I walked 24,000 steps today. It is absolutely amazing how much of a difference the iron pills make.

I started with a quick, lovely breakfast from the hostel while listening to the staff smoothly switch between four languages at once! (French, Spanish, Italian, English). Europe is so, so cool. Everywhere I go, I hear so many languages.

The camera always eats first.

The person staying in the bunk bed above me is a gentleman from France. We had a really good conversation about the differences in politics between our countries. He also has the beautiful French superiority complex that I find really endearing for some reason. He actually said that Italian croissants are better than French ones. Gasp. I agree though! The hostel gives their croissants a crackly crisp honey coating that’s addictive.

Then I was off to the Colosseum!!

Before coming to Rome I wasn’t very enthused about coming to the ancient part of Rome. The photos just looked like a bunch of crumbling buildings to me, and I didn’t think I would like it. But every single person I spoke with told me I had to go, and you know what, everyone was right. You have to visit the Colosseum when you go to Rome. Like the Vatican, it is not optional.

But because I never found photos of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum and so on very inspiring, I’m similarly not very inclined to post a lot of photos myself here. Nothing can compare, or prepare, you for the experience of standing in those places. The scale, the history. Being in the place people have been for thousands of years. Walking and sitting where they have been. Being delighted and fascinated by the same things.

I definitely owe a lot of my new respect to the tour guide I went with. He was amazing and enthusiastic and he told us so much. The stories he told made the ruins come alive.

The tour guide told us that the ceiling of this building was recreated all over the world, including in the arched ceilings of Grand Central Station in NYC! You can see the ceiling best in the center arch.

My favorite Colosseum fact was that it got pretty buried in soil during the thousands of years between us and the time of its active use. But there were originally a lot of animal shows in the Colosseum. Those animals came from all over the Roman Empire, and they had eaten food and seeds from all over the empire, too. When the Colosseum became overgrown with disuse, there were 300 unique plants that weren’t found anywhere else in Italy, whose seeds were brought there by all those animals. How cool is that??

At the top of Palantine Hill is the most famous pleasure garden from the Renaissance period, and from the top of the hill you could see the whole city.

I explored the ruins some more after the tour ended (it was four hours long!). It felt so humbling and inspiring to walk along streets and tunnels built thousands of years ago.

Another thing that astounded me is how much art there is. There is so much beauty, so many beautiful sculptures, so many gorgeous mosaics, so much history, so much art, that they literally pile bits of gorgeous broken statues and pillars up haphazardly here and there. The most priceless rubble I’ve ever seen. To have such an overflowing, overwhelming amount of beauty that you can treat it with carelessness and even then it’s still radiant. Wow. Just, wow.

But eventually food drove me back onto the city streets again. Repubblica and Ancient Rome overlap a lot, so I ended up happily meandering down beautiful streets for hours.

I tried Italian pizza! I followed all the locals and wound up in a tiny shop, hehe. Italian pizza is cut square and sold by weight. It was crispy, with amazing cheese, and the tomato sauce wasn’t quite what I was used to. More tangy and bracing. It was good! (Please understand that from a very picky native New Yorker, “good” is very high praise.)

I was still hungry though, so I sat down and let my friends tell me what to eat from the menu. It was a lot of fun! But I couldn’t eat it all, so half of it became my dinner later that day too. 😂 I tried a Cynar spritz. It was REALLY good, but I like bitter alcoholic drinks like IPAs. It was strongly herbal, and then the bitter undertones made the sweet citrus juice more refreshing. It was really, really good. Then I had a pancake…kind of a flan? Not really? It was warm and had a strong salty punch. Then raw dressed chicory, which was pleasant but not memorable, and a really good pear, walnut, and mixed greens salad with a gorgonzola dressing.

I came to Italy to EAT.

This was the first time I encountered a restaurant where they didn’t speak English. The restaurant was also crowded with locals, so all good signs. They didn’t give napkins, and when I asked for one they didn’t know the English word Napkin, so I just sort of pantomimed washing my mouth with both my hands like a hamster, and they were like OH!!, hahaha. It was really fun.

Everyone in Rome is so nice to me. 😭 But apparently they can smell the tourist on me from a mile away. I even tried to bring nice clothes so I could dress well and try to blend in, but no luck. 😂

After dinner, my tour guide told us about the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli – the church of St. Peter in Chains. Not only is a Michaelangelo sculpture there, but the chains that imprisoned Peter when he was in jail in Rome before his crucifixion were also there. As soon as they reopened at 3PM, I hurried over to see.

I’m continually blown away by the love and attention to detail, and the creativity in these churches. Like how as the pattern goes down the steps, they took care to cut a differently shaped diamond that would flow perfectly with everything else. Or the way they paint stonework onto the walls, with such skill and detail that it’s nearly impossible to tell that it’s a painting.

However, I have to say that I was pretty dismayed by my experience at this church. Of course these churches with amazing art have lots of tourists, but they’re still churches, holy places, and there should be rules on how to act. This church felt like the staff had given up on corralling the tourists. They were all talking at regular volume, so the entire place was a dull roar. The space meant for prayer had tourists sitting there, talking to their companions or scrolling on their phones. And the most holy relic of St. Peter’s chains, a relic so amazing that I couldn’t even bring myself to take a photo because that felt profane, was treated with no respect at all. I was trying to pray in front of it while a man had a conversation with his family about Taylor Swift. Right in front of it. Right next to me as I was trying to pray. It felt so awful to have such a holy space treated with such thoughtlessness. Churches are beautiful but they’re still holy spaces.

They didn’t even have holy water at the church entrance. I couldn’t even do that before going to see the relic. It just felt really bad.

I was so upset that I even told a church worker how I felt. I told him I’d come all this way for the jubilee and it felt terrible to see the relics and artwork treated like a circus sideshow. Like…other churches at least had holy water and at least had signs informing visitors of the behavior expected. I don’t know. I didn’t like it. I’m going to write a letter to the Vatican about it. I really was upset.

Anyway, here’s the Michaelangelo statue that was there. It is of Moses. The legend goes that when Michaelangelo finished it, he was so overwhelmed by its perfection and beauty that he brought his hammer down upon the knee in a lot of emotion. Then he fixed it and presented it to the church, lol.

One thing that all of these tourists miss is how many of these artworks are explicitly designed to be seen on your knees. When I go to pray before them, I see new beauty and new details. Things line up or become illuminated in a way they don’t when you’re standing before them. It’s so moving. Many of the above photos are taken from a kneeling position.

Anyway. I hurried out of the church and headed back to my hostel because I needed to recharge my phone and put away my leftovers. On the way I found another church that was much better.

This was a church for the Carmelites. The Carmelites are famous for creating a scapular that, when worn around the neck at the time of death, will shield a faithful believer from going to hell. I’m fond of the Carmelites, they’re a fairly gentle order. There’s something so humble and sincere about the act of putting a scapular around Pope John Paul II’s neck. It’s such an earnest sign of their love and care for him. It really moved me when I saw it.

This little card explained the patron saint of the church and how to pray, and I really appreciated it. This church had holy water, and it was thoughtfully quiet inside. I wish the other church was like this one.

After all my technology was successfully recharged, I started following this walking tour of Rome. More Bernini, I love him so much. The way he shapes the human form is just so beautiful.

Then I walked to the top of the Spanish Steps and walked along the upper cliffside, enjoying the view of Rome at sunset.

My friend told me Rome was full of obelisks. I was kind of disappointed that I only saw one yesterday. But today I saw two more, and they’re really famous ones: one at the top of the Spanish Steps, and one in the Piazza del Popolo that was actually first located in the Circus Maximus, a huge huge ampitheater that doesn’t exist any more.

The Piazza del Popolo was really interesting and I spent a while there absorbing the scene. There was a beautiful classical guitar player. There were a lot of people on dates or with their friends. There were two people trying to sell small kites. And when it hit six o’clock, bells began to ring out across the city.

I peeked into one more church. In it, they were doing the stations of the cross, so I stayed and prayed. I was able to recognize different prayers and songs and go along even though I don’t speak Italian. It felt so wonderful. The church had sculptures created by one of Bernini ‘s students, but I was most arrested by these beautifully minimalist renditions of the Stations of the Cross, entirely communicated by the hands.

The lacelike cross that seemingly stands all alone is actually backed by a sturdy iron rod. So cool.

After that, I walked along an artsy street and finally came to the Spanish Steps from the bottom. Because it was a Friday night, there was a fun atmosphere to the entire neighborhood. Super super touristy and I’d say an overpriced area, but everyone seemed to be having lots of fun.

Then, I got a massage! I slept weird on the flight, and that plus all the walking had made my back really hurt. The massage fixed it all up! It was a Thai massage, which I’ve never had before, but I really liked the style. I’d seek one out again. It didn’t need a lot of force to be really effective.

Then I came home, chatted with my roommates while I ate my salad with my hands because you’re not supposed to bring in outside food so there is no silverware 🤣, and now it’s time for bed.

So far, each day has made me feel like, “If today were the only day I got to spend in Rome, I’d be really satisfied.” But there’s more! There’s more and more!!!

Tomorrow is the big day! The day I came here for: the first day of the jubilee for the sick and for healthcare workers, and I sadly qualify as both. They didn’t announce the schedule until YESTERDAY. Nailed it, Church.

I am nervous, though, because I’m all alone. I think I’m going to try and see if a larger American group is willing to adopt me, and then tag along with them. We’ll see!!

Buona notte! (My Italian is so, so bad, but I’m learning!)