ROME (Day 1)

And we finally get to Rome: the climax of our semester in Europe!

It was just Sarah and I on our first morning in Rome, and here's the beautiful view we see upon arriving! We got up early to visit the Tombs of the Popes and to climb the Cupola in St. Peter's.

The tombs are located beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, and this is where most of the popes throughout the history of the church including Pope John Paul II are buried. I was expecting to see John Paul II’s tomb so that wasn’t a surprise, but then I turned the corner to see the elaborate tomb of St. Peter, which I completely forgot was there until I saw it... sending chills down my spine and remembering… of course, out of all the things about Rome and the Vatican, I should have gone in expecting to see St. Peter’s tomb! Here is the altar known as Bernini's canopy which is at the center of the basilica and located right above St. Peter's tomb:

(the rest of the tombs must be seen by going down into the lower level)

“Cupola” is a term used in architecture that defines a dome-like structure on the top of a building. The cupola of St. Peter’s Basilica is one of the largest domes in the world. The first flight of stairs takes you to the a balcony that overlooks St. Peter’s interior. In the above picture you can kind of see the dome above the canopy and then here is the view we saw from above:

The second flight of stairs which was narrow and slanted led up through the dome to the very top and to the spectacular view of Rome from all around. It was a pretty strenuous and long walk up but extremely rewarding standing hundreds of feet in the air, on one of the largest domes in the world, on THE largest church in the world, in the heart of the universal church at the Vatican in Rome, on a gorgeous day with an incredible view… and knowing you walked all the way up, to get there… it was pretty good feeling :)

We were kind of running down the stairs to get to mass on time... We got there just in time to Sunday mass at 10:30 at St. Peter's Basilica in Latin! We picked up lunch after mass with Steve, Perry, Brooke and Sarah (Andrea joined us later).

We ran into some Franciscan students who had met two seminarians who I think were both from Ohio and who were studying in Rome. They walked us around and gave us some cool facts about Rome... They were awesome guys! :) They made sure we were back to the basilica by 1:45 for a short 1-hour tour of St. Peter's Basilica from another seminarian. Sarah, Andrea and I began walking back to the hotel about 3:30, stopped for gelato at the famous Old Bridge Gelato Shop (massive amounts of gelato for only  €2)! Our feet were killing us so we rested back at the hotel till dinner at 7. We had a holy hour at Suore Riparatrici del Sacro Cuore Mother House Church which translates to Institute of Sisters of Reparation of the Sacred Heart just down the street from the hotel  :)