Our room has a unique quality. When all else is quiet, you can hear the low throated, deep rumble of the subway as it passes in the tunnels a few blocks away. It is not loud, or disturbing, but it is there.
We are off to the Vatican today to attend mass with Pat and Bill. Mass is scheduled for 9:00 am at St. Peter's in the Vatican. We are meeting Bill and Pat at the last column on the right farthest from the church. We caught the metro to Octavian station, then walked to the side of the Vatican. It all appeared to be barricaded, so we hustled around to the front and passed through the first security check. Once inside the perimeter, we seated ourselves in the shade near the first pillar and waited for the Caldwells. 8:10 am turned into 8:37 am and no Bill and Pat. Sally had gone to the reateoom10 minutes ago and had not returned. I began to wander around a little bit, wondering if I had missed them while looking down at the iPad. Suddenly Pat called out from inside the secondary security perimeter. They had come in through the side entrance we thought was closed, found Sally and were waiting for me. I quickly went through the X-ray check and joined them.
We headed up toward the largest church in all of Christendom, St. Peter's Basilica. Once inside, we once again marveled at the sheer size and opulence. I had assumed that Pat and Bill had been here before, but I was wrong. They had been to Europe long ago, when Beth and Ross were babies, but Switzerland was as far south as they had traveled.
We spent a few minutes gazing around, then Sally began the quest to find where mass was being held in this massive space. A few inquiries and we discovered that mass had been postponed until 10:30 am. hmmmm . . . Now we had about an hour a half, but were a long way from the rest of Rome. We decided to skip mass with plans to attend an evening session and walk across the city with the goal of returning to the Vatican by 11:30 am to attend the Pope’s noon audience. To make it back on time, we were contemplating a taxi.
Our first goal was Piazza Navore, with Bernini’s Four Rivers Fountain. We walked the narrow streets, winding our way there. Once in the Piazza, pat listened to the Rock Steves audio tour of the Piazza while Bill and Sally chased down a Coke and a bottle of water. From there we walked over to the Pantheon. We went inside, walked around the circumference, then popped back out on the street, headed for the Emanuel monument and Michelangelo's steps up the back side. Once on top of the steps, we could look down into the Forum area and see the ruins. Since it was Sunday, the main road by the Forum (Via Dei Fori Imperiali) was closed. We walked down to this broad 4 lane road and hung to the right side, looking down into the uncovered ruins of the Forum. We walked the length of the road to the Colosseum. Pat and Bill had not been to any of these areas in the days before, so we enjoyed they Arch of Constantine, the Colosseum and walked up toward Palatine Hill. The crowds and lines were enormous. We did not even consider trying to go inside. The view from the outside was enough.
From the colosseum, we headed for the church “Peter in Chains”. Here two objects were to be found, the actual chains that King Herod used to imprison Saint Peter, and the marble sculpture of Moses done by Michelangelo. Sally and I had seen both 6 weeks ago when in Rome for the first time. We thought Pat and Bill would enjoy seeing them. We worked our way up the hill and into the church. The first thing we noticed was that mass was in progress. Sally asked Pat if she would like to participate. She immediately replied yes. Mass was being held in the area to the right of the main alter by a elderly and kindly priest. Sally and Pat headed that way, Bill and I headed to the right side of the alter where Michelangelo’s Moses sat, then to some chairs next to the pews to wait for Sally and Pat.
After mass, we left the church and headed toward the subway station. I thought we would ride the subway back to our respective places to rest and wait out the hot weather (92ยบ+). Back on the Main Street, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant posting €8 euro lunches. We sat down. The forward and boisterous waiter described a couple of items. Sally repeatedly stated she was sure these offerings were from the €8 menu. He deftly ignored her statements, as if his English was failing him at those moments. All four of us had the same meal (kind of boring!), roast chicken, fried potatoes and a salad. Bill and Pat had been saying all morning they wanted to buy our lunch for touring them around Rome, which we kept refuting. As we finished, Bill and Pat made it to the register first. I arrived with my card to split the bill, but Bill was insistent that he pay. I don’t know what the cost was, but I hope the waiter stuck to the €8 menu. I have a feeling, from his actions, that he did not.
We walked from the restaurant up to our B&B. Bill and Pat stopped in for a half an hour to cool off and chat, then they walked the block and a half to the Barbarini Metro Station and rode back to their place to rest, take care of airline tickets and make arrangements for Pat to stay in Europe with Joel while Bill flew home to work. Sally took a nap, I caught up on the blog.
About 6:00 pm the Caldwells returned and we headed out to dinner. Sally had found another Rick Steves inexpensive suggestion for eating. We had walked past it on our way back from Peter in Chains church and checked it out, now we were returning for dinner. Ross and Crystal were joining us.
Dinner was €10 or €12 each, either pizza, hamburger or lasagna. Between the six of us, we ordered all combinations. Each was happy with their meal. After dinner, we walked back to Via Dei Fori Imperiali and walked back in the direction of St. Peter’s, taking a slightly different course than earlier in the day, heading for Campo di Fiori, a piazza near Trastevere. Just past the Pantheon we decided we had walked enough (it was 10:30 pm). Ross and Crystal headed to their place, us 4 headed back toward our place, passing Trevi Fountain on the way. We parted outside our door. Bill and Pat rode the metro back to their place, we retired to ours.
Living next door to the best people in the world is one thing. Getting to tour Rome and Venice with them is even better. What an amazing and special day!!
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