When in Rome

This became a popular phrase during our trip; mostly by Brock, who in my opinion overplayed it! So, I thought of some of my own “When in Rome…” phrases. When in Rome, give Brock a new saying. When in Rome, you wait in line for the Vatican for 4 hours. When in Rome, your apartment is above a monastery. When in Rome, you see nuns and priest enjoying gelato at a local Gelatoria talking about the religious problems of the world. When in Rome you wade through a crowd of thousands just to take a picture next to a fountain.

Our trip to Rome was quick and jammed back! We only had two days left of our vacation extravaganza and we knew we needed to walk briskly, snap quickly, and pray, pray, pray the lines weren’t too long. The first day we arrived we went straight to Vatican City where we saw the line (dun dun daaa) four hours long, wrapping around the entire city just to enter the museum that leads you through the entire Vatican; Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. Because we were pressed for time we skipped the Vatican that day and made plans to go first thing in the morning to get a head start on the line.

Our next stop was the Colosseum. On our walk across Rome (literally it was on the other side of where we were) we were able to see many other historical landmarks. We saw the Spanish Steps and enjoyed a nice break from our walk and we made our way to the Trevi Fountain where we waded through the crowd to throw in our coin and kiss for “lovers’ luck”. We used our Amusement Park like map, hitting all the major attractions and we finally made our way to the colossal Colosseum. We joined the last tour group of the night and walked through the most amazing historical arena with our tour guide who looked like he was training to be a Gladiator himself. In preparation for our trip to Rome, Brock had me watch the movie the Gladitor and I am so glad he did. I appreciated seeing the place in which the Gladiators trained, the arena where the fights too place, and the ruins of what once stood as the structure of the Colosseum.

We woke up the next morning bright and early. We enjoyed breakfast at our apartment we rented for the night and then we made our way to the Vatican. The Vatican didn’t open until 9am so we figured getting in line by 8, we shouldn’t have to wait. Wrong! Although the line was nowhere close to being as long as it was the day before, we still waited for an hour and a half (in the rain) before we made our way to the ticket office and went inside. Our tour started with the Museum of the Vatican; the Egyptian Room, Tapestry Room, Map Room, room after room of amazing paintings and frescos, beautiful statues and sculptures of religious figures and historical Roman figures, and then we finally entered it. The Sistine Chapel. When you first enter, you are taken back by the sea of people looking up to the ceiling and the guards yelling “SHHH! No pictures.” You couldn’t help but be in awe of the beautiful paintings in the Chapel, especially on the ceiling, and you realized how long you were looking up by how sore your neck began to get. Another breathtaking painting, that still leaves us changed today, is the painting of the Last Judgment. Around the walls and ceiling of the Chapel, Biblical stories were painted all around and you could see the presence of God come and go throughout the artwork.

After we enjoyed the Chapel, we made our way inside St. Peter’s Basilica where we witnessed our first Italian Mass. The last stop of the day was the Forum and the Palatino Hills. We walked through these ruins with a book that showed us what we were looking at and then a transparency that covered it and showed us what it once was. At first I was skeptical, “There is no way I will understand what all these rocks were.” But it surprised me. Once I was standing where the Emperor lived and where all of the temples and churches stood, I began to see the city of Rome and I appreciated ancient Rome for what it used to be.

When in Rome… we enjoyed our time and we were beyond grateful for the opportunity to witness pieces of history that we got to see. We were amazed at how the structures still stood, how the Churches and Cathedrals were still as breathtaking as the day they were first built, and to learn about how the history of the Empire and how Rome once was and how it became to be what it is today.



Trevi Fountain



St. Peter's Basilica