TRAVELOG: Easter Sunday at the Vatican + Rome city tour

We woke up extremely early to make it to Easter Sunday Mass service at the Vatican. This was a momentous occasion for us since we’ve never had Easter Sunday mass with the Pope at the Vatican! And hehe, I was happy too because I had said penance the night before (so I was walking around acting like some saint, having confessed the night before… hahaha..tsk bad girl for bragging about my confession– biiiig deal. I’m actually ashamed to have admitted not having confessed in 6 years. Imagine how much this taiwai wannabe sinned over those years!!!).

We waited for our cheery Italian chauffeur, Biaggio, to take us to the back of the Vatican. While waiting, I took this photo of the building across from our hotel.I love the colors… I think it’s actually from dirt and pollution that made this former terracotta- colored building this color 😀

We got to the Vatican, and we got seats, but THIS far.
I loooove my camera– for those who asked what it is, it’s a Canon G7.

I was able to zoom into the Balcony,
zoomed into St. Peter (who held the cross) beside Jesus (who also held a cross)– look closely to the top of the Church where all the Statues are. I am still in awe of the zoom capabilities of my camera. (Thank you IMC and MC!!)

We waited for over an hour and a half before the service started, and out came the Holy See, Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger). And then rain started to pour. Hard… Ok, VERY hard. And the winds were SOOOO cold. While we were freezing our buns off, and trying extremely hard to stay dry, The Holy See was comfy and toasty in his heated up tent 🙂 *Kinda like being inside an oven, with those red lights :D*

I loooove my camera!!! I can “see” the Pope up close and personal, even if I was soooooo far away 🙂 🙂 I even saw his red Prada shoes 🙂 The Pope’s tres cool, he knows his shoes 😉 *wink*

Another photo of Pope Benedict XVI. Peeps, if you are looking for a point-and-shoot camera, go for the Canon G9 (the newer model with G7 as its predecessor)– it’s really awesome!

Anyway, it never stopped raining even as we lined up to take communion. And then there he was, the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen in Rome. He was a Swiss Guard. Daaaaang! Forgive forgive for I have sinned 🙂 *Muwahahaha* DH gave me a dirty look when I told him I almost wanted to take communion a second time just so I could take a photo of Mr. Swiss guard hottie. *Muwahaha… ok, DSIL and I were guilty of that thought hahahaha… you’re not spared, DSIL :D*

Sigh, what a way to spend Easter Sunday, right? Have mass with the Pope, then ogle at Swiss Guard hottie while dripping wet and freezing in the cold rain… Tsk tsk. Ok, did that mass make us holier? *and then lightning struck my derriere as I thought that hahaha… ok that was sooo not funny hehe :D* I have sinned! I have sinned! 🙂 🙂

We had to rush back to the hotel after the service because we were ALL soaking wet. Yes, even my raincoat did nothing to protect me OR my bag from the pouring rain + wind. My Hermes evelyne in cyclamen epsom leather was drenched. I was thinking, oh great, that’s the death of the bag. But after some 10 minutes in our heated van, the bag began to dry up, and no watermarks were in sight!!! *Miracle!!!!*

(Side note: Soooo, if you are contemplating on whether an epsom leather bag from Hermes is worth paying for, the answer is YES, YES, YES! It’s extremely light, and it takes water well! One water incident is enough to merit that kind of a recommendation from this baghag :D)

We hurriedly changed in our hotel to new, dry clothes, and went out again to see the Roman Forum, the monumental complex with its ruins that lie between the Capitol, the Imperial Forums, the Colosseum and the Palatine. For a minute there, the sky began to clear up.
The next minute, it grew dark, and out poured the rain again! *Sigh*

What a day! To top things off, I got in trouble with the Law!!Arrested!!! Hehehe… kidding :D. I just had to take photos with the nice polizia of Rome 🙂

Next stop, the Colosseum!Photo show the original “Arc” of Constantine (The Arc de Triomphe in Paris is a “copy” of this arc apparently).

Anyway, why the fascination with the Colosseo? I’m shallow, what can I say 😀 I love everything that relates to and from the celluloid, and I end up asking all the stupid questions… I think my family’s real ashamed of me for those questions I *unashamedly* ask each time (from Anck-Sun- Amun in Egypt, to the Holy Grail in the Louvre) hahaha… sorry for making you guys look bad, famille! Teehee!! I’m a ditz, what can I say? :D*

Here’s a closeup of the Colosseum. And what followed was a freak hailstorm! YES! HAIL! Little balls of ice came pouring down on us and we had to run like the wind for our car. The wind was SO strong. The umbrella of DB snapped too! *Uh oh, the hotel will charge us for that, dude… hahaha*

And look what else “snapped”! A street lamp!!!

We drove quite a bit again as the weather sorta settled, before we headed off to San Giovanni in Laterano. The Basilica of St. John Lateran is the cathedral of the bishop of Rome (the Pope), and is known as the Cathedral of Rome and of the world. We were told that this was the very first church ever built in Rome and is one of the most important.

Here I am, dwarfed by the giant Holy door which gets opened every 25 years. The last time this door was opened, was in the year 2000. (Hehehe I’m carrying my Hermes Cyclamen epsom evelyne gm that’s now happily dry :D)

The interior of this cathedral was fantastic, with ornate ceilings and floorings. We also went to see the Baptistry while we were there.

It had stopped raining when we finished our “city tour”, so we got dropped off the hotel and decided to walk around our area once again. This time, we went to the area of Via della Croce a few steps off Piazza di Spagna.

There was a flower/ vegetable/ fruit market by Via Bocca di Leone (this photo was taken on the day we were leaving). I’m a sucker for markets like these. If we had real cool weather in Manila, I’d be doing all the marketing myself (although I love going to Seaside and wouldn’t mind heading back to Baguio’s markets).

There were a few leather goods stores in this area as well. One of them was this.
This store even had leather “birkins”!
And what actually irked me was that this store was selling fake Hermes bags… note that “H” perforated drawstring leather bag… If that’s not a trying- to- be- Hermes brand, then I don’t know what other brand has that same exact “logo”. The birkins look fake. Proportions are way off. I didn’t bother going in anymore because it started to drizzle again. I should’ve though, in retrospect. I would’ve been able to tell you if the shopkeepers were selling these bags off as the real thing or not!

Walked a little bit more, but stores (that were actually open on Easter Sunday– and there weren’t many) already started closing as it was already getting dark.

Cavalli Pucci
Gucci
And then it was once again, time for my favorite activity of the day! Eating! It was dinnertime! 🙂 We chose another Italian (natch) restaurant called Mangianapoli, located 2 streets from Via dei Condotti.

Insalata Caprese with rucola
Prosciutto and rucola (arugula) pizza
Can you tell I love arugula? I finished this whole pizza by myself. This and that tomato- mozzarella- arugula salad 🙂 *oink poink!!*

Risotto with fruits of the sea. DH ordered this dish and said it was really, really good. I was too full, stuffing myself with my pizza and prawns that DM ordered.
It’s really impossible not to gain weight here in Rome. Even DM had to succumb to try pasta (and it’s not her fave too) 😀 And we know pasta= carbo=fats if no exercise. So the next time you see me with my huge muffin top, don’t wonder why. It’s my personal souvenir of this European vacation 🙂

Tomorrow will be my last post on our European Vacation. Travelog: Assisi 🙂 Afterwards, I start bag reviews again. So sorry it took so long for new bag reviews!! Promise I’ll make up for it!

Hope you enjoyed this post!

x
Mrs.T