”Italy has changed. But Rome is Rome.” -Robert De Niro

 

Sitting in my home back in Washington state, I had always felt like Rome was probably overrated.  Even though I had never been there just the pictures I'd seen, the things I had read made me believe that it was more or less a tourist trap.  I could not have been more wrong.  Chloe, Abby, JJ...  if you never visit any other place in your lifetime, come to Rome.

This city is simply overwhelming.  Yes, there are a ton of tourists here.  But they are here for a reason.  The amount of history, art, food and sites will blow you away.  I don't even know where to start writing about this.

We have gone to many of the major sites here.

Castel Sant'Angelo

Palatine Hill

The Colosseum

And you can read or watch videos of all of them.  It is impossible to see them all in a single visit. But to us, the charm of Rome is the unexpected surprises that you come across as you're walking around the city.  The food that can take you to another place and time.  The small, unremarkable church on the outside that when you enter will cause you to sit down in absolute awe and take it all in.  I mentioned it before, but seeing art in the places where it was created for... not in a museum, is indescribable

From our first dinner we were beginning to feel how Rome can change your perspective on the world.  We sat in an old, classic style,  Italian restaurant.  Eating suppli, fried asparagus, rigatoni carbonara and tiramisu... we could not speak.  The only sounds were the moans of delight with every bite.

Fanciest napkin folding we've ever seen.

Suppli and fried asparagus

Rigatoni Cabonara and fetticini with fungi (yuk)

Tiramisu

Our Airbnb is about two blocks from the Vatican.  We began our adventure by attending Sunday mass in Saint Peter's Basilica.  Not a bad way to start off, right?  The mass was at 9am, but we were told to get there three hours early as the crowds can be daunting.  Arriving at 6am to queue, we met a wonderful Philippino family that now lived in Australia.  Standing in line with someone for three hours, you become good friends.

We learned all about their lives and they learned all about our lives and our family.  (Yes, Jessica, we talked about you).

Saint Peter's is the largest Catholic church in the world and beautiful in such a grand way.

The mass was unique, spoken in Italian.  We didn't understand a word of it but did stand and kneel and stand and kneel and stand and kneel at the right times.  There was one main priest leading the service and six other priests lined up on either side of the altar.  It was reassuring to know that all my years in Catholic confinement were not unique as I looked up during the service to see two of the priests sound asleep during the homily.  Good to know I was not the only one that snuck in a little nap during church.  We weren't allowed to take pictures during the mass and I think that may be the reason why.

Two of our days were filled with the Ryder Cup golf tournament.  I'm not going to include that in this post but will share photos to the other golfers separately.  There's just too much about Rome that we'd like to share and we'd like to keep you awake through this post.  ;-)

Seeing some of the more famous landmarks, ones that you had only seen in movies and pictures, come to life.

The Pantheon

The Colosseum

The Vatican

We went to the Vatican a few times because of its proximity to our Airbnb.  In addition to attending mass at St. Peter's Basilica, we also went to breakfast at the Vatican and that got us into the museum before the crowds.

But the highlight of our trips to the Vatican was the Papal Audience we attended on Wednesday morning where we were able to see the Pope.  He came within 30 yards of us and I could see the tears in Sonja's eyes.

On the way to see the Pope.  Sonja and her friends.

We weren't the only ones.  This was the queue we were in.

The crowd inside St. Peter's Square

Sonja's Rome Surprise

A little foundational background knowledge here.  I'm a recovering Catholic but Sonja is a practicing Catholic.  A "very" practicing Catholic.  So when, in my research,  I came across Scala Sancta (The Holy Stairs) I had her surprise.

The sanctuary gets its name from the 28 marble steps of the Holy Stairs.  According to ancient Christian tradition, Saint Helena in 335 a.d. had the stairs transported from Pontius Pilate's palace in Jereusalem to Rome.  It is believed that Jesus climbed these stairs several times the day he was sentenced to death.

Today, the 28 steps are owned by the Vatican and free to visit.  They are covered in wood to protect the marble.  Climbing the holy stairs is an act of devotion.  One that is performed with silence and focus.  Many people will also stop and kiss points on the steps where glass reveals what is said to be drops of Christ's blood.

And oh, did I mention you climb these steps on your knees.

It's a lot easier coming down

And when you finish, you get you're reward

Wrapping it up

Kids, I can't tell you how wonderful this trip was.  We took thousands of photos and hundreds of videos (which I'll put together after editing). We literally walked on the same stones as Julius Caesar.

We drank fresh water from fountains over a century old.

We ate foods that ancient Romans ate.

Double fried artichoke...  delicious!

And, we got to hang with the Pope!  What more could you ask for?

Coming attractions

First off, I'm going to finish getting my hips repaired.  The one already fixed is great and I'm sure I did a ton more damage to the other one on this trip.  And then we're looking at returning to Southeast Asia.  But this time doing an extended 4-5 month trip through Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and maybe a side trip to Australia.

Thank you for hanging in there with us.  We love you all.

--Bill & Sonja