I woke up at 6:30 this morning because I couldn't sleep. I couldn't even try to sleep any longer so I got on Facebook. It was still early so I procrastinated on the internet for awhile. I finally got up and was out the door for breakfast by eight. I went across the street and got the same pastry and a cappuccino. I took two packets of sugar in my coffee, and it was delicious. I think I'll get one again tomorrow. It was supposed to rain today, and the streets were already wet from a previous rain. I figured that I needed to get a move on so that I could got most of my to do list done before it really started to come down.
I walked to the tram stop, and had just missed the train. I had to wait forever to get on the tram, but when I finally got on it was fairly empty. I took the tram to the metro and went to the Spagna stop. I had my directions all ready for the Ara Pacis and was ready to fight my way through the streets of Rome to find it. The streets were actually pretty wide and clean, and I had no trouble finding the museum. I got in for free because of something that has to do with Paris and Rome being twins. Whatever.
Oh.my.god. My life is really complete now. I've studied the Ara Pacis so many times that I can't even count, and now I've seen it. It was in this really modernist building that looked exactly like the Getty Center. There were groups of Italian high school students looking bored while I clamored to take way too many pictures. I was just so shocked that I was finally there. They even let you inside the structure! I took my pictures and had left within 15 minutes.
The Ara Pacis
The freize on the Ara Pacis that I've studied so many times
Next stop was going to St. Peter's Basilica. I went yesterday, but after Lauren found out that I didn't go inside she convinced me to go again today. I got on the metro and went back to the basilica. I heard the scammers on the street saying that the basilica was closed today. One of the women seemed nice and her English was perfect so I stopped and asked her. She told me that the pope was doing something in the basilica, and that it was closed. I asked her what time it would reopen, and she said about two o'clock.
I had planned on going to the Baths of Caracalla today, so I hopped on the metro and took the A to the B to get to Circus Maximus. It was nice to see the Circus Maximus in the daylight. I was going to go tour it, but decided against it. Seeing the outside was good enough for me. I walked to the baths and got my ticket. I got in for free because I'm an art history student. Score.
The baths totally blew my mind. I took a class on Greek and Roman bathing (I wish I was kidding) so I know all about the Baths of Caracalla. They are so much cooler in person. The complex is huge and really well preserved. They even let you go inside them!!! There is still some of the mosaic floor in the ground, and some pieces of mosaics are leaned against the walls. I was so in awe the entire time that I think I was smiling. I smiled! I took so many pictures that I couldn't even turn off my camera. They might have been better than the Sistine Chapel. Amazing. Can I say that they were amazing enough?
The Baths of Caracalla
The outside of the bath complex
I was having a great day so I decided to keep the ball rolling. It was still only about eleven so my next trip was to see St. Paul Outside the Walls. I had googled some things to do last night if I had spare time, and the church looked amazing from the outside. It even had its own metro stop. I took the B to St. Paolo and got off. Thank goodness there was a sign pointing to the church. It was a straight shot there. St. Paul might be my new favorite church. The outside is all white with Corinthian columns and an outside pediment showing Jesus and the Apostles. The inner courtyard has perfectly manicured bushes and palm trees. Don't even get me started on the inner pediment. It's a glistening gold mosaic with Jesus in the center. I couldn't stop staring.
St. Paul Outside the Walls
I finally wandered inside, and my mind was totally blown. The ceiling was white and gold molding with detailing that you only find in Catholic churches. The outer pediment had Jesus and some smaller images on it and was entirely gold mosiac. The dome behind the altar was the real treat. It was amazing! I felt bad for wearing boots with heels because you could hear my footsteps. People were actually there to pray (it's a church, but usually tourist churches are free from worshippers) so I felt bad for disturbing them. Me and my pesky camera don't always have a place at monuments. I crept around taking pictures where I felt appropriate. I really liked St. Benedict's chapel. It was entirely white with a large sculpture of the saint at the end. It was modeled on a temple, and I really appreciated it.
St. Paul's altar
The inside of St. Paul
I walked around the gift shop for a minute before leaving for the metro. It was still early so I thought that I'd go to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill. This is where the story starts to go downhill. I got in the ticket line at the Palatine Hill and asked for a student ticket. It turns out that they only give discounted tickets (it's not even a student ticket) to EU citizens. They demand to see an ID card. I figured that maybe it was just that agent so I tried my luck at the Colosseum. Same story. I'm not sure if I've just grown indignant or cheap, but I felt like that was so wrong. I'm the right age and I'm currently a resident of the EU. I felt like I deservedt he discount. It was only 4,50 more, but it was more of the principle for me. I marched off in a huff. Part of me thinks that I should have just paid up and toured the complex, but I don't regret my decision that much so far. I guess I can't go back now.
By this time it was almost one so I thought that I'd go back to St. Peter's and get something to eat. Maybe my blood sugar was low and maybe that's why I was being huffy. I thought that some retail therapy would set me straight. I looked in the shops that I had seen yesterday but I didn't see anything good. As I was walking to the basilica I passed a gelato place that I decided to go in. It was two euros for a cone. I'm glad that I picked that place because they had Kinder flavored gelato!!!!!!!! Kinder has these candy bars that are white cream on the inside and are coated in chocolate. I was so excited. The cone was huge! I normally pay 2,80 for the tiniest cup you've ever seen in Paris, but here I got what is the Parisian version of a family sized cone. It was vanilla cream ice cream with streaks of fudge in it. Yum. It started dripping immediately so I had to eat it quickly. I got half the cone on my coat before I found a bench to sit on. It dripped everywhere, and the drops were blowing in the wind. I was a sticky mess by the time I finished, but I stopped a public fountain across the street for me to clean up in.
After my pick me up I went to St. Peter's. The line was four times as long as it was yesterday! It was the last thing on my to do list so I got in line. I was behind a group of German teenagers who were messing around and trying to scare pigeons. There was a woman behind me who kept standing too close to me and it was really getting on my nerves. Halfway through the line she asked if I speak English. I told her no. She then guessed every language from Italian to Brazilian before I told her that I speak French. She then told me in French that the line was really long. I'm not here to make friends. Leave me alone, lady. My plan of a language barrier was working until these two older women decided to cut in front of us…and they were speaking French. I just pushed myself in front of them to tell them that they weren't going to cut in front of me. The woman behind me asked them "vous êtes ensemble?" and they said "oui". I guess she told them something else too because they got behind her. I was so upset by this point that I didn't even know what to do.
I finally got inside the basilica, and it was actually pretty cool. Me being in a tizzy didn't help things, but neither did the hoards of tourists. I walked around taking pictures before leaving. I had not been having a good afternoon so I decided to treat myself to a meal. I sat down at a cafe outside the walls and ordered a glass of white wine and some ricotta and spinach ravioli. The food was just okay, but I really liked the wine. I paid my 12,40 check and went back to the hotel.
Piéta
On my way to the hotel I stopped in the grocery store to pick up some snacks. I've been running low, and I've got a long train ride tomorrow. I am really careful about picking out things with a price on them because I don't want to buy something that I don't know the price of. It turns out that the prices in the store were all wrong. I ended up paying 5,30 for a chocolate bar. I refuse to eat it so I'm going to give it to someone as a gift. I also bought myself a bottle of wine and two kinder eggs because I can.
I came back to the hotel and put on people's court. I had had enough. I then started googling things to do in Venice which turned into me looking up tourist information. There's like zero public transportation that isn't super expensive, and you have to walk everywhere. Everything sounds like it's hard to get to and I started to get even more upset about how my life is going. I facebook messaged a girl from the program who is in Venice, and she said that I should bring rain boots because the canal is flooding. I didn't bring my boots or coat even though mom told me to because I didn't think it was going to rain. I was getting angrier by the second.
I was too tired to work on my papers so I blew them off and waited to talk to mom at eight. She managed to calm me down a bit, but I'm still that weird combination of tired and angry that's never good. I actually cried for like the second time I've been in Europe. I freaking cried like a child. I'm an adult! I'm ruining my own holiday with my bad attitude. I need to make my positivity list.
1. I'm going to see Venice tomorrow. That's right. Not Venice Beach. Freaking Venice!
2. They sell boot covers in Venice.
3. The baths of caracalla were amazing
4. St. paul's was amazing
5. I've seen the freaking Ara Pacis!!
6. I'm in Europe. How could this be bad?!!
Breathe, Michaela. Life doesn't suck. When I'm reading this five years from now I'm pretty sure that I'll be upset with myself. I'm sorry future self. Sometimes you just can't help but ruin your own life.
I'll do better tomorrow.
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