When in rome....

Buon Anno from Roma!

This is a tale of Vespers and Popes in the city of vespas and gropes.

December 31 in Rome was chilly but the sun was shining as we set off to the Colosseum, having arrived there too late the previous day. After dodging the men dressed as gladiators we made in inside and stood in awe at the history inside. Highlights included seeing the names of senators inscribed upon the seats in which they once sat and the corporate boxes of the Roman world! We also met a cat who seemed to live there!

Following our time at the Colosseum we set off for the Vatican. Intending to get the bus, we wandered round the Circus Maximus to the bus stop- circo massimus is now a popular place to walk dogs and jog. As we missed the bus we set off on foot to the Vatican. We wandered along the Tiber, which was full of litter including trees absolutely covered by plastic bags. We made it to the Vatican and found out that because it was New Years Eve, entrance to the museums and Sistine Chapel would close at 1pm. As it was 12:40 at the time, we sprinted about 1km to the back of the Vatican and were amongst the last 10 people admitted to the museums (we were allowed to stay till 3). To get to the Sistine Chapel, we had to go through dozens of rooms, all extravagently decorated with various themes. My favourite room was what Jarnie and I have dubbed the map room- a long narrow room, it had intricate maps on the walls and an amazingly decorated room, with gold everywhere!

After a while, the rooms became a bit tedious, with so many great works of art and lavish decorations. We then got diverted to a bit of scaffolding over the carpark (they are renovating at the moment), which actually allowed us to appreciate the rooms a lot better!

The Sistine Chapel was absolutely full of people, talking, taking photos and just staring at the roof and walls. Throughout it were guards yelling 'no fot' (no photo), but it seems few people were listening! We saw the 'creation of man' painting on the roof, which is famous but actually blended in with all the others, so it took some time to find it!

After the Sistine Chapel, we decided to head to St Peter's Basilica. We waited in a line for some time before finding out it was a line for Vespers with the Pope for New Years Eve. Unfortunately, we were told, whilst the tickets were free, they were booked out 2 months ago. However, some friendly texan priests we befriended suggested that groups often had 1 or 2 spares. The hunt for tickets had begun.

We made many friends with various priests and nuns on our hunt for tickets. Jarnie would go up to a group and act ignorant of the process, asking if they knew were to get tickets. Our first group, of priests and Catholic scholars were also from Texas, and gave us hints on how to get some. They were so lovely, they gave us a ticket for mass the next day and the tour leader gave us her business card. We then went up and down the line, meeting Italian nuns, Indonesian nuns who spoke Spanish, and a group of gynacologists/priests from the US who had 2 spare tickets to Vespers. By this time the line of people with tickets was huge, so we went back to our friends from Texas to return their mass ticket (as they only had 1) and asked them if we could sit with them. We were thus adopted!

Their tour leader had done this for 30 years, so she knew what she was doing. Thus we ended up sitting about 1 metre from the centre aisle, so the Pope walked straight past us on his processional! In the meantime, we had befriended the Italian family behind us, as their gorgeous daughters Flavia, 6 and Adriana, 13, were thrilled at the idea of praticising their English. They had another daughter sitting behind as so all three were clamouring over us, fighting to get a word in. Adriana's English was fantastic- espcially when she told us her cooking was a disaster! They were from a small rural town and were thrilled to be seeing Il Pappa, and Adriana was so excited she got to touch him!

Vespers was conducted in Latin, with an Italian translation. I was surprised at the fact that everyone was taking photos, talking amongst themselves and so on.

After the service, the Pope went out the front of the Vatican to kiss babies and pray in front of the nativity scene, as the costumed Swiss Guards played Christmas Carols. We had intended to go to the Colosseum for the countdown, but never made it there. All in all, a unique New Years!