At 6AM this morning, the boat I was sleeping on had an annoucement that woke everyone, including me, up. It was announcing that we would arrive in Naples by 7:15. We shuffled out of the boat and due to it being dark and rainy, rather than going to Sorrento as we had planned, we drove immediately to Rome, nonstop, and arrived at around 9:00AM. We first returned our rental car, which took 1.5 hours due to crazy traffic in the city, and lack of proper signage. We then checked in to our hotel, and went to have a brunch at a snack bar. Since Rome welcomed us with sun, unlike Naples, we decided to continue exploring. We first saw the cathedral of Christo Salvatori, and then we went to the Spanish Steps a second time, to see the sights, and to take pictures in the sun. We then went again to the Vatican City, but this time, we waited in line to enter the cupola of the St. Peter's Basilica. After waiting about 30 minutes, we rode up an elevator, climbed around 300 steps and arrived at the highest point in the Vatican. From there, we could see all of Rome and the Vatican. The views were breathtaking, and we spent at least 20 minutes up there. We then descended to explore the roof of the cathedral, and then walked around the inside of the cathedral for the last time. After our last visit to the Vatican, we slowly went back to our hotel via Metro. After relaxing for about 2 hours, we ate at a traditional Italian restaurant that was absolutely packed, and had a 5-course dinner that lasted almost 2 hours. We went back to the hotel and almost immediately went to sleep after a seemingly short, but tiring day.
Sunday (2/21/2010)
Today was our last full day in Italy. We woke up, had our hotel breakfast, and had a goal of visiting the sights of Rome we haven't yet seen. We first took metro to the Basilica of St. Paul. We entered during the Sunday morning mass and walked around. We saw the tomb of St. Paul, as well as the portraits of all of the popes since St. Peter. There are only 7 spots left for portraits, which leads some people to believe that the end of Christianity or of the world is soon to come. After we left the basilica, we visited the Pyramid of Cestius, which is a pyramid in the middle of Rome. It looks very misplaced, but is still interesting. From there, we took the metro to Circo Massimo, which is the remains of the world's first Stadium, but all that remains is a grass field with a sandy bottom. We walked its length to a strange church with a large tablet which will supposedly chop your hand off if you put your hand in it. I would've put my hand in it if not for the line, which was at least 30 minutes long, so it was simply not worth it. We then went to a real Roman cuisine restaurant (Cuchina Romana) to have "Dinner" which is eaten between 12-3PM. There were all sorts of weird dishes, such as bools tail, tripe soup and some other items from the insides of animals. From the restaurant, we went to the Piazza Repubblica downtown to see an extremely old church with contemporary sculptures and features. From there we visited the Campo di Fiori, in which flowers are sold during the day, and then we walked by the Tiber River through the Ghetto, where many of Rome's Jewish people lived when pope Paul VI separated them from Romans. We also saw the Great Synagouge of Rome, which is Rome's largest. As we walked through the ghetto, we also saw many more Roman ruins, including Julius Caesar's death location. Lastly, we visited the Trastevere, the area of Rome behind the Tiber River, and had some pastries at a nice cafe in the main square of Trastevere. From here, we wanted to return to the hotel, but we didn't know which bus to take. We ended up taking a huge circle around Rome, but finally managed to reach the hotel in time to have a good night sleep.
Tomorrow, we'll be taking a taxi to the airport in the morning, and flying out to Philly at 11AM, and arriving in Providence by around 5PM.
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