OMG…can you please SHUT-UP? Ethiopian Airlines sure does know how to get under your skin. So here we are, on our way to Rome. It’s an overnight flight (saves on Hotel costs, right?). We head out of Djibouti at 1830 to Addis Ababa. What a joy. That airport is something. Pictures posted from my first visit there. But at this time of night there is much more activity going on. It still blows me away that people smoke inside buildings. I guess I am spoiled being an American now, huh? We have a little bit of a layover in Addis. So we hit the local pub/restaurant. We order some beverages and some food; at least I think that’s what we got. All of it tasted the same, like some fried dough of some sort in different shapes to make us think it was a chicken wing or egg roll. Ha Ha Alberto, our favorite Puerto Rican on the trip, is the brave soul who orders Ethiopian food, and it is quite spicy HOT! We hit the Duty Free where we learn that SMOKING KILLS (it is written in very large bold letters all over every carton of cigarettes in the store) and if you needed perfume, this was your stop!
We finally board the plane to Rome – it is packed. Not an empty seat to be seen. Our group is scattered here and there, and too many of us are stuck in the middle seats. This is going to be a LONG flight. The interesting thing about Ethiopian Air…they sure don’t want you to miss out on any food or beverage service. So once everyone is finally snug and half asleep, the lights all come on and the service begins. Heaven forbid you be sleeping or at least pretending to sleep! The flight attendant comes to your spot and abruptly announces: “BEEF OR PASTA?” “What?” We all say groggily as we try to comprehend what the Heck she is talking about. I happily agree to the Pasta, finally. She then leans across me and shakes Colleen, my middle seat companion and announces again (in a most annoying manner): “BEEF OR PASTA?” I am now engaged and explain the situation to both Colleen and Alberto who is up against the window. I tell them no need to sleep – you WILL be eating on this flight!
Ahhhh….so there we are, the 3 of us enjoying our after midnight dinner of Pasta. I imagine at some point in the not so distant history of Ethiopian Airlines, someone was left out of food service and promptly sued because, well, they are entitled to the food when on a flight! It was what seemed like an endless food service. And through it all, the lights are full blast and there ain’t no taking a nap! Finally, about 0300 or so, the lights are dimmed and we are able to snooze briefly before landing in Rome.
Rome, yes we made it. It’s 0500 or something like that. We gather outside of our arrival gate and freshen up as best we can in the Roman Loos…and head to baggage claim. As usual, my bag is the one that lags behind, but finally comes out. Thank goodness too, since nothing was open in the airport yet for me to go complain to. We exit without so much as a customs question; we show our passports and pass on through. Oscar, our fabulous MWR tour guide is waiting for us and we head to the bus. There is a lot of energy on this bus, we are all glad to be in Rome and ready to start our R&R. On the bus we are greeted with little gift bags of Chocolate Truffles from France (hhmmmm…..) and mini bottles of Champagne. YUM! Nice start to the day.
It’s Saturday morning, so the traffic is scarce. Oscar explains how long it would take to get into Rome from the airport on a regular working day – probably over 2 hours. We make it in about 30/45 minutes or so. In our time travelling to the hotel, we decide to play a little ice breaker game (yes, of course, my suggestion ;-). Each of us has to get up to the microphone, introduce ourselves, and then tell 3 things about ourselves. 2 of these things must be true and the other a lie. But no obvious lie – the group has to figure out which of the statements is a lie. So like Alberto, Mr. Puerto Rico, his lie was he was from Idaho! A little obvious! It was fun – it’s a great way to break the ice and you remember the lies more than anything as you spend time with the people you meet!
The hotel is lovely – Grand Hotel Palazzo Carpegna. It was once a Monastery, and in many places looks like it was. There is a large park area across the driveway, with some winding stairs down to it. The sun is rising and casting some nice shadows all over the area. The cars parked in the lot are Mercedes and Jaguars. Not too shabby. But our bus is also a Mercedes…so maybe in Rome that is kind of like driving a Toyota back home? We unload our bags and leave them with the hotel. We enjoy a nice breakfast and get ready to head out for our first day in Rome. Man, I wish I was better with names, I can’t remember our tour guide’s name in Rome. But he was fantastic! He meets us at the hotel and hops on the bus with us. He starts right in on all he knows about his City – and it’s clear he sure does love his hometown! We are headed to the Vatican City Museum.
As we drive along the streets of Rome, our guide is full of all kinds of information. Rome has such a history, but that’s no surprise. I am surprised with how clean the streets really are, but in saying that, also surprised with how much graffiti is all over the walls! No trash to really speak of, but some gaudy artwork everywhere! We are all a little tired, but wired to be in Rome. We have a lot of walking to do the next few days. I am in search of a Coke Light…but haven’t found one yet this morning. Working on no caffeine yet…so watch out! As we approach the Musei Vaticani (The Vatican Museum) there is already a large crowd gathering. We have been given little radios with an ear piece so we can hear our own guide walk us through the sites. We see many groups with their own ear pieces in, so for fun we switch channels to hear what other guides are talking about. It’s nice to tour this way, our tickets are already purchased and we have reservations. The public line to get into the Vatican can wrap around the block and take up to several hours to get to the front!
As we wait to go inside, I notice a stand that sells Hot Dogs and Gelati. My first Gelato sighting! But I will contain myself…it can’t be good Gelato at a stand like that! We quickly get inside and head straight out to the Cortile Della Pigna (“Court of the Pigna”). Here we discuss all of the amazing artwork that the Popes in the past have hired artists (like Michelangelo) to do within the walls of the Vatican. There are stories behind each piece of work and you could spend days/weeks just learning about all of it. For our little taste of the Vatican, we focus on the famous Sistine Chapel’s Ceiling and the “The Last Judgment.” We are not allowed to take photos inside of the Sistine Chapel since it reopened after renovations. So I took some photos of the photos that are on display in the Court. Cheesie…I know.
Some things I found most interesting, the creation part of the ceiling was the first time that anyone had ever painted a person in 3 dimensions. Artwork up to the point was very flat, in the Renaissance style. Adam showed depth, and this was the first time anyone had done this. The style in which Michelangelo painted was quite difficult too – not only because it was on the ceiling, but because he had to keep it wet while he painted. Any minor error, he would have had to replaster the section and do it again. Also, on The Last Judgment, Michelangelo is in the painting – as was also very customary in those days for the artist to include themselves looking at the audience somewhere in the painting. He is included as the skin hanging from the hand of one of the characters near Jesus. (I can’t remember all the details…too much wine, I think.) And he also included some Cardinals of the Church in not so nice ways within the painting, as these men were making life miserable for him while he, a non-Catholic, was selected by the Pope to do all of this work. Sorry, that’s about as historical as I can get right now. But, just amazing to see all of it! These things are older than the entire Country in which we live! Very cool!
We also went to St. Peter’s Basilica. It was just enormous and also quite ornately decorated. Not my style, but that was the way back then. Kind of like Las Vegas today…everything built has to be bigger and better than the last one that was built! My favorite part of the Basilica was Michelangelo's Pieta, a depiction of the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion, was carved in 1499, when the sculptor was just 24 years old. It was the first ever done of more than one figure using only a single piece of marble. Outside, they were setting up the area for Mass the next day. We are told that the crowd does not get as large with the current Pope, as he is not as popular as Pope John Paul II was.
From the Vatican City we head to the USO in Rome. Glory day, when I walk in to the right is a refrigerator full of sodas and water. And to my most gracious surprise, a real live Diet Coke from the US! Woo Hoo! I HAD to have one. And it was so good! We spend a little time at the USO, able to log onto the internet, check emails, Facebook, and have some snacks. The USO folks provide us with a small gift package of information about Rome. It was a nice little visit to the USO, and I was able to snag a couple more Diet Coke’s for breakfast the next day!
We headed to a nice Mom & Pop restaurant for an authentic Italian lunch – complete with a zillion courses and fabulous red wine. It was incredible! Lasagna, bruscetta, anti-pasta, bread, salad, meat and veggies. Quite tasty! And yes, I drank the wine too!
So after fully engorging ourselves and desperately needing to slip deep into food comas…we headed back to the hotel to check in and take naps. I think just about all of us chose that option. Plan was then to meet up later and head back out to get some dinner and explore Rome shopping.
Most of us got back up and met up to head out. We walked to the Metro and hopped onboard the “A” line from Cornelia. I took photos of the stop, just in case we forgot where we were going. Always thinking… Anyway, we were headed back down to do some shopping in the Posh area near the Spanish Steps. The stop, Spagna. It was a nice evening out, not too chilly. I heard from one of the other peeps that our lunch plans for Day 2 in Rome were to hit the Hard Rock Café! Can you believe it? UGH! We didn’t go all the way to Rome to eat in a crappy American restaurant! So somehow I was elected the spokesperson, and I brought it up with Oscar. Yikes! But we were all in agreement – that authentic Italian lunch we had earlier today was amazing! That’s what we all wanted! So Oscar agreed to make some phone calls and we would be set for Day 2 lunch.
Dinner on night 1 was fantastic. I had a pizza with artichokes, mushrooms, ham and mega-cheese. It was divine! We had wine, beer, and Lemoncello to end it all! Magnifico! And thus ends our first day in Rome… Too be continued…
Ciao!
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