When in Rome...

...eat a lotta gelato! I have given up grumbling about the heat (unless it's to start a conversation with an Italian girl). Rome is fast, loud, hot and crowded...and I love it! Well, I love discovering an oasis amidst the chaos to reflect on the magnitude of this ancient city. I walked where Julius Cesear walked. I looked out over the arena where man and beast battled to the death for the entertainment of over 50,000 Romans. I touched brick and mortar and marble that has been gracefully crumbling for two thousand years. I squeezed through narrow catacomb halls where 16 popes and countless faithful followers were left to begin the afterlife. This is a very modern city built upon the highly visible foundations of its past.

I'm staying at a campsite about a 30 minutes public transport ride from the city centre. The last bus from the city to the campsite is at midnight. Here is my thought process from Saturday evening:

"I want to see Roman nightlife at it's peak. I don't want to walk an hour and half through the not-so-well-lit backstreets of Rome. I want to see the Vatican and St. Peter's on the FREE Sunday of the month. The line will form very early.

...compute...

I will stay up all night in the city and I'll be first in line!"

Brilliant! So I took only the necessities, my camera, ID, and some money (but left Rick Steves back at the tent) and set off for an adventure. I'm sad to report that Rome's nightlife seems to be a sort of "in-the-know" scene. There were only a few pubs open with dancing and I never found a proper nightclub (although I heard deep bass bumping somewhere under a building without a visible entrance). So I just did what the Romans were doing, ate gelato, watched people at the Trevi Fountain and others, and walked around. For five hours. I slept for one fitful hour on a bench outside of St. Peter's basillica and sure enough, like the faithful fan at a concert, I was first in line. Seeing St. Peter's with only a handful of other people was magical. It earns the title of the world's greatest church, and I've seen some pretty impressive churches.

What I didn't realize (this is where Rick would have been helpful) is that the entrance for the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel was a kilometer away from the entrance at which I had queued so eagerly. Oh well, I was still there earlier than the thousands of people who would surely come after me. The Museum and Chapel were worth the wait. I wonder if Michelangelo and his fresco crew could have had any notion of the masses of fans who would later risk neck injury to admire their beyond impressive work...

Exhausted, I returned to my camp for a restful night--but ended up playing cards and talking with some Germans and Poles for a few hours before finally getting a proper night's sleep. The touristic sights aside, this trip has taught me much about my peers across the globe. Everyone has a story, everyone has a history.

Tonight I will listen to Billy Joel and Bryan Adams at their free concert in front of the Colosseum. How could I pass that up?!

Ciao!