Roman Birthday

I never imagined that jetting off to Rome for the weekend would be an actual, viable possibility in my life. And yet, early on Friday, December 15th, I found myself struggling out of bed and onto a plane bound for the Eternal City to celebrate my host mom’s birthday!

This was the very definition of a whirlwind trip. Our flight landed at Rome’s Ciampino Airport around 7:30 am local time and 48 hours later we were boarding our flight back to Sofia. As a result, it kind of feels like the whole thing was a mere figment of my imagination, but fortunately I took plenty of pictures to assure myself otherwise!

My natural family and I spent four days in Rome last summer, so this time around I was totally fine sitting back and letting Nadya take the reins. It was my host brother Simeon’s first trip to the city and Nadya hadn’t been to the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica on her last visit, so we spent most of our time exploring that area, which made going-with-the-flow even easier. The hotel I stayed in last time was right on the edge of Vatican City and I fell fully in love with its elegant stone columns and imposing beauty.

View from our apartment window

After two hours of bus travel from the airport to our adorable studio apartment in the Trastevere, with a quick stop at Mercato Centrale for pastries and Italian coffee, we set out into a very wet and rainy Rome. Nadya had asked me a few days before to take care of finding skip-the-line tickets for both the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s. I thought I had, but somehow the wires between me and the tour company got crossed and we ended up at the wrong meeting place and without a confirmation email. I felt awful that the one thing she asked me to do for her birthday fell through, but she and Simeon kindly assured me that it was no big deal (I did make sure to repay her for all three tickets though, despite her insistence that it wasn’t necessary). With me still feeling somewhat frustrated, we re-calibrated and headed for the city center with the intention of seeing the Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, and any other sight you might find on a postcard.

Once we reached our tram stop, however, the already intense rain had decided to double its efforts and walking became more like swimming. We were right next to the Vittoriano, a massive monument to Italy’s first king, and upon seeking shelter inside learned that it was hosting a joint exhibit with the Palazza Venezia museum across the street! We had purchased Roma Passes (a move I wouldn’t necessarily make again for such a short trip since Rome’s public transport is less than superb and this was the only museum we went to where it was accepted) that got us in for free provided we started at the Palazza’s portion of the exhibit, so we dashed back out through the rain, got our tickets, and began exploring.

The concept for the exhibit loosely translates to “Yearning for Italy” and it focused on the collection of George Washington Wurts, an American diplomat and art collector who lived in Rome at the end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th century. He had a very eclectic assortment of pieces that spanned the circumference of the globe and nearly all of history, ensuring that the displays stayed engaging despite kind of going on forever. We also saw some of the museum’s permanent displays with items from the Italian Middle Ages and Renaissance. I can tire of art museums quickly, but it was vastly preferable to standing out in the cold rain and actually managed to remain fairly interesting throughout!

Atop the Vittoriano

Once we were done with the first half, we headed back to the Vittoriano where they didn’t direct us to more art (which was a blessing for my exhausted brain), but to an elevator that brought us to the top of the monument. There we had a truly fantastic view of Rome at night and, thanks to the literal downpour we were standing in, I got some nice, artsy pictures out of it, too.

Bulgaria is one hour ahead of Italy and we had gotten up absurdly early, so by 5:45 pm we were hungry and tired. I used Yelp, a.k.a. my restaurant bible while traveling, to find a place called Vinando that was a four-minute walk away. Typically I don’t trust restaurants that close to major tourist attractions, so I was a bit skeptical, but what a find this was! The atmosphere was elegant and intimate, the servers were attentive and helpful, and the food was delicious. Nadya and Simeon both ordered second helpings of their lasagna! I opted for dessert instead, a chocolate and ricotta cake that almost made me cry from joy. Since it was such an early meal, especially by Roman standards, we were the only customers besides two women who seemed to be having some sort of study session (they were British and American, so I couldn’t help but do a little eavesdropping), but I imagine that the atmosphere is only more lovely when filled with chatter and the clinking of wine glasses. All in all, it was the perfect place for Nadya’s birthday dinner, and a wonderful spot generally.

We then hopped on the tram back to Trastevere — now thoroughly soaked by the still relentless rain — to return to our apartment and get some much-needed sleep.

Nadya and Simeon took care of getting our (second) Vatican tickets for the next day — I was very grateful to give up that responsibility after the previous day’s fiasco — so we started the morning looking for a place to print out our vouchers. Simeon had found a hotel nearby, but they couldn’t help us since we weren’t guests there. We spent a decent amount of time wandering around, hoping to spot an internet cafe or something, and Nadya and Simeon had almost given up when I managed to redeem myself by finding an open print shop that was only a 15-minute walk from the museum entrance! It was, however, 30 minutes from our current location, so we hurried through the city, got them printed, and headed to the Vatican. I have to say, I was pretty proud of myself for finding a solution to the problem (after being the cause of the last one).

The Vatican Museums, though far less crowded than they had been for my visit in last July, were pretty much just as I remembered them: Beautiful art and architecture, but also in desperate need of better signage. As such I’m not entirely sure which parts we did and didn’t see, but the Gallery of Maps, Gallery of Tapestries, and the Raphael Rooms once again topped my list of favorite sights (apart from the Sistine Chapel, which is such a wonder that comparing it to the rest of the museum feels unfair).

I would pay so much money to be able to eat this again…

About three hours after entering, we made it out the other side and went to get some lunch. Nadya and Simeon kindly indulged the family foodie and followed me on a 10-minute walk to a pizza place called “Pizzarium” which I had read about on several “must-eat in Rome” lists. The food left my mouth watering and heart full, but my host family was slightly more focused on the disappointing lack of chairs (it’s a small establishment with only a few stand-up tables outside). They did agree that it was excellent pizza, however, so I’m choosing to call it a success.

We then walked back to Vatican City — and I spotted some great graffiti along the way (see left) — to get in line for St. Peter’s Basilica. Since it’s a working church, entrance is free and not connected to your museum tickets. This means that, unless you take a guided tour, you wait your turn. We didn’t mind though! It was a nice day out, and the location really can’t be beat.

In fact, standing in line ended up being a highlight of my day because it led to perhaps the most American experience I’ve had since August: There was a woman, probably mid-20s, waiting behind us who asked me to take her picture after hearing me speak English while taking one of Nadya and Simeon. I was happy to, of course, and we both remarked on what a beautiful place it is. Then, as we were nearing the front of the line she, in wonderfully American fashion, walked up next to me and said, “Well, that line wasn’t so bad, was it?” We then proceeded to have at least a five minute conversation about what we were doing in Rome (she was there for a few days before heading to Greece to volunteer in a refugee camp for two weeks), my exchange program, why we love traveling, etc., before wishing each other the best of luck and going our separate ways. Nadya and Simeon seemed fairly baffled by the whole interaction, but it made me unbelievably happy! I’m not sure if this is a phenomenon between people of other nationalities when they connect abroad (Is it? Let me know in the comments!), but it happens a lot with Americans and I love it.

Close-up on the mosaics in the dome

After we went through the security checkpoint, we got in another (much shorter) line to buy tickets for the basilica’s cupola. We opted to take the elevator to the first part: An interior walkway along the inside of the dome that puts you right next to the mosaics, allowing you to see each tiny tile that makes up those majestic pictures. We then climbed the staircase to the very top. It was winding and, at certain points, extremely narrow as the curve of the cupola got steeper and steeper. It felt like something out of Alice in Wonderland! I was giggling and smiling almost the whole way up. Nadya and Simeon were somewhat less amused…

Vatican City and Rome from above

Once we arrived, the views were obviously spectacular. It was incredibly surreal to stand at the highest peak of the heart of the most powerful religion in history, looking out over a city in which so much of our world today began. Rome can, at times, feel a bit too much like a tourist’s paradise, but being able to remove myself, however slightly, from the chaos of souvenir shops and tour buses allowed me to pause and breathe in the magic of the place. Nadya always tries to find the highest point in any city she visits, and in Rome I definitely understood why.

We scrambled our way back down the maze-like staircase to the roof of the basilica itself just in time to hear the bells ring. This was another utterly surreal moment: Watching the bells of St. Peter’s swing back and forth, hearing the deep gongs reverberate across Rome, as the the sunset painted the sky in swaths of pink and gold. I came this close to asking Nadya to pinch me so I could be sure it wasn’t a dream.

The elevator down brought us directly into the heart of the basilica, which none of us had realized was going to happen, so when we stepped off we all gasped in wonder. There are a lot of churches in the world, especially in Italy. It’s easy to believe that once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. St. Peter’s takes that belief, smashes it into a million pieces, shoves the broken pieces in a rocket, and launches them out of the galaxy where your horribly incorrect assumption can float around for eternity so no one will ever know how stupid you once were. Seem dramatic? If you ever see this church, you’ll know I’m right.

It’s beautiful, of course. The carvings are incredibly detailed, the paintings and statues are astonishingly close to perfection, and the ceilings are so high it seems perfectly plausible that Heaven is hovering up in the dome. But the most remarkable part, at least for me, is that you can feel the history in the air: The hours upon hours of work that went into constructing this unbelievable building solely because people had a magnificent faith and wanted a space to match it. The lives that have been lost, ruined, and glorified because of the power this one room holds. It’s terrifying, and miraculous, and breathtaking, all at once. We spent I-don’t-know-how-long walking around and just taking it all in. We saw altars that hold the remnants of saints, Michaelangelo’s awe-inspiring Pietà, and people filing into the center of the basilica for an evening mass. As we were about to leave, the mass began and the angelic sounds of a choir singing, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” pierced the reverential hush of the basilica’s visitors. I paused in my tracks for a moment, closed my eyes, and let the familiar melody flood my soul. I felt at once both transported far away and perfectly at home.

I feel like Rome is one of very few cities where you’d see this.

As soon as I was done being dramatic, we left the basilica, stopped briefly at a stand outside the square to buy some souvenirs (Nadya and Simeon) and postcards (me), and spent the rest of the evening in the city center seeing the Trevi Fountain, the Roman Forum, and the Colosseum. It was a lot of walking, but we got to hear some good street performers — all of whom were playing American classics to pander to tourists, which totally worked on me — and see some uniquely Roman street art (see right). After sitting outside the Colosseum for a bit, we took the tram back to Trastevere to get dinner. I had planned on taking us to a restaurant near the Vatican, but since we had ended up so far away we decided to just find a place near our apartment. My phone wasn’t loading for some reason (I learned once we were back in Sofia that turning if off and back on again would have fixed the problem), so I couldn’t use my trusty Yelp and we ended up in a highly mediocre and touristy place. I would have been disappointed that our Italian eating ended on such a low note, but then I got a cannoli from a bakery for dessert and died from bliss, so it was all good.  We were in for another early morning to fly home to Sofia the next day, so, after enjoying our treats, we pulled our tired bodies into bed and fell fast asleep.

As I said at the beginning, that a weekend like this actually happened in my life is absolute insanity. I had a wonderful time, but, most importantly, Nadya had a wonderful birthday. She has been unbelievably welcoming and generous to me over the past (almost) four months, so she more than deserved a weekend dedicated to celebrating her! Nadya, even though it was over 10 days ago now, happy birthday! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you’ve done for me. I hope that one day I can repay even a fraction of it.