Rome Part 1, The Vatican

After Florence, my friends and I hopped on a train to Rome in order to meet up with the school for the rest of ten-day.  That being said, we had a bit of trouble getting on he train. We knew that it required reservations in advance, so we tried to get them.  We thought we were successful when we bought them, unfortunately we weren’t.  We bought the reservations a day in advance which caused a minor mistake to take place.  It turned out that the reservations we purchased were for the wrong date.  In order to correct that, we tried to buy tickets for the train a second time.  They were quite expensive, and as far as we knew they didn’t include the reservations.  We found out shortly before getting on the train that our tickets actually were enough to get on the train because they did include the mandatory reservations. 

After the fastest train ride I have ever been on (200 or so km/hr) we reached Rome.  Rome was one of the biggest and most confusing cities I have ever been to.  We quickly discovered that Rome only has two subway lines (apparently they can’t dig any new lines because they keep bumping into ruins) and only one station to switch between the two. 

After finding our way through the subway system we caught up with the school just in time for daily Mass at a convent of some sort.  After that we got some free time to explore or relax and eat.  I choose to relax and eat because I was sick and still sleep deprived from the Florence endeavor.

The next day, most of the school went to the Vatican to explore and take some tours.  Mary, Emily and I decided to climb the Cupola which is the dome in St. Peter’s Basilica. 

Mary and I in front of St. Peter’s Basilica.

A closer shot of St. Peter’s.

This is the inside of the Cupola.  We ended up climbing to the top.

The view of Rome from the Cupola.

Some sort of garden inside the Vatican.

Another view of Rome from the Cupola.

After descending the Cupola we explored St. Peter’s a bit more.  I apologize that most of the pictures from here on are blurry, my camera was having some problems. 

Myself in front of Michelangelo's Pieta.  Of all of the art that I have seen this semester, this has been my favorite piece.  An interesting thing about it is that the Mary part of the statue is actually much bigger than Jesus.  It was carved this way in order to make everything appear to be in scale when it is on a pedestal. 

Here is one of the many altars (I guess this is the main one) within the basilica.

Here is a sculpture of St. Helena (or St. Helen), the mother of Emperor Constantine.

Here is a sculpture of St. Longinus, the Roman centurion who pierced the side of Jesus with a spear while He was on the cross.  According to Tradition he converted to Christianity after the Crucifixion and was eventually martyred.  His feast day is March 15th, my birthday.

After we were done exploring on our own we went outside of St. Peter’s, where we got to see the pope for the first time.  We prayed the Angelus with Pope Benedict XVI in several different languages.  He stayed in his apartment overlooking the giant piazza in front of St. Peter’s, and spoke into an exceptionally loud microphone.  It was a unique and good experience. 

Here is the crowd in front of the pope’s apartment.

This is about the best picture I got of the pope’s apartment while he was praying the Angelus with us.  He is in the window with the banner hanging below it.  Unfortunately my camera had relatively minor zoom capabilities.

After the Angelus, we went back into St. Peter’s for a more or less official tour.  Here are a few more pictures of the basilica.

The Altar of the Lie.  This is a depiction of a Bible story where two people we struck down for lying about having given all that they had for the poor.  It sits outside of the sacristy as a reminder to all who come out that bearing false witness before God is a terrible crime with great punishment.

I’m not sure exactly what this was for.  It was a large crest built into the floor of one corner of the basilica.

I think this is a memorial of Pope Innocent XII.  He is known for the actions that he took against nepotism in the papal offices.

That is all for today, I will try to post again soon.  Hopefully I will finish Rome and Assisi this week. 

Florence

Our first ten-day break happened the weekend after my Hallstatt trip.  The school offered trips to both Rome and Assisi, but we weren’t required to go with the school to get to Rome.  A few friends and I originally planned on going to Venice and then Florence before meeting up with the rest of the school in Rome, but a few unforeseen circumstances prevented us from getting to Venice (I am planning on going to Venice this weekend actually).  Instead of Venice, we ended up just going to Florence. 

I don’t remember much about the actual traveling part, I just remember that we got to Florence a few hours earlier than we planned on checking in to our hostel.  Because of this, we had to carry all of our ten-day supplies with us for a few hours.  We found a sandwich shop thing and got burgers; it was a unique experience.  The guy running the shop made our burgers for us his own way, because we couldn’t really communicate what we wanted to him.  I have never eaten anything quite like it.  The sheer amount of toppings that he gave us pretty much turned the burgers into soup (fortunately he gave them to us in bags). 

After the burger place, we went and got gelato.  It was excellent, and a lot cheaper than traditional American ice cream.  When we were done with the gelato, we went back to our hostel again to see if we could check in.  We had to wait a little bit longer, but after that we got checked in.  The hostel itself was great.  For anyone planning to go to Florence I highly recommend it; it is called Casa Nuestra.  It is run by a really nice woman who speaks English well, and is just generally helpful.  She gave us maps and great advice for seeing the city.  On top of that she decorated the hostel herself, so it is generally just a really good place to be. 

The next morning, we set out to explore the city on foot.  We got to see quite a few interesting sights.  Here are some pictures and a few explanations.

Mary eating gelato.

Me eating gelato.  Mary and I shared a big cup of dark chocolate and tiramisu flavored gelato.  It was a lot better than any ice cream I have ever had.  It is really strange to think that it is healthier and generally cheaper than ice cream.

A statue of Dante.

The Basilica of Santa Croce.  It is a traditional gothic style church that was consecrated in 1443.  I am pretty sure that it was run by the Franciscan order.

This is a copy of David.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the real David because it was a little too far out of the way.  Honestly though, fake David was enough for me.  Apparently it is about fourteen euros to see the real David, which is terribly expensive.

This is a statue of Perseus holding the severed head of Medusa.  This is right across the street from the fake David.

Ponte Vecchio, the old bridge.  This was the first bridge across the Arno river, and the only bridge to survive World War Two.  I thought that it was really interesting that it is kind of a shopping center.  Shops lined both sides of the street, and it was one of the busier parts of the city. 

The Arno River, seen from an open spot on the Ponte Vecchio (I think). 

This is The Baptistery of John the Baptist, it sits beside Il Duomo.

This is the Campanile.  It is a bell tower designed by Giotto that is slightly to the left of Il Duomo. 

The doors to the Baptistery.  These are copies, I am pretty sure the originals are in a museum somewhere. 

Il Duomo from the outside.  I couldn’t get any good pictures inside, but basically it is a massive dome/cathedral. 

This is a statue of Hercules wrestling with a Lion. 

Hallstatt

So, after Poland I ended up making an unplanned, unprepared for, surprise trip to Hallstatt Austria.  Basically, my friend Matt invited me to go with him about six hours before we needed to be on the bus.  His parents offered to pay for my entire trip, so I decided to go. 

Actually getting to Hallstatt was pretty uneventful, except that we almost missed the first bus of the day.  All of the trains ran pretty much as we expected them to which is (as I have learned) incredibly rare. 

(Note* we ended up traveling with two other students for the first day)

Hallstatt itself didn’t have a lot to do, but doing things really wasn’t the point of the trip at all.  Hallstatt is arguably the most scenic place in all of Austria, so naturally we visited with the intention of taking pictures, relaxing, hiking, and quoting The Lord of the Rings. 

Here are some pictures, I think that the rest are on Facebook…

This is Hallstatt from across the lake in Obertraun (which was where Matt and I stayed).

The view of the lake from our hotel window.

A bone chapel in Hallstatt.  In Europe (Austria at least) you don’t buy plots of land in cemeteries, instead you rent them.  Once the rent is up and no one has made a payment, you get dug up and either put in an ossuary or a bone chapel. 

This is just another picture of the lake before sunset.  It had calmed down enough that the reflections of all of the mountains were nearly perfect.

We saw a few swans on the edge of the lake while we were getting ready to take the (Buckleberry) ferry back to Obertraun.

Poland Part 3

Okay, so after Auschwitz we went to Krakow, the Divine Mercy Shrine, and Wadowice.  I will try to keep this post brief in the interest of time.  Essentially Krakow was just a big fun city with some interesting history and very good gelato.  Wadowice was the home town of Pope John Paul II. 

Basically our time in Krakow was spent wandering the city, taking pictures and just generally having fun.  We went on some short walking tours and saw a few sights, but honestly there wasn’t too much there in terms of terribly significant things.  Here are some pictures of Krakow, the Divine Mercy Shrine, Wadowice. 

The clock tower in Krakow’s square at night.

Wawel Cathedral in Krakow.  I think St. Hedwig’s remains are kept here, but I am not entirely certain.

These are supposedly dragon bones.  There is a legend that if the bones should ever fall or be removed from the door (still Wawel Cathedral), the world would come to an end (or something like that).

This was the palace that the Nazi Hans Frank took as his residence during the occupation of Poland.

Here we have the clock tower again, except now it is daytime.  If you look closely on the left you can see the statue of Eros’ decapitated head. Eros was the Greek god of love… In addition to being decapitated, he also didn’t have any eyes… Love is blind after all.

This is the Divine Mercy Shrine; FUS students have affectionately dubbed it “The Divine Mercy Starship.”  We had Mass here after listening to a talk about St. Faustina, and praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet in the chapel where Jesus appeared and gave St. Faustina the image of Divine Mercy.

Here is a statue of the image of Divine Mercy.  The line things coming off of Jesus’ heart are the blood and water that He poured out on the cross, symbolizing Divine Mercy.

Mary and I on our one year anniversary KFC date.  We both got new scarves!

Mary eating “popecake” in Wadowice.  “Popecake” was Pope John Paul II’s favorite dessert in case you were wondering how it got its name.

This is me, also eating popecake.

This is Pope John Paul II as a very small child (Mary says “adorable” when she sees this picture).

John Paul II’s scapular.

Various robes worn by John Paul II during his assent to the papacy.

This is the church in Wadowice where John Paul II was baptized.  He was also an altar server here.

Poland Part 2

I’m sorry that it has been an eternity since I last posted, but mid-terms tests and trip planning have been devouring most of my time.  Here is a brief overview of what I would like to tell you about in the next few posts: the rest of my Poland trip, Hallstatt Austria, Florence Italy, Rome Italy, Assisi Italy, London England, Paris France, the Normandy region of France, and Nice France (currently I am waiting for a train that will get me a little bit closer to Nice, and if all goes well I will be there by morning).

Anyway, after Czestochowa, we got back on our bus to visit Auschwitz, the former Nazi death camp.  Auschwitz began as a work camp for Polish political prisoners, before it became a full-blown death camp.  The camp was run and managed by Rudolf Höss.  We got to visit two parts of the complex.  Auschwitz 1, which was a converted Polish military post and Auschwitz 2 Birkenau which was the actual extermination camp.  Auschwitz 1 was primarily for the political prisoners and such.  St. Maximillian Kolbe was held in Auschwitz 1.  Auschwitz 1 was the site of: horrific Nazi medical experiments on prisoners, the first gas chamber, and the standing and starvation cells.  Auschwitz 2 Birkenau was a much larger camp where captured Jews were forced to live until they were either killed or worked to death. 

The gate of Auschwitz 1, it says “Arbeit Macht Frei,” which means “work makes you free.”  According to Professor Cassady, this is the biggest lie in all of history.

One of the buildings in Auschwitz 1, most of them looked a lot like this one.

A sleeping room for some of the female prisoners. These were the best conditions available for any of the prisoners as far as I can tell.

A wall where prisoners were executed by firing squad in Auschwitz 1.

St. Maximilan Kolbe’s cell.

This was a model of the primary gas chambers.  The real gas chambers were destroyed by the Nazis before the end of the war in an attempt to conceal evidence of their crimes. (One gas chamber wasn’t destroyed, but it wasn’t one of the main ones, it was mainly just a facility used to test the effectiveness of the gas (on Russian prisoners I think)).

Here is a room full of the canisters that held the poison for the gas chambers.

This is a room entirely filled with the shoes of holocaust victims.

Much like the other photo, this is a picture of a room filled with the belongings of holocaust victims. 

Of all of the things that I saw in Auschwitz, this was by far the most disturbing.  It was a display of things that belonged to children and infants that were murdered in Auschwitz.  Along with this display, there was a room filled with children’s and infant’s shoes.

This is Auschwitz 2 Birkenau.  All that is really left is the field, a few foundations, the train tracks, and a building or two.

The train tracks into Birkenau.

This is a blurry picture of our group touring the sleeping quarters in Birkenau.  The wooden structures in the back were beds; if I remember correctly, each level held about six prisoners (more than inhumane considering the conditions).