YET ANOTHER GROUP LEAVES US

The Italy Group left this morning at 3 o'clock. We've had a ton of fun here in Rome, although it didn't feel as long as it was. Brian and I are getting ready to leave tomorrow. Our train leaves Rome at 19:30 tomorrow, and we arrive in Munich at around 6 am. The flight to Dulles, Washington leaves at 11:00 tomorrow, and we should arrive in New Orleans some time around 18:00. I am looking forward to spending the night in MY bed on MY pillow! I've really missed my bed, my conveniences, and just the familiarity of home.

At any rate, yesterday was a great day! Another guy named Brian, and Bernardo and I went to St. Peter's Square at around 7 AM yesterday, and got the day started. Just as the last time I visited Rome, St. Peter's was just as exciting. It really is impossible to describe how magnificent the place is. All of Vatican City is really breathtaking. After walking through the basilica, we decided to climb to the top of the rotunda - all 360+ steps... We initially decided not to take the elevator to the height of the first half of the dome, but we sure wished that we had after climbing to the top. It was really quite a workout! The view from atop the dome is just breathtaking!

The same day, we went to see Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain), as well as the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps). Nothing too historically significant happened there; it's just Europe's widest and longest staircase. After the Spanish Steps, we went to see the Pantheon (not the Greek Parthenon), which was a polytheistic temple built some time around 118-126 A.D.

The Pantheon is now used as a Roman Catholic Church, and has been since the 7th Century. There isn't much inside, but it's cool to see the oldest, best-preserved building in all of Rome. After the Pantheon, we went to the Castel Sant'Angelo which was built some time around 136 A.D. It was first a fortress, and then served as a castle (or a safe place) after Pope Nicholas III connected it with St. Peter's Basilica with a covered walkway.

That evening, we had the unique privilege of taking a private tour of the Vatican Museum. The modern museum was really not meant to ever be a museum, but it was built as different rooms by all the different popes. Each pope had his favorite collections that he added to his room. The collections range from priceless artwork, jewels, silver, pottery, statues, etc. Included in the tour was a look into the famous Sistine Chapel, whose ceiling was painted by Michelangelo between 1508-1512.

What made this tour really special was that we were the only people in the entire chapel. Normal visitors are herded through the chapel with hundreds of others. We had the whole place to ourselves for around thirty minutes. It was fantastic. Another thing, we were allowed to take photos without flash. Again, for normal visitors, NO photos or video are allowed at all. People are kicked out by the guards for taking photos. This was really very special to me. The frescoes on the ceiling are too much to describe with words.

After the Vatican Museum tour, we were taken to a bus for a "Rome at Night" tour. I've updated the second photo album on the right-hand side of this site. Check out all the pictures!

I'm off to spend my last evening in Rome, and I'll try to do one more update tomorrow!

Ciao!