We’re taking the subway to the Vatican
today. All nearby stations are closed due to escalator repairs, so the day
starts with a bit of a hike, but we eventually get to an open station and we’re
at our destination soon enough. The line to get inside looks about half a mile
long, but it’s sort of now-or-never. The next day is Palm Sunday (which will be
insane), and following that is Monday, which is a big tourist day and sure to
be just as busy. So we stay and wait and the line actually moves very quickly.
What looks like it could have been hours takes no more than twenty minutes. The
bottleneck is at the metal detectors. I totally beep walking through them (no
idea why) but no one stops me. It’s enough for them to know I have a secret
stash of metal, but the final details don’t seem to be too important.
Once inside, we very wisely set a meeting
point in case we get separated: the statue of St. Veronica. This immediately
puts Susannah in a mood because why can’t
we meet at the St. Susannah statue? “Because there is no St. Susannah statue?!?”
is what I don’t say. Instead, I just point to any random statue saying, “Maybe
that’s St. Susannah! Maybe that’s St.
Susannah!” Four minutes of this and she tires of both me and the whole idea. The
seven of us pretty immediately get separated into three groups, and we
reconvene at out meeting place. Then we decide to go down to the grotto and
Sarah’s dad gets caught up in a tide of tourist and misses where we’ve gone. But
he knows the drill and goes back to St. Veronica. Because I’m such a damn rebel,
I defy the twenty No Re-Entry signs, and squeeze past 1,000 people going in the
opposite direction, and I get back into the church to get Grandpa. Before I forget,
about the crypts: whoever arranged them has no sense of showmanship. The very first thing you see is St. Peter’s
tomb. Save that for the end, people! But no, it’s St Peter, and then three tombs
later you’re into tomb’s for people like Monsignor Ludvig Kaas, and by the end
they’ve just got pieces of stuff stapled to the wall.
We left the Vatican, got some random takeout
pizza (one slice had hot dogs which we thought we be a hit, but the kids saw it
for the abomination that it was). Then it was back on the subway to get to St. Paul
Outside-the-Walls. When his execution was ordered by Nero, because he was a Roman
citizen, St. Paul was taken outside the walls before he was put to death, and the
basilica was built on the site of his grave. It was a stark contrast to St.
Peter’s, which was mobbed with visitors. We arrived at St. Paul’s at the perfect
time, and there were maybe two dozen people there. It was enormous and silent. The
whole day, the kids were really well behaved, and very patient with all the
walking and all the waiting that the day entailed.
Back at the hotel, we had trouble figuring
out a good restaurant. We decided to take our chances wandering the street and immediately
next door to our hotel, we were coerced by a restaurant host hustling his menu out
front. I find it generally repellant when someone tries to sell me something on
the street, and the restaurant itself was 100% empty, so we had a very bad
feeling going in. But it was really great. Personable waitstaff who were good
with the kids, and the food was good and quick.
Back to the hotel, blogging, bed, end of
that day.
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