515 Stairs and Bagels

On Friday, we woke up bright and early to head over to the Vatican for the St. Peter's Basilica dome climb. I've been in Rome a whole month, and it was actually my first time at the Vatican. The square is actually so beautiful, and it didn't hurt that we were there on a clear, not too chilly, morning.

We did have to go through some pretty strict security though, and of course it took me three times to get through. I had to keep emptying my jacket of all the stupid random earrings that I tend to take off when I feel like it. It came to a point when the Vatican guard was laughing at me. Great start to the day.

The pope's bedroom!

When we met the rest of our class at the obelisk, we headed off to the basilica. There were these crazy-looking guards everywhere that, in my opinion, looked like jesters. Well, they're the Swiss Guard, and some of the most well-trained military men in the world, and there's some intense restrictions just to get accepted into it. I think they just looked silly, but tradition is tradition, and it was entertaining. I also wondered what kind of weapons they could fit in those jester/genie/balloon pants...?

Gorgeous Friday morning

Catarina, our CEA Activities Coordinator, led us to the start of the climb, and asked if anyone wanted her to buy them a ticket for the elevator. No way. I was totally in it for the full experience. Me and Anna and Kevin started out ahead, and then ended up way ahead. I think that being the most impatient person in the world, I had to be the first to the top. Kevin actually ran the first 195 steps, and we met him at a break in the staircase where you could go outside on a large patio to take some pictures and go into the souvenir store. We decided to save all of that for later, even though we were way ahead of the 30-or-so kids below us. Okay, at this part, we did get a teensy bit confused when we didn't understand that once in the basilica, we had to walk around to this unmarked, totally obscure doorway to finish the climb. So we walked out of the dome at first, thinking we were done, and then had to run back in when we realized that first, we hadn't finished it (good thing, cause it wasn't that impressive yet), and second, we were risking our chances of beating everyone else up there to get the first look. Also, I just want to point out that it wasn't my ridiculous competitive nature that was pushing me to get up there ahead of everyone for once--it was the fact that I wanted to see it uninterrupted and less crowded.

So as everyone started to catch up to us, we snaked our way along the narrow path around the dome to the door. People were taking pictures, but I honestly had no interest. There was this giant, dense chain-link fence that went at least five feet above our heads, so its not like the pictures would have turned out anyway. We got to a new staircase that continued to get more and more daunting than the first 195 steps had been. At one point, Kevin joked, "The walls are closing in!" after someone joked about claustrophobia, but then the walls literally started closing in. My first thought was, Just how old is this building?, but thank god my stupid self didn't say anything out loud because it suddenly dawned on me that, yeah, the walls were going to start slanting in sometime, we are climbing up through a dome!

Where we were standing

We got to another doorway and there was this ridiculously narrow spiral staircase that just went straight up. There was this rope hanging down from the top, which you could use to hold onto if you felt like you might fall backward. Reassuring. I did have a small moment of brilliance when, before everyone could see through the doorway, I pulled the rope out and said, "Guys, we have to swing across." I would pay to see their faces again.

Finally, after much huffing and puffing and whining, we made it to the top, and it was so worth it. I could see the entire expanse of Rome, including all of the landmarks, and in the distance, a mountain range (that I still haven't figured out what it is). I definitely told people it was the Alps, even though it most definitely was not, it was just the only mountains I could think of in Europe. Why were they asking me anyway? After we spent a good half hour up there taking in all of the landscape, we made the journey back down the dome. Still a little tedious, but much easier.

We explored St. Peter's after that, which was really amazing. There are numerous popes' tombs in the basilica itself (besides underground, which I'll be seeing on the Scavi Tour next week!), most notably Pope John Paul II. We got into a discussion about his possible road to sainthood, and how his body not decomposing has been considered one of his three necessary "miracles." Pretty fascinating stuff.

Since we had all been craving bagels for the past month (they're not so easy to come by in Rome apparently), we decided we would reward ourselves with a trip to the Jewish Ghetto, the historical Jewish district. Our goal was to search for this so-called famous bagel place that was started by a family from Long Island. Although the Jewish Ghetto is very small, we couldn't find it. I was devastated, but I got over it fast with some delicious meat and potato egg roll thing. Totally hit the spot, but I vowed to find that bagel place soon (we're trying again tomorrow!). The food in that area is actually delicious, and is pretty unique to what the rest of Italy has to offer. When we were lucky enough to stumble upon the Jewish Ghetto, it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and it seemed like the whole community was out to enjoy it. Definitely going back to try more food!