Urbs Aeterna

The neighborhood in Rome where I'm staying

 After a short layover in Brussels, I arrived yesterday in Rome, where I will spend most of my time during this Christmas holiday  After spending the morning gathering energies, I (and JD) set out for the city.  The main thing we did was visit St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.  St. Peter's is pretty much the most spectacular thing that human hands have ever created.  There is so much detail, it would be impossible for pictures, words, or even video to give you an idea of what it is like.  For this reason, I tried not to take many pictures, and to simply take in the magnificence.  The Pieta is there, and lived up to it's hype in every way.  The sculpture is so detailed, so life-like.  Despite the tourist presence, there are enough places in St. Peter's that are quieter and more prayerful.  It was nice to spend a good amount of time praying there, including at the tomb of Blessed John Paul II.  We also saw the Pope's massive Christmas tree in the expansive, wonderful St. Peter's square.

The Christmas tree in St. Peter's Square

Following St. Peter's was a walk around Rome, including to the Piazza Navona, with its fountains and Christmas vendors.  The city certainly has a different feel in comparison to the others I've visited this semester.  The architecture is, dare I say, Romanesque and you can't walk two minutes without running into a beautiful church, that would be well worth spending a long time in were it in any other city.  The climate too, is different from what I'm used to.  Whereas the flora on the British Isles looks really similar to the Midwestern United States, Rome looks much more...Mediterranean.  It's kind of how I expected Italy to look, except there it is in person.

For whatever reason, I feel a lot more comfortable not knowing Italian in Rome, then I did not knowing French even in Paris.  I suspect this is due to a combination of factors.  One is that English is the default tourist language here.  In France, I think they still fancy that French is widely enough spoken to suffice for many.  Generally there are more signs in English in Rome than there were in Paris, and, at least at St. Peter's, most staff members spoke in English, rather than Italian, to tourists.  The other reason I think feel more comfortable is that now I much more experience at navigating cities than when I was in France, and have the confidence that things will work out.

St. Peter's

Bridge over the Tiber

My goal is to keep little updates coming this week, so stay tuned.