When I flew into Rome, the first thing that hit me was the fact that it was so hot. I have to admit, my first impression of Rome wasn´t so good for several reasons. The first is not only is it an unbelievably hot and crowded city (think NYC in Florida), but there are so many insane drivers and motorbikes on the road, I could barely cross a street! I swear, there appears to be absolutely no rules on the road and it is to each their own. I was initially tempted to rent a scooter because the prices were so cheap, but after seeing others drive on the road, I had no desire to spend the remainder of my trip in a hospital.
But things started to pick up quickly when I searched for and found a hostel and got myself checked in. A lot of the places are full, and I saw many people being turned away, but being alone does have its advantages! There are many single beds, and as long as I am willing to bunk with someone else, there is probably a single bed in many hostels. For those who do not know the difference between a hotel and a hostel, a hotel will give you a private room while a hostel is almost dormitory style, with several bunk beds (anywhere from 2-16 beds) in a single room with a shared bathroom. A hotel can easily go for more than €100-€200 per night (and upwards!) but a bed in a hostel will set you back just €25-€40 depending on where you are.
This was actually my first time in a hostel, and while I have heard horror storries about the degraded quality of some (and fortunately I have not seen the horror movie Hostel either!), I was lucky that my first experience was a very positive one. The hostel was in a great location in the heart of Rome, and I spent the majority of my first day exploring the ancient ruins and temples such as the Coliseum, and the Panthenon. It truly is mindblowing how this type of architecture was not only possible so many years ago with the lack of technology that exists today, but is capable of being preserved over thousands of years.
Rome is an enormous city, and is filled with many interesting, twisting side streets that pull you towards delicious Italian restaurants and unique shops. There is a lot of walking to be done, and at the end of my first day I was exhausted as I went to sleep, stomach full of the most delicious spaghetti I had ever eaten. (No offense, mom!)
The following morning, I checked out of the hostel and made my way west to the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps), where I would check in the Five-Star Hassler de Roma hotel, situated in the best location in Rome on top of the steps. The Hassler is 100% privately owned by deaf Hotelier Roberto Wirth, one of the most successful deaf businessmen in the world, and has repeately been named the number-1 Hotel in all of Rome. This was definitely an experience in itself! I had scheduled an interview with Mr. Wirth, and will be writing an article on DeafNation. The view from the Hassler is one of the three best views in all of Rome, with a nearly unobstructed 360° view that really lets you appreciate the beauty of the city. My room that night was truly excessive for just one person. But that didn´t stop me from soaking in the royal treatment, and I gave my exhausted legs a bit of a break by sinking into what seemed like a bed of pillows that night. The area around the Hassler is fitting of a Five-Star hotel, with many expensive shops and restarants surrounding the area.
That day I stayed close to the hotel, exploring Villa Bourgese, right behind the Spanish Steps, a huge park very similar to Central Park with many beautiful hidden sculptures placed throughout the park for you to discover as you walk. Rome, if not all of Europe places a great emphasis on artwork, and it continues to blow my mind how so many pieces of art can be preserved so long. America has such a short history, and we are a society of Phoenixes, apparently preferring to live in a cycle of continuous building, tearing down, and rebuilding to maintain our way of living. That night, I spent several hours sitting on the steps of Piazza di Spagna socializing and meeting several interesting characters that night. Hundreds of years ago, when the steps were first built, artists and writers alike used to gather on the steps as they found it a terrific place for them to work on their artistic pieces. To this day, the steps are still a terrific gathering place for people to sit outside and think, write, draw, paint, or talk. The steps are packed all day long with tourists snapping photographs, and at the same time you can see that there are locals and more relaxed individuals really soaking up the environment as intended. Since the steps remain busy nearly all day long, it is a great place to observe people. There are so many different kinds, and they each have their own reason for being there. There are backpackers, tour groups, artists, students, locals, young, old, local, and tourist. Some are there because it is a stop on their tour, while others find this their best source of simulation. There are beggars and sellers, trying to make whatever money they can. Some are like me, and have no reason for being there. We are simply there to be a part of something that has endured generations of change and stability, whatever that something may be.
The following morning was my third day in Rome, and I was never more depressed to check out of a hotel than I was at the Hassler. I knew that this was going to be the best night of sleep I had during my entire two weeks, and I am a guy who loves a good night´s sleep! With my backpack growing heavier by the day, I slung the 50-pound bag over my shoulders and made my way even further west to the Vatican City, which is to a Catholic like myself, the holiest place in the world and where each Pope resides during their life, and eternally after their death. I have heard many stories about how the lines to get in the Vatican stretch for hours long, as everyone wants to have their chance to enter the smallest independent state in the world. I had intially planned on getting up at 7am and being ready to enter as soon as the gates open at 8, but I learned that this was actually the worst thing to do.
Everyone else is as “smart“ as I am, and everyone thinks the best way to beat the line is to beat the line first thing in the morning (which I had planned on doing). But the best advice I got was from the bellman at the Hassler, who said the best thing to do is to go in after the line. The entrance to the city closes at 4pm, and everyone else is sure to budget plenty of time to see the city so they go early as possible. The advice I got was to show up around 2:30, because not only would the line have dispersed by then, but I would not be kicked out of the Vatican precisely at 4. Sure enough, when I got to the Vatican around noon (I made sure to use every minute at the Hassler possible!), I saw an enormous line stretching around several blocks and corners. I took this time to get a good lunch, and explore the surrounding markets and shops, and by the time 2pm rolled around, I walked straight up to the entrance, no line to suffer in!
Visiting the Vatican was an awesome experience on two levels. The first was the experience of being a Catholic and seeing up close where the global centre of Catholicism is really is an inspiring thing to participate in. The second is the tremendous amount of art preserved within the Vatican, and at this point I would be hard pressed to find another museum or entity that has more significant art and religious documentation than the Vatican. I know that the Smithsonian has some of the largest collections in the world, but I am certain that the Vatican has so many more significant pieces. Walking through walls and temples, I actually wondered to myself if this was actually excessive. Unfortunately the world today does not place the same emphasis on art as it does in the past, and perhaps it was a cultural awakening in ancient Rome that really tested humans artistic abilities, pushing it to the limit that quelled our thirst for the hundreds of years that followed. How much more perfect can sculptures of man become? The perfect porportions of marble make up men and women who stand before you perfectly perserved, their motionless expressions looking precisely as they did when the stones were first carved. Its quite a thought to behold, and I almost felt as if I were alive hundreds of years ago as I walked the halls of the Vatican.
I visited the Tomb of Pontiffs, where the majority of the Popes throughout Catholicism´s history are buried. It truly is an eerie feeling, to be deep beneath St. Peter´s Bastille in the same room with about 50 of the most religious men to ever walk the earth. The greatest crowd was gathered around Pope John Paul II´s tomb, and while photos were explicitly prohibited in the tomb, being the mischevious Catholic I am, I managed to snap off a perfect photo before security berated me! They insisted I delete the photo, but I insisted that I failed to snap a photo before they apprehended me, and they took my word. The truth was, I had gotten the picture I wanted!
To visit the Sistine Chapel, you are required to walk through countless rooms and chapels to reach your final destination, and when going room-by-room, I realized that each room has its own theme and tells its own story, each detail carefully and intentionally captured for a reason, just like each word in a history book is intentionally penned. I was rewarded with a thought-provoking journey through what appears to be the closest relationship to Jesus Christ you could have, with the maze telling the story of Christ´s life. The art is a historican documentation, and going room-by-room gives you a perspective of the world at that time as seen through artistic eyes. Christ was real, one form or another, and after visiting the Vatican, I don´t doubt this. There is much hidden behind the Vatican Walls, and perhaps it is this secular knowledge that propels the Church´s faith to be as strong and everlasting as it is through the years. But unfairly, knowledge is not faith, and I would love to explore the hidden catacombs of the Vatican and have the knowledge of what lies behind these walls that I am certain the Pope has. Unfortunately, I could only take what the tour provided.
After a long day in the Vatican City, and three days in Rome, I felt I was satisfied with the city and ready to move on somewhere else. I had no idea what I was going to do next, with so many options in front of me. The only thing I did know was that I had been sweating for the last three days and I wanted to either find some water to swim in, or go somewhere cooler!
