5/20/12 Singing at St. Peter's

        An early morning.  I awoke at 6 am for a shower with no alarm to wake me up.  Another fabulous buffet breakfast, though there were an obvious lack of napkins in case someone wanted to sneak some of the food out...
        We set out early to return to the Vatican, only this time to sing in mass, not to do the usual touristy stuff.  There was a long line out in the Piazza leading into the Bascilica proper-took about an hour to get through.  Once we made it back inside St. Peter's, there is a significantly smaller population inside than the day before, though it was still far from empty.  We were directed to the main altar's choir section, and the view from there is so much better than anyplace else inside.  You can see the organs, the statue of St. Peter, a very close Main Altar, and the center piece clearly and distinctly.

We're sweating in our pews

        Onto the performance of mass.  I've never attended a Catholic mass in another language before, and let me say, it's about as exciting as it is in English (sorry to religious folks, I mean no offense).  But to sing in the very place Palestrina and MonteVerdi composed for, well, that's 500 years worth of history right there, being relived.  The sound in that space is remarkable, considering its size and how much crap is in it, doubled with the fact our choir is about 23 people strong, we were still able to easily fill up the space without a long obnoxious reverb or distortion.  By and far, this was one of the best moments of my life. The music really felt as if it had been divinely inspired and executed.  To put it simply, there is no other place like it in the world, visually, or aurally.  We sung Sitivit Anime Mea, O Sacrum con Viveum, Cantante Domino, Ubi Caritas, and Surge Cantante.  A fantastic set of music.
        To further reward our performance experience and how well we sounded, our Maestro decided to buy lunch for all of us- can't pass up free pizza!  Then back to the bus and off to our historical tour of Italy with our favorite guide Daniella and her assistant Popino.
        --On a side note, when you see SPQR labelled on something, it's what the Romans would stamp to say (roughly translated from Latin) "from the Senate to the people of Rome."

Generic Colosseum picture

        Well, the one building most people think when they consider ancient Rome is the Colosseum.  Such was our first stop on the tour.  The origins of the building are amusing, considering it was built smack dab ontop of a very early emperor's palace, Emperor Nero to be exact (the whole hillside of the area was), so that the people of Rome could forget what a jerk he was.  So another emperor to curry favor with his people built the Colosseum in 5 years.  Five years for a building that is larger than anything in Pocatello-and probably Idaho too, and over 2000 years ago!  I will say that the building, to me, is only interesting with people who have a vested interest in ancient history or those who have very good imaginations.  As our tour guide had told us before, Rome loves to recycle its marble.  And the Colosseum at one point was entirely covered in the stuff.  After thousands of years, it had been harvested completely through, leaving only the remains as you see them today.  Outside of the building there used to be a giant bronze statue of the emperor who built the place, one that was almost as tall as the building itself, and was named "colosei" hence the building's name.  The other fun fact is that the Colosseum is centered around the 7 sacred hills of Rome, making it ideal for tours.

That used to be a building for Mast Heads of defeated ships

        The last stop for our tour was the oldest section of Rome- the Forum.  A good city block of ruins was discovered sometime in the last decade that they are slowly excavating.  Yes, even in this day and age, we are still unearthing artifacts and rewriting our textbooks about all of this.  It had started to rain, couple that with an exahsted group who just sang at the Vatican, and most of us seemed to be worn out for this portion of the tour.  I remember Daniella describing that this was the most important place in Rome for the longest time, and that the tomb of Caesar Augustus was there, the first and only Caesar to be deified.  There is also the third and final Arch here ( there are three Archs, 2 outside the Colosseum, and 1 in the Forum.  There used to be over 30 of them in Rome, but time has removed all but 3).  This arch though I find the most interesting because it is so early in the Roman days that they still found the concepts of "pants" (from the Barbarians) to be humorous.  We head up and out of the hills to a small piazza where a bronze statue of Caesar Augustus stood (overlooked by Christians who thought it was the first Christian emperor of Rome, hence why it wasn't harvested).  As well as a statue of Minerva, sided by two statues of the gods of the Tiber (local branch of the Tiber in Rome is called the Blonde Tiber) and the Nile.  These were the two most important rivers of the ancient world to the Romans, so ya.  Then down the other side of the steps was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier again, small city!
        We head back on the bus, give a sad farewell to our friend Daniella, and head back to the hotel.  Everyone in our group (I swear) all took a nap that evening.  I awoke around 9pm to grab dinner.  The problem was, after 9 on a Sunday in the Catholic homeland, most places are closed.  Well the group I was with and I were able to find a place to sit down and eat.  It was at a trendy Euro resteraunt that fit the stereotype-electric blue lighting, modern art hanging on the walls, trendy discotech music playing, fasionable staff, and delicious food on fantastic dishes.  Ya, was a good way to end the night.

5/19/12 Rome sweet Rome.

        Started the day in our cramped shower-closet.  It wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't as tall, or didn't have such long arms. Oh well. (bidays by the way are strange, and the hotel gave us two packs of complimentary bum soap, wierd).  After the shower however was perhaps the best breakfast a traveler could have hoped for.  It was a huge buffet style continental breakfast-but it had the best pastries and meats and Nutella (total european thing to have Nutella everywhere), great espresso, juice, and no end in sight.

Sigil of Pope Leo XIII

        Our Vatican tour was today, and to say the least it's an exciting thing to look forward to.  If i were to describe the Vatican as a museum, I would simply describe it as a complete sensory overload (my suggestion to people is the same as with any large amazing museum- you'll need a lifetime to see all the exhibits, so go more than once).  There was so much amazing art with so much history that it was impossible to really digest it all.
       To say the very least, the crown jewel of the Vatican is the Sistine Chapel, named after Pope Sixtus IV.  Originally it was just a hall with tapestries and wall paintings with a ceiling painted like the night sky.  The tapestries exist in the hall before the Chapel, and the paintings were painted by a couple of Raphael's mentors (I however cannot remember their names to save my life).  The ceiling now holds the famous frescos by Raphael.  The wall sides depict on one side the Old Testament depicting Moses, and the other wall the New Testament depicting the life of Jesus.  The walls themselves are impressive to begin with, but still compare to the frescos depicting Genesis and the backwall depicting the Apocolypse.  Sadly, you are not permitted to take photos from inside the Chapel because of copyright issues (I honestly don't think Eastern tourists understand what that means).  Words however, can do no justice in describing the awesome power that that room holds.  Raphael was no slacker or dummy, everything he did he did with full intention and knowledge of what he was saying and doing.  From God bestowing unto man intelligence, to clockface description of how Judgement will work at the end of days-it was all done with such exacting detail and amazing precision that even if you're not religious, it is without equal.  At the turn of this millineum the Vatican decided to embark on a restoration project to remove all the centuries of smoke and grime that had built up on the frescos- they left a few spots to show the "before and after" effects.  I understand why all the textbooks had to be re-written on the subject, because parts were pitch black-completely throwing off many of the ideas that historians had on Renaissance art. [my advice to you followers-just go see this before you die.]

St. Peter's as seen from the Piazza

        After the Sistine Chapel came St. Peter's Basilica.  You want to see a large percentage of the world's total monetary wealth in one place? Go to St. Peter's Basilica.  It is a visually noisy room, cramped with thousands of sightseers it is also just plain noisy.  Still, for as much as there is, it is an awesome spectacle to behold.  The main altar is what struck the most-deceptively small looking, it is actually a behemoth at the back of a football field of museum and church.  I guess it's just amazing what goodies you can cram into one church when you 1) have thousands of years worth of history and 2) control most of the Western world for that time...
       I should at this point mention the fantastic tour guide that stuck with us for all of Rome, her name was Daniella and her "assistant" was a plush snake named Popino.  She was energetic, smart, and funny, and best friends with our main tour guide.
       Afterwards we moved on to the typical walk around the downtown are and meet up at 5:45pm thing.  So I head with a group of friends, and headed around for shopping. We started with lunch at a sitdown pizzeria in an alley right next to the Pantheon called Pantherei, a place I highly recommend. We spent our time heading from shopping malls and districts (most of which just felt like malls in the States), but also heading in the direction we think that "big glass elevator that gives you the best 360deg. view of Rome from" was at (Daniella had told us about it, so we sought it out).

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

        We find the place eventually.  It is actually a monument for the tomb of the unknown soldier (it also houses a military history museum).  It's a great building, but to get to the top floor you have to pay 7 euro to get on it.  So we stayed on the second floor and got by with only 180degrees of magnificent view of Rome.  We take a sit here because at this point we had been walking for hours on end, but one of use kept wandering to take some pictures.  We eventually notice about 30 minutes have passed and we might have accidently lost our companion, and as a double whammy, a scarf one of us had bought (the bag anyways) was lost.  Well, we head back to where we last saw our lost groupy and bag, and first we find the bag (being defended by an Italian grandma who didn't believe it was mine) then our groupy.  All was good!  As for what you can see from this place on just the 2nd floor- you can make out the Trevi Piazza, the Pantheon Piazza, clearly see St. Peter's, the Colluseum, the Piazza de Opera, as well as most of Rome's city scape.  Definetly worth the walk!

Such good water

       Well, of course it's getting close to meeting time.  So we cross the street to find a running water-fountain (specifically made for drinking) and fill up our water bottles.  Then we meander back to the Pantheon Piazza.  As we cluster there our tour guide finds us, and we all get to talking about music.  Apparently, he is really into American pop and jazz, so he's alright by me.  He also teaches us the Italian equivelant of "shit happens" which is "porque miseria" (sp?).  Our group finally assembles and we head back to the bus to grab our performance attire, and then right back to the Pantheon area.  Only after being gone for 20minutes a protest had assembled and was out picketing.  It took us all night to get our tour guide to describe what the in hell was going on.  As it turns out the mafia had killed a couple judges for doing their jobs, and then blew up an elementary school for good measure.  So I understand why our tour guide was careful about having us avoid that rally as much as possible.  The dinner though was another pizza margherita, complete with tiramisu for dessert, mmm.
        Our first concert was at a church right next to the Pantheon called Chiesa di Sant' Eustachio.  The church itself still had a bastion of historical stuff to it, but not nearly as much as its surroundings did.  The nuns and priest were not exactly warm, or friendly, or helpful.  But our maestro did get to use a 200 year old music stand since the one brought by the tour company failed.  The concert itself went about as well as can be expected from a group that was still suffering pretty badly from jetlag at 9pm.  The audience was very positive and responsive, as well as more casual than I am used to.  As soon as the concert was done though, the nuns were shooing us out as fast as possible.  In the rushed state a few men had music mix-ups which tossed a lot of tension into the group and ended the night with pointless bickering.  Not the best way to end the day.

5/18/2012- Take off

        Well- it's Italy time!  I haven't traveled on a plane in almost a decade, and even then, that was a short two hour flight.  The SLC Airport is much larger than I thought it would have been on first inspection, but to be fair, it's still just as drab as I imagined airports to always be.  We connect from SLC to Dulles in D.C., and I find it amusing when we pass over Chicago and the whole city of skyscrapers looks flat and significantly smaller than a city of that size should, the world at 35000ft. I guess.  We arrive at Dulles, and yet again, just your regular airport, complete with sitting and waiting in their generously comfortable seats.  Oh well, in 9 hours time, I will be in Italy, and to Hell with any discomfort now.  The flight over was unremarkable, except for the fact that for the first time in my life I saw the Atlantic Ocean, and at 35000 ft. no less! But, having pulled an all-nighter the day before, I quickly succumb to sleep on the flight.

Jet lagged and luggaged!

       We land at the airport in Rome.  The surrounding area is really similar to the way the airport around SLC or Boise looks, and I find it humorous.  Of course though, the airport in Rome is vastly larger than SLC, and possibly even larger than Dulles, because we had to get on a cart to get to the baggage claim area.  We grab our luggage, and head out to the meeting point to try and find out who our tour guide, this "Flavio" person, was.  Of course, we see a tall Italian man bouncing around to a song only he can hear- we know he's going to fit in with us perfectly almost immediately.  We head over to the bus, only to be delayed, because somewhere along the lines, we had lost a couple that belonged to our group.  Go figure-20minutes in, and we're already getting behind.  Well, we're introduced to Antonio, and his magic Rocket Bus (really, it's just a tour bus, but man, he's a speed demon!).

Top of Spanish Steps

        Our first stop was to downtown Rome- straight for the Spanish Steps.  On top of the Spanish steps lies a beautiful Church, as well as one of Rome's many Egyptian Obelisks.  Well, it is a nice way to be introduced to a city that has over 3000 years of history, and just as much mystique to it as history.  The writing, the sculptures, the people, all seemed to be perfectly preserved despite the thousands of years of existence.  The most striking part of this first experience was the fountain at the bottom of the stairs- there were people not only hopping around in it (not that jarring) but drinking straight from it.. Never in America is it smart to drink straight from a fountain! But Flavio explained that the water in Rome, and the fountains themselves, were the best in the world, and perfectly clean.  (I had read a book before going on this trip that actually called Rome the City of Fountains, since it had the acquaducts to direct water pressure for some smaller fountains in ancient times).  The second thing Flavio tells us, there are no sky scrapers in Rome.  Why? Because they don't want to overshadow a few places- like St. Peter's Bascillica (despite the fact that it's in another country) and the Colluseum, making Rome unique in the world's metropolises.

Statues above Trevi Fountain

        The next stop was over to a place I've heard a great deal about, though for whatever reason, can never remember the name to- the Trevi Fountain, my name-sake.  Everything around that piazza is named Trevi, and gave a bit of an ego boost to be honest.  It was also cram packed with people, tourists all crazy to
throw their coins over their left shoulders.  Flavio explained the tradition of the fountain- in ancient Roman times, the soldiers would solute each other by crossing their right fist up to their left shoulder, and in tradition of this, many of them when going to war would throw a coin in hopes that it would buy fate's fortune to letting them see Rome again.  So throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain, and you will see Rome again.  The next part I think Flavio might have made up, but if you throw two coins into the fountain, you will find love in Rome, and throw three coins in, you will find and love and successfully get away from them before it gets ugly (Flavio, fits right in with us).  Here also, I have my first tastes of real Italian pizza and espresso.  There is no comparison to it's American countrerparts, none.

The Pantheon

        The Pantheon is our next stop (Rome, and Flavio [by extension a Roman] are just gogogo).  It is just within walking distance of Trevi, and all I can think is, "Honestly, there is something of major historical significance around every corner in this city."  Nothing, and I mean nothing, could have prepared me for the sight of the Pantheon.  Remarkably tall (I've never lived in a big city, so maybe I'm easy to impress), ancient, and amazing.  Originally a Pagan temple, the place is characterized by its large dome roof, columns in front, and a giant hole in the roof.  The hole symbolized the Sun, and the rotation of its light touched each of the planets (i.e. Gods).  The tomb of Raphael lies within this temple, decorated by flowers by adoring fans, hundreds of years after his death.  The reason why this temple wasn't scuttled (or harvested, depending on your view) by the Church, was because it was converted into a church-specifically because they loved the dome (yes, this decision predates St. Peter's construction by a few hundred years).  We were allowed to sing one song inside this space, a rare honor not given to many people ever.  We sing Palestrina's Sitivit Anima Mea with a great response from the crowd of sight seers.  A lady cries over how wonderful we sounded, and tries to convince our tour guide and maestro to sing another song, she insisted so much that after arguing with Flavio, she went to the people in charge and tried to convince them to let us sing another song- talk about flattering!
        This was my first taste of really, honestly, why we keep ancient music.  We not only sounded beautiful, but we became part of the exhibit, another artifact in this museum, but one constructed of sound.  I was flabbergasted by the feeling.
        Well, after walking around and a long plane flight we were finally dropped off at our hotel, Domus Marie Palazzo Carpegna.  The building itself used to be a nun convent, but renovated to become a four star hotel.  It was fully modern, the bedrooms modest, but perfect for the busy sightseer or businessman.  Right behind the hotel is a quaint, beautiful park.  It requires walking around a block to get to the entrance, but once in there there are a series of fountains that are fantastic to see (they were, unfortunately, not running at the time).  Me and my friends opted to go for a walk in our downtime instead of nap, because there is no quicker way around jetlag than to tough out the sleepyness.  In the park, I saw typical Roman life- a couple of older gents talking on a bench, groups of teens clustered around having a good time, younger kids playing football (euro style), couples passionately showering each other with affections (one couple even going so far as really getting into the whole dry humping bit), and most importantly, drinking fountains.  These were normal fountains, but sculpted with the intent of people drinking from them- so of course, when in Rome, I did as the Romans did.  The water was the best water I've ever tasted.  Coming from Idaho though, that's not too hard.
        Jetlag is an interesting bedfellow.  Despite having pulled an all-nighter before, having slept 8 hours on a plane ride, my body was still zonked and not sure what it should be feeling.
        Dinner was held at 7pm (Italy time) and 11am (Idaho time).  So, I wasn't too sharp for my first, full three course, fancy-pants dinner ever.  Delicious pasta, succulent meat, and fantastic dessert, it was a great first full meal for a great trip.  With dinner done, massive jet lag, and having walked several miles that day, my roomy and I were ready to test those beds in our room.  I crawled in, got into a curled up position, and blacked out.  So ended my first day in Rome, and Europe.