Friday
Beach soccer:
Every week, one of the secretaries (known as one of "Romolo's Women") emails us with a recipe and suggested things to do around Rome that week. One of this week's suggestions was to check out the European Beach Soccer tourney held in Circus Maximus. Naturally, I was all over that. There were 8 teams: Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, and Russia. Overall impressions: Italy's team is full of wimps- they fell down at every chance. No wonder everyone hates them. Spain: great team! But they depend too much on individual talent as opposed to team playing. Portugal: slightly girly, but an overall great team! France: they are wimps as well, but in the emotionally-charged realm. They are more willing to punch an opposing team member and say it's the other person's fault. Once again, no wonder people hate them. Switzerland: very kind and plays well. No strong opinions either way. HUNGARY: my favorite team! The median age was older than the other team, but their ball handling and body control was above the other teams. Poland: Eh, no strong opinions. Russia: surprisingly VERY good! They beat Spain- the two time winner of the cup.
The difference between beach soccer and real soccer is vast. Beach soccer takes place on a square court, probably a quarter the size of a normal field. The grass is replaced by sand, and it's 5 on 5. Goalies don't have an area where they have to stay, and it's perfectly acceptable for the defense to be in the net with a goalie. There are two refs and an out-of-bounds, but it's pretty lax. Whenever a player has to kick the ball to start the clock again, he makes a little mound out of sand to put the ball on, like a football player has his tee. There is also three 12-minute periods instead of halves. Oh, and in beach soccer they have the world worst dancers in between periods. Classic.
Saturday
The Vatican:
Yesterday we woke up at 7 to head to the Vatican, which is about a 25 minute walk. Our tickets were reserved for 8, so we were speed walking the entire time. We made it to the Basilica at 8, but then we had to haul it to the museum entrance, which is at least 1/2 mile away. So we asked this very tired looking officer what to do, and he directed us. Not hard- just go down a bit, take a left, go down some more, take a left, stroll pass the huge line, talk to another guard at the door, and you're in. Easy beans. By the time we got to the reception desk where they would print our already reserved tickets, it was about 8:30, but I should have known I reserved them from 8 o'clock Italian time, which is different than 8 o'clock American time.
We then saw a sign for a coffee bar inside the museum, so we high tailed it over to where it was pointing. But just like finding the museum, it was a maze. Since it was to the right, left, down two flights of stairs, around the flight of stairs and down the corridor (which was closed- boo!), we should have realized that this museum was bigger than any other that I have been in. In short, Jill and I blew through that thing in 2 hours, Sistine Chapel and all. Now, I must clarify that we didn't sprint through there and that we don't have an appreciation for all the amazing things there. But it was just so big and it was our first time there, so we didn't know how to pace ourselves. So we got a basic overview of EVERYTHING, and when we return, we'll know what to focus on, what to skip, etc. The Sistine Chapel was awesome, but like everything else in the Vatican Museum, there was a lot going on and it was slightly overwhelming. I finally found the Creation of Man, which was pretty moving. My other favorite painting depicted the fall of man, and I thought that was deep too.
After that, Jill and I thought it manditory to get some caffeine, so we went back to the coffee shop which was open then. We had a pretty deep discussion about personalities for about an hour in the courtyard, which was awesome. Then we headed back to the church, after asking a guard for directions. His response: "Go outside". Um, thanks for nothing. But we prodded despite his unwillingness to give free information, and we finally made it back to the Basilica. However, when we got to the Basilica, we went over to the only official-looking people on duty to ask where we go to get into the church. Remember the tired-looking guard from before? He was still on duty! He was probably thinking "Oh, these poor American girls have no idea what's going on." But he was very kind, which was refreshing! He told us that from the museum there was a way to get to the church and we didn't have to backtrack 1/2 mile. "But I am a gentleman", he said. And he just opened the gate and gave let us through so we could skip the 2 hour line!! He was a gentleman!! I definitely felt blessed by that.
Jill and I are both American protestants, which means we know little to nothing about Catholicism. Keep that in mind through the rest of the story. We were in the Basilica, the most famous and beautiful in all the world- and we were creeped out and confused. Why are there real size replicas of dead popes in caskets everywhere? Why are there popes everywhere and only one little statue of a dead Jesus in the dim back corner? Don't they know Jesus is alive?! If I speak in a normal voice as opposed to hushed tones, what happens? Although I didn't understand pretty much anything in there, I could appreciate the sheer beauty of the place. But why does it have to make such a point? It's not about where you worship... But do Catholics worship? Huh, seems like I need to do some research.
Then we went to the underground tombs of the popes. That was actually pretty cool because it was just a super-fancy cemetary. I was so excited to see Pope John Paul II's tomb, but unfortunately so was everyone else. They had a place set up in front of it where people could kneel and pray. Pray to whom and why, I'm not sure, I just wanted a picture. I asked the guard, who brought me over to a picture that had a camera with a big red x on it and told me to take a picture of that. I didn't understand, so I asked "What?" at least five times, and the funny part is he repeated it five times. Jill got it though, but neither of us were happy about it.
Finally we headed to the Cupola, which is just a fancy word for a dome. It took at least 15 minutes of solid stair-climbing to get there, but it was worth it! On our way up, the corridors got smaller and smaller and eventually curved like the dome did . It was very interesting! At the top you could see all of Rome. It was amazing! And so beautiful! Then we climbed all about the roof, which was sweet. How many people can say they strolled on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica?
Then we went home to more beach soccer with horrible dancers.
Sunday
I decided that today was the day I was going to go to the Methodist church I found online. I grew up Methodist, so I figured it wouldn't be a stretch for me to go. It was close to the Vatican, so even though I left in plenty of time, I wandered a little and was still 5 minutes late. Methodists are very conservative people so I was shocked to see how many different nations were represented in the service. There were a lot of Asians and Africans, and the pastor was Dutch. There was only about 50 people there, but it was diverse! I could keep up with everything I remembered except for Communion. I don't remember going to an alter and holding hands when I was younger, so I decided to pass on that part. Overall, it was a great experience, and it was fun to go back and sing hymns the whole time :)
Then I went to find Villa Borghese. No one really knew what Villa Borgese was, but it comes highly recommended so I decided to go. It took me about half an hour to walk there, which was frustrating. When I finally got to the Villa, it took another half an hour to walk to the Gallery because none of the streets were adequately labeled in Villa or on the awesome map I was using, so I had to ask a lot of Indians for directions. I made it to the museum on time, but I was dizzy, lacking appreciation for art due to the fact I was worked up about the place, and I smelled pretty offensive. But the museum was surprisingly awesome! It had works in there from Caravaggio and Bernini, which I thought was so impressive. After I was out, I grabbed a pamphlet and read that the gallery was the Borghese family house (which was huge and covered in marble), and the art in there was mostly what belonged to the Borghese family- they had expensive taste. The land where the Villa is located is now a huge park, but it used to be the family's former estate. For those who have been to the Biltmore estate in North Carolina, it reminded me A LOT of that. Overindulgence, overspending, unnecessary everything- pretty much all the same.
Then I tried to find Nicole and Jill, and got lost again. Since I was dizzy, frustrated at constantly being lost, and smelly, I ended up just breaking down in the middle of the place. Jill helped me out and was very patient and talked me through it. I eventually found them and just ordered what I was craving, which turned out to be 24 Euro. CHOKE! In conclusion, I'm not spending money until Thursday because that is absolutely ridiculous. It didn't help my frustration level.
So although I well fed, I was still poorer than when I started, so Jill and I went to a free flute and harp concert with our friend Zach. It was two sisters in their twenties who played together beautifully. It did make me really sleepy, but I managed to stay awake. Now I'm just being lazy and enjoying life because the next three days are going to stink with my schoolwork that I have to do. But I'm headed to Berlin on Thursday, and I'm so excited!!
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