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Today we woke up early in order to beat the crowds at the Vatican. After a fairly good breakfast and a chilly wait outside the walls of Vatican City, we began our tour guided by a wonderful fellow named Jean-Pierre. Fortunately, he was speaking into a radio transmitter the whole time so we could always hear him in our earpieces no matter how far away he got.
At first, I was a little bit disappointed and frustrated because it felt like eeryeone was in in everyone else's way as we all tried to take pictures of too many objects in a long, narrow hallways. But after we arrived in the Sistine Chapel (la Capella Sistina), it was a whole different experience. There isn't much warning whenever you are about to enter a significant new area, but in a way this is good because you are completely taken by the suddent new surroundings. The Sistine Chapel was both larger and smaller than I expected-- well, longer lengthwise and shorter height-wise-- although the ceiling was still fairly high, I could still see the paintings clearly. It was like being in an enormous, vividly-colored box that contained-- as Jean-Pierre called it-- "the story of humanity."
Coming out of the crypt, you have no idea that you're climbing a narrow staircase directly into St. Peter's Basilica itself. As I told our guide, "C'è troppo bello per parole:" "It's too beautiful for words."
Really, the enormity of the building and the sheer majesty and splendor of the decorations are awe-inspiring, literally breath-taking. I'm not much of an emotional person, but it was really so gloriously beautiful that I wanted to cry. The size of everything makes you feel very insignificant, especially with how many people are there, too, yet the knowledge that I was standing at the very heart of Catholicism, my Church-- literally built upon the bones of St. Peter-- made me feel completely at home with my place in history and the world, especially when so many other people from all over the world are drawn by such a reflection of His beauty to Jesus, our Light.
It was very frustrating seeing the pitiful results of our attempts to capture such beauty on our cameras-- it's just too much for the eyes to take in-- but I suppose the true beauty we can take away is not any mere photos, but our lives lived for Christ.
If only we had had more than twenty minutes in there! But we had to continue to Il Colosseo, another astoundingly enormous structure. Unfortunately, there isn't much to see there and the place was flooded with tourists, but the beauty of such a place lies more in the knowledge that you are standing in the same place-- almost breathing the same air-- as the people thousands of years ago. As you sweep your gaze around the ruins, you can almost hear the ghosts of hte crowds roaring in excitement, their cries still echoing off the very same walls today.
We spent the rest of the day basically walking the lengh of Rome back to the hotel, seeing such sights as the Forum, the Pantheon, St. Agnes' Basilica in la Piazza Navola (containing her skull), and generally just enjoying soaking up glorious Roma.
On the last leg of our journey, we could not find the train we needed to take, but a very kind, helpful authority of public transportation assisted us. He spoke virtually no English, but thanks to my rudimentary Romance language skills, his generosity, and God's providence, I was able to interpret just enough, and he was apparently so taken with my efforts to communicate in Italian that he secured a bus to drop us off at our hotel door for free! It was a challenge and an adventure, but as difficult as it was, the more I act as an interpreter, the more I know this is what I want to do, and I cannot wait until we get to France. Tomorrow, though, is my last chance to practice l'Italiano in Florence.
Today we woke up early in order to beat the crowds at the Vatican. After a fairly good breakfast and a chilly wait outside the walls of Vatican City, we began our tour guided by a wonderful fellow named Jean-Pierre. Fortunately, he was speaking into a radio transmitter the whole time so we could always hear him in our earpieces no matter how far away he got.
At first, I was a little bit disappointed and frustrated because it felt like eeryeone was in in everyone else's way as we all tried to take pictures of too many objects in a long, narrow hallways. But after we arrived in the Sistine Chapel (la Capella Sistina), it was a whole different experience. There isn't much warning whenever you are about to enter a significant new area, but in a way this is good because you are completely taken by the suddent new surroundings. The Sistine Chapel was both larger and smaller than I expected-- well, longer lengthwise and shorter height-wise-- although the ceiling was still fairly high, I could still see the paintings clearly. It was like being in an enormous, vividly-colored box that contained-- as Jean-Pierre called it-- "the story of humanity."
Coming out of the crypt, you have no idea that you're climbing a narrow staircase directly into St. Peter's Basilica itself. As I told our guide, "C'è troppo bello per parole:" "It's too beautiful for words."
Really, the enormity of the building and the sheer majesty and splendor of the decorations are awe-inspiring, literally breath-taking. I'm not much of an emotional person, but it was really so gloriously beautiful that I wanted to cry. The size of everything makes you feel very insignificant, especially with how many people are there, too, yet the knowledge that I was standing at the very heart of Catholicism, my Church-- literally built upon the bones of St. Peter-- made me feel completely at home with my place in history and the world, especially when so many other people from all over the world are drawn by such a reflection of His beauty to Jesus, our Light.
It was very frustrating seeing the pitiful results of our attempts to capture such beauty on our cameras-- it's just too much for the eyes to take in-- but I suppose the true beauty we can take away is not any mere photos, but our lives lived for Christ.
If only we had had more than twenty minutes in there! But we had to continue to Il Colosseo, another astoundingly enormous structure. Unfortunately, there isn't much to see there and the place was flooded with tourists, but the beauty of such a place lies more in the knowledge that you are standing in the same place-- almost breathing the same air-- as the people thousands of years ago. As you sweep your gaze around the ruins, you can almost hear the ghosts of hte crowds roaring in excitement, their cries still echoing off the very same walls today.
We spent the rest of the day basically walking the lengh of Rome back to the hotel, seeing such sights as the Forum, the Pantheon, St. Agnes' Basilica in la Piazza Navola (containing her skull), and generally just enjoying soaking up glorious Roma.
On the last leg of our journey, we could not find the train we needed to take, but a very kind, helpful authority of public transportation assisted us. He spoke virtually no English, but thanks to my rudimentary Romance language skills, his generosity, and God's providence, I was able to interpret just enough, and he was apparently so taken with my efforts to communicate in Italian that he secured a bus to drop us off at our hotel door for free! It was a challenge and an adventure, but as difficult as it was, the more I act as an interpreter, the more I know this is what I want to do, and I cannot wait until we get to France. Tomorrow, though, is my last chance to practice l'Italiano in Florence.
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