Spring break consisted of me visiting the beautiful ruins of the greatest cities in the Roman and Greek civilizations. But first we had to get there. Being my father's son, I always look for the best deal on everything I buy. So when the flight out of Dusseldorf was 100 euro cheaper than the one out of Bonn, my group and I decided we should fly out of there. So we took our trim from Bonn to the Dusseldorf airport at 3 in the morning (2 hour train ride gets us there 2 hours before our flight at 7). We arrived at the airport at 5 and were in the checkin area around 515... only to have our hearts drop into our toes. We were at the wrong airport. Something that doesn't actually happen in real life, right? Only in the movies? But no, we had arrived 90 kilometers away from our airport. So with no other options, we jump in the nearest taxicab, tell him we need to be at the other airport ASAP, and speed away on the empty morning autobahns of lovely Dusseldorf. 45 minutes and 150 euros later, we arrived at the other Dusseldorf airport, which we later learned was on the border between Germany and Holland and that it might have been illegal to call it Dusseldorf by German laws, but we made it to the airport (then there was just some massive baggage fees and some rude flight attendants, but I guess that's what you get when you fly cheap)!
We arrive in Rome, sunny beautiful Rome! Take a bus to the center of the city, find our hotel, and wait for the CC (her one small train out of her small city was delayed twice). Having CC, who had been to Rome a few weeks back with her program, me, who had been to Rome 4 years ago, and Rick Steves, the master of travel, made it so that every place we went came with a story of what the place was, how it was built, and some interesting facts about the people who had once stood where our feet were now. We visited the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps, oo-ing and awe-ing at all the appropriate places. It wasn't until we visited the Cat Coliseum that it started to rain for the first time. So naturally, we ran for the nearest bus stop. But then, so was everyone else. The stop closest to us was so crowded that only half of our group could get on the first bus towards home. I was on the first bus and we were packed in there like sardines. There was nowhere to move or twist, you didn't even have to hold on because there was no where to fall. We got half way home when we stopped and the bus driver made us all get off, apparently we broke the bus. When the next bus arrived, it was already full, but we packed it even tighter and fit our half of the group in. That is where we found the other half of the group, they had gotten on this bus after we had left them behind at the last stop. The bus ride was hot and smelly but we made it back to our hotel in one piece. That was, until CC reached into her purse to find that her wallet had been stolen. We spent the rest of the afternoon calling companies, canceling cards, and comforting Carolanne.
CC departed for home the next morning and we went to Vatican City. We knew that the first day of the papal elections were the next day so we wanted to see Saint Peter's Basilica before they closed up shop. Unluckily for us, they had already closed the Sistine chapel for cleaning and closed off half of the Basilica already for a church service the next morning including the the pieta of Jesus and Mary. But at least we got to go inside the church and just bask in its enormity and beauty, even if it was from a little farther back. We spent the rest of the day on a hillside overlooking Rome, taking silly pictures and enjoying the view.
While taking a picture with a Texas A&M flag at the Coliseum on the first day, we were noticed by a news team from Houston in town to cover the papal elections. Since they knew we were Aggies and from Texas, they asked if they could interview us for the news back home. We agreed excitedly and met them on the morning the conclave convened. After one interview, they asked us to come back that night to get our reactions of the smoke. Although the smoke was black and we had to leave early the next morning, I was quoted as saying "the anticipation made it totally worth it." It was a very new and exciting experience, standing in a crowd of hundreds of people and hundreds of cameras, all there to watch a small bit of smoke come out of a chimney. Even though I am not catholic myself, I recognize that it is a very prominent religion and that the Vatican and the pope hold a lot of power to do a lot of good in the world. So being there and sharing it with all of those people was an experience that I will never forget.
Then of course, we missed the white smoke by less than 24 hours. Instead of being there in person, we watched it on Greek television just like the rest of the world. Greece though, is for a later blog.
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