We got up tired and sore but nevertheless excited for the day. We took the metro back to "Ottaviano." The metro really isn't that good as we had seen yesterday. Rome's only fault.
There was no line at the entrance of the Vatican Museums as we arrived just as they were opening. We received a heavily reduced student discount, and then took the long elevator to where the museums began. We first entered the Egyptian collection where I saw the best Egyptian artifacts I have ever seen. Tons of amulets, sarcophaguses, mummies, and statues of the Egyptian Gods filled the rooms from floor to ceiling. I had to remember that Rome had conquered all of the ancient world and therefore had access to all of the artifacts. Seize and plunder.
We then entered the room filled with Greek Sculptures. A long hallway was filled with beautiful statues. My favorite sculpture of the day was one that translated to "The Nile." It was a huge sculpture of a laying down old man, the river Nile. Climbing on top of him were two dozen or so sculptures of little babies symbolizing fertility. There were also animals, a crocodile being the most salient that the babies were playing with.
Not sure if we could continue with our tour of the museum after viewing the Capella Sistina or not, we decided to risk the possibility of not being able to go back in by heading straight to the chapel before it go too crowded.
I was flat out blown away by the huge hall way leading up to the Sistine Chapel. Exquisitelydecorated with sculptures and frescos, I was dwarfed by its magnificence and felt insignificant in its beauty and significance.
And then, we entered the Sistine Chapel. With my first glace I wasn't able to appreciate the beauty, detail or incredible physical and artistic genius feat of Michelangelo's masterpiece (years of painting on his back). I then sat down and gazed in utter awe at the spectacular ceiling and wall. The most famous "square," or scene with Adam and God in the center, was smaller than I had expected and was just one scene among dozens. but it was beyond my expectation in beauty as Michelangelo truly captured the life of the scene. The hint of space, that subtle pause, between the fingers of Adam and God was so perfect. I must have gazed and walked around the Chapel for half an hour.
I left with a feeling of believing in the spirit of human innovation and the strength of humanity. I'm so glad to have seen that masterpiece while I'm still young.
From the Sistine Chapel we cut through the center of the city on the metro and wen tot visit the Pantheon during the day. It was free to enter and I was impressed by the beautiful pillars and amazing hole and skylight in the center of the roof. Inside the Pantheon were the graves of famous historical figures, including the artist Raphael.
From the Pantheon we became a little bit lost until we found the cool statue of "Elefantino," a statue of an elephant with an ancient Egyptian obelisk built by Bernini. There was a church across the piazza and we entered. It was one of the few Gothic Churches in Rome and we got to see one of Michelangelo's lesser known works, "Christ carrying the cross."
It was around 1:00pm and we decided to catch the metro to the hostel where we would be staying in that night. We would go to the hostel, check in, go get our bags form Danilo's and then tour some more.
We got off at "Termini," the main metro and train station and walked 6 blocks to our hostel, "the Yellow." The hostel had gotten really high reviews on hostelworld.com. Entering the Yellow I felt like I was entering the image of a stereotypical eurotrip. "My buddy and me with our huge backpacks staying at a super scene hostel where everyone is trendier than you. We like, touring, you know but I'm really here to get loud, drunk, and stupid." Just like that. Its hard to describe but that fleeting superficiality, the "scene-kid, indepedent, quasi-narcissitic spirit that has defined my generation." The pop-alternative music, black walls, with straight from IKEA chairs sealed the deal.
Our check-in lady was an attractive, I'm smarter than you because I've, like traveled, 25-something blond girl, whose stabs at sarcasm dripped with fake cynicism. We received our keys and checked our room; a four person with two sets of bunk beds. Our roommates stuff was locked up but they weren't there. The hostel had a cool them of movies and clever quotes although a tad overly trendy. The elevator, or "traditional Italian lift" was very small, so small that when Blake and I came back later with our bags we barely fit.
Rather than spend more money on lunch at a restaurant we went to a grocery store next door and put together our own great picnic lunch. We ate our picnic at the Yellow bar, a full on bar and downstairs common area that was next door to the hostel. We finished our lunch and decided to tour the Palantino and Roman Forum as our ticket was still good from the day before.
I wished my ancient Roman history was better as we entered the gates of the outdoor museum and explored the ruins. Amazing. With the sun reaching its late afternoon point, outlining the rocks and trees in a slight red glow and the golden wings of insects swirling over the field, the ruins were truly magical. We walked around and took some pictures. I wish I could have stayed more but park was closing and we had to leave. I'll have to return to spend a whole day walking around.
We took the metro back to Danilo's gym where we found him playing chess and the gym full with students. We grabbed our bags and then said goodbye and thank you to our amazing host who made our stay in Rome fantastic and less expensive.
Back at the hostel we organized our stuff and took showers. For having been advertised as the "best party hostel in Rome" it was pretty dead. Granted a Monday night on the week of Christmas, but I'd expect the "trendiest hostel ever" to never stop with the party. We hung out downstairs using the free wireless internet before deciding to find an inexpensive place to eat.
We took the metro to "Repubblicca" as we hadn't yet been there. We walked once again in the wrong direction and then decided to use our metro ticket , which also includes access to all of the buses, on one of the night buses, and just ride it until we saw a place that looked good. Driving through the city at night I was so happy to be in Rome. The euphoria had persisted. I saw a sign for Piazza Navona and we got off to walk in that direction. After passing a ton of expensive restaurants, and tired of being accosted by the waiters outside, we decoded to go back to the same pizza place we had gone to the day before. We ordered a "custom" pizza of 4 cheeses (including gorgonzola) and the spicy diavola salmi. It was excellent. Our waiter was an Albanian who we ended up having a deep conversation with over politics, Rome, and travel.
We decided to hang around the hostel area, after making it back fairly easy form Termini. We met one of our roommates n Indian guy in his late 20's living in London and traveling alone. We went down to the bar next door and placed foosball. We talked about US politics, and although he was a smart guy, he still (along with many people I've met here in Europe) had a misconstrued idea of the US.
We said goodnight as Blake and I were really tired and headed back to our room. Our train for Florence would be at 12:30pm the next day, as we had bought our tickets as we left the station towards the hostel.
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