the Basilica of St. Paul. St. Paul, as some of you may know, holds a very special place in my heart as he is my patron saint.
 |
| In my search I ran into this Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul. This stood out in a huge way because, as you can see, there is a lot of open space here...something that you almost never find in other parts of Rome, or at least the heart of the old part of the city |
 |
| My boy St. Paul with his Sword of the Spirit |
 |
| St. Peter...see the keys there? |
 |
| How my buddy St. Paul left this world. |
 |
| Things didn't work out quite that well for St. Peter either. |
 |
| Here it is. The site I had been searching for. The site that I would be prepared to argue is more worth a visit than the St. Peter's Basilica. This is the Basilica of St. Paul. |
 |
| Here is one of the ceilings, who knows how high up there |
 |
| One of the nice small side passages |
 |
| The famous painting of the conversion of St. Paul |
 |
| If you can see all of the small gold circles on the wall just over 1/2 of the way to the ceiling, those are all popes. The basilica had a profile of every single pope since St. Peter on the wall. |
 |
| Peter snuck into the Basilica also...but I guess he does have the keys |
 |
"Lord, where else would we go?"
"You will go on the wall of St. Paul's Basilica, Peter, that is where you will go." |
 |
| There's Benedict, he made the cut for the wall too |
 |
| Courtyard of the Basilica |
 |
| This is supposedly the tomb of St. Paul...back in that hollowed out area there |
By the way, St. Peter's is still on my list of places to get to, don't think I am not interested. However, if you don't feel like battling a crowd and if you want to be in a place of worship that actually feels like a place of worship and not simply a tourist destination...St. Paul's is not a bad second. It is also the second largest basilica in the world, second to St. Peter's of course.
DAY 5: Friday, October 12th
Friday my plane left at around 4:00 p.m. Checkout was at 12:00 so I lugged my baggage to St. Paul's for one last rosary and prayer session before the commute back to Termini and then to the airport. I landed in Stuttgart around 5:30 p.m. and was welcomed by Robert. We then drove home to rest until the next afternoon, when we would continue on to the next destination in the queue...Prague.
