Today we woke up at 6:00 AM ish (Italy Time) and everyone managed to get out of the apartment at 7:00 AM (Italy Time) even Griffin to everyone's surprise. (Parent note: we made it clear to the kids that we were leaving the apartment at 7 am, and they were welcome to come with us, but we weren't going to wait for anyone this morning. We had plans!). Once we all made it down the 103 steps (which is a debated amount depending on if you talk to Jen or Gage) (parent note: Gage and I agree it is 121 steps!) of our apartment, we took the metro to the station of Ottaviano which is right next to Vatican City.
Todays main goal was to be first in line to see St. Peters Basilica in Vatican City. The line to the Church is usually hours long but since we got up before Jesus, we managed to get in with only a 15-20 minute wait. While we walked around, we listened to the free audio tour by Rick Steve’s that we had downloaded the night before (highly recommended downloading's the app if you ever travel somewhere because they are amazing and also this is an unpaid sponsored). Throughout the tour, they (Rick and his cohost) kept pointing out how busy and hot it was, which he was wrong about because at 8 AM (Italy time) they were blasting the air-conditioning in the church but everything else was spot on. St. Peters Basilica was very grand and beautiful.
(Parent note: to get a sense of scale, if you zoom in and find the words going around where the walls meet the ceiling, the letters are seven feet tall!)
Within the church there were huge statues lining the walls on the ground and further up the walls. The Statues on the top were about 6 feet bigger than the statues on the ground and it was meant to give the Basilica the appearance of feeling smaller than it actually was. Also, the dome was designed and partially completed by Michaelangelo. The alter within the church was placed directly over St. Peter’s tomb. Then less than 25 feet away from the alter in one of the sides off the church was the location of Peters crucifixion and on that sport their was a painting of his crucifixion (which was upside down because he felt he was unworthy to be killed the same way as his savor).
Another significant spot was where they had the pieta (which is the sculptor of mother Mary holding her son Jesus right after his death). This was sculpted by Michaelangelo and is one of his only signed pieces of art (because at the time someone had complimented the creation but was trying to give another artists who was not nearly as talented the credit). The sculptor (Michaelangelo) shows a much smaller and younger Mary and Jesus to represent their eternal youth and righteousness. Also, this sculpture is behind bulletproof glass because several years ago someone broke in and destroyed some of the sculpture with a hammer (luckily it was able to be repaired).
Right next to the sculpture is the holy door, which is only opened on holy years (which happens every 25 years at Christmas unless the pope says otherwise which he did in 2016 and opened it). This Christmas (2024) is the next time they will remove the bricks and open the door. Upon exiting St. Peter Basilica, we got to go into the catacombs where several other past popes were buried including St. Peter.
After St. Petersburg, we walked around near Vatican City in search of a snack. We then found ourselves on a path that turned into a dead end and luckily a nice man told us before we had gone to far. The nice man was even more helpful when he asked the locals the way and they pointed us up this fun path that lead to a park and the in the direction we were intending to initially go. We continued on the walk and then happened to come across a gorgeous fountain, a interesting monument, and a relaxing park. Finally, about an hour later, we stopped at a super cute breakfast place and we got several things including pancakes, toast and eggs, and a croissant. (Parent note: we made a tactical error by not stopping at the first place we saw, and not many places are open that early. With such an early departure, by the time we sat down for "brunch" around 11:30 many people were starving and a few were a little grumpy. And this is Rome, so the food took about 45 minutes to get to us. But we persevered!)
We then crossed the insignificant but now significant bridge (because we crossed it) over the Tiber river. After our short walk, we got to the temple of Porticus and the temple of Hercules. We then walked across the street to view the mouth of truth which had a long line so we decided to just look at it and not wait in line to put our hand in the mouth. However, Jen, Matt, and Gage were able to go into the actual church and go down into the catacombs (which they thought was very neat). (Parent note: the older crew did the Trastavere tour first and then went to the temples and catacombs - same sights, different order.)
Matt in the catacombs
After, we then started Trastevere tour through a town just outside the bustling city of Rome. (Parent note: Trastevere is actually a neighborhood in Rome, but across the river from the main tourist area.)
We started on the bridge, then head on to a tour. (Parent note: thanks again to Rick Steves,, with his walking tour of Trasavere!) We then went to two churches (one apart of the tour and one not). The church apart of the tour (church of St. Cecilia) is famous for weddings (Connor and Kayla thought about it but it has a two year waiting list).
We then ended the tour at Santa Maria in Traverse (which is a beautiful church). Most of the church contained stolen material from ancient Roman materials. The church also was a place where they found precious oil to light lamps which was a fun fact we learned from the free online tour. Also, the mosaics in the church predate the renaissance. (Parent note: another interesting thing we learned today at St Peters is that what look like paintings in many churches are actually mosaics, because paintings would get ruined from the smoke used in church proceedings.)
After meeting up with the family at the church, we decided to separate once again. Kayla, Griffin, Connor, and MacClain all got lunch at a Pasta and Pizza place that was delicious.
We then walked around the city and found several cool things including many church's and a Giant sculpture of Callosal statue of Constantine.
Jen, Matt, and Gage wandered around Trastevere to various places and then they did the Jewish Ghetto tour. They then went to the orange tree park which had an amazing overlook of the Vatican and palatine hill (the backside of the forum).
The back side of Palestine hill
Then they walked around through the circus maximus and walked home via a cool other places. (Parent note: Circus Maximus was a race track during the heyday of Rome. All that is left is the oval dirt track you can see in the picture above and a few ruins - and the very cool name!)
For dinner, everyone managed to get Kebabs (at different times but everyone enjoyed). Also, since Kayla was the one person to not get Kebabs, she got to utilize the fact that Connor was not around and went out for Peanut butter and dark chocolate Gelato with Gage and Jen. Overall, it was a wonderful night and sadly tomorrow we have to say goodbye to MacClain but luckily get to say hello to two new guests. Stay tuned to find out who.
Signing off
Kayla Daniel
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