Europe Trip: Day Eight (Rome)

Yesterday was just exhausting, and today was similarly exhausting but in a different way.

Yesterday morning, Kristen and I said goodbye to Santorini and all of the fantastic views, memories, and food we enjoyed while there. We took a flight – which got delayed – to Athens, Greece, where we stayed for five hours before taking another flight – which also got delayed – to the final place on our Europe itinerary: the Eternal City, Rome. We had a pleasant conversation with our Romanian taxi driver as he drove us to our Airbnb on the outskirts of the city late at night, and we settled in.

Today was Vatican City day. Since we felt rested and energized this morning we decided to make the walking trek into the central part of Rome, stopping at the Trevi Fountain and a nearby caffe where we got pictures and breakfast. I got an Italian espresso, and our waiter promptly instructed me on the proper use of the cup of water he placed in front of me as he delivered the rest of our meal: first eat, then sip water to clean your palate, then drink espresso, then sip more water to clean your mouth a second time (imagine all of those instructions coming from a heavily-accented Italian waiter). It was a pleasant, picturesque, Italian breakfast. We then set off for the Vatican.

We found ourselves really enjoying Roma – its centuries old architecture, its pleasant streets, its wonderful music – as we made our way towards the Church-State. As newly-minted Bachelor degrees, Kristen and I have our fair share of knowledge about worldwide Roman influence, and we consistently found touch points where that knowledge came to the fore. More than anything today, though, we realized how much we appreciate the love of life epitomized by the Italian culture we breathed in so deeply today; the music, the cuisine, even the architecture emphasizes the Italian heart-beat message that life is meant to be enjoyed and appreciated, even while a full knowledge of the reality of evil and suffering should temper such enjoyment and full-bodied appreciation. Being in the Eternal City makes one think Eternal things.

Unfortunately, a few weeks ago we had tried to send in a request to secure some Papal Audience tickets which gives the user access to a general audience with the Pope where he speaks on some issue in front of a select crowd, but we weren’t able to secure them. No matter, we saw his face and heard his voice everywhere: his likeness is plastered on thousands of postcards, merchandise, and iconography scattered across the vicinity of Vatican City. Since we had a few hours before we had to meet our entrance guide to get into the City, we stopped in to a few souvenir shops and bought some knick-knacks.

I won’t describe how being inside the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Vatican Museums made us feel: they were literally unspeakable experiences which are most fully appreciated by being in front of the art and artifacts. That’s all I will say there. If it gives any indication how much we enjoyed today, just know while Kristen and I were ranking our favorite trip days, Rome was vying for one of the top two spots in all our different rankings.

Before we took a taxi back to our Airbnb, we had an absolutely delicious dinner at one of the many alley-street Ristorantes. Kristen got spaghetti and I got gnocchi. Once again: Dee-lish-uss. American “spaghetti” does not compare.

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The eternally iconic painting of the gathering of the philosophers, with Plato and Aristotle taking center stage. The two figures’ poses demonstrate their respective philosophies: Plato’s pointing to the sky speaks of his Eternal Ideas as explanatory of reality and Aristotle’s horizontal hand gesture emphasizes the reality of the material world set against the Eternal Ideas espoused by his master. My finger pointing to the sky is my sign of appreciation for the Platonic tradition, which Eastern Christianity has always favored (over against the West).

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In Vatican City square; behind me is St. Peter’s Basilica, and blocked by my head is the chimney where the order of Cardinals indicates when they have chosen a new Pope (shown by which color smoke they let out of the chimney).

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Inside St. Peter’s Basilica. Stunning amount of gold went into the construction of this place.

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Kristen and I set out to see the Pantheon and the Colosseum tomorrow, which will be our final full day in Europe before we go back to the States the next day. We plan to eat tiramisu, gelato, and maybe buy some authentic spaghetti before the day is done.

Blessings and…

Ciao!