Thursday, June 07, 2007 9:10am

Nine country changes in two weeks. Five flights in two days. Sixty-two hours awake with five hours of sleep, two of those coming in an airport. Endless busses and trains, and even MORE walking. This has been Matt’s life over the past little while. And he’s becoming quite weary. This is definitely the opportunity of a lifetime, and I’m seeing why. No one would be crazy enough to do this a second time! I’m so wasted after the past few days. Poor Ricky is going to really have to baby-sit me for the next two weeks.  Anyways, so I guess I should catch ya’ll up on where I am and what’s been happening. As you can see by the dates, I’ve missed a few days. And those were some FULL days. I last left you as we were arriving by train in Rome. I am now sitting in the Frankfurt airport on my way to Turkey. Witness for Life is officially over (*sniffle*). This post is going to be written both here in the airport and in the air between Frankfurt and Munich, because my flight boards in about 5 minutes. But here goes…

When we arrived in Rome, it was raining. We had a 10-minute walk to the hostel that we were to stay in, so we got a wee bit wet. The hostel was called Hotel Des Artistes. Part of it was a three-star hotel, and part of it was a hostel. We were in the hostel part, guys in one room with two bunk-beds and girls in two other rooms. After getting all checked-in and settled and all that, we set out to search for supper. Scott had a particular restaurant in mind, and he boldly led us through the streets of downtown Rome in search of it. After about half an hour of walking, we came up empty. We gave up the search near the Trevi Fountain and decided to find the best-looking restaurant we could come up with. One finally presented itself in the form of a slightly pushy waiter hawking his restaurant’s wares to anyone that wanted to listen (and to anyone that didn’t want to). We took our seats outside along the alleyway and began to peruse the menu. Some of us ordered pizza and others ordered pasta. It turned out that those of us that went for the pizza were the smart ones. All of the dishes were 7-10€ each, which comes out to about $10-14. The pasta dishes were about the size of the average appetizer in the States, and the pizzas were a decent size for one person. Needless to say, we were a bit disappointed and our stomachs were still rather empty. So we walked around a bit more and found a good gelateria, also known as the Italian version of Baskin Robbins. After getting our little treats the group split up, as some of us were rather tired and wanted to return to the hostel, and some still wanted to explore the sights. So Vange, Chrissy, Alex, Yvette, Alonna, and I all returned to the hostel. I walked with Yvette and Alex over to the nearby laundromat so Yvette could do some laundry and so I could check out the prices. Yvette dropped her laundry off and was informed that it was 11€ (~$15) for one load! And I thought $2.50/load in the US was bad! And to make it even more laughable, she was told that it would be ready at midnight (it was 8:00 then)! I decided that my clothes could last a bit longer in their current state.

The next morning dawned sunny and B-E-A-U-tiful. After breakfast and worship, we set out on our trek around Rome. That was probably one of the most interesting days in Italy. We saw the Pantheon, the Forum (downtown ancient Rome), Mamertine Prison (where the Apostle Paul was kept for a time), St. John’s Cathedral (where the pope worships every Sunday), Pilate’s Staircase (the staircase walked upon by Jesus on His way to the cross, supposedly transported by the angel Gabriel from Jerusalem; also, the steps that Martin Luther was ascending on his knees when he was struck with the revelation “The just shall live by faith”), and finally the Coliseum (where the gladiators fought and where the Christians were slaughtered). By the time we had seen all of those sights, it was late afternoon and we were getting pretty wasted. Some people wanted to do some shopping and Shannon wanted to go use the internet. Me being my usual little broke self, I didn’t have money to use the internet, but needed to get on to find out if I could get money (nice fix to be in, eh?), so I was going to follow Shannon to the internet place so I could bum some time off of her. But she was going to go with them to shop first. And since they (Jadie, Mitch, Allie, Joliann, and Emily, from what I can remember) wanted a navigator, I went along and helped them get the places they wanted to get to. After everyone got the stuff that they needed, we headed back to the hostel and the nearby internet. As it ended up, all the computers were full and Shannon hadn’t known that they needed some photo ID to use the computer, so I bummed off of Mitch. As soon as I was done, it was time for worship. When that ended, it was pushing bedtime.

We arose bright and early the next morning so we could head off for the Vatican. It’s good to get there early to avoid waiting for hours in the long lines. We headed out from the hostel around 7:15am and made our way to the metro. After purchasing passes for the day, we headed underground for yet another unique European traveling experience. The metro was quite crowded when we first boarded, and we made it even more so. All these cramped quarters were such that, if we somehow hadn’t known each other that well before, we certainly did now! After probably 15 minutes or so, we disembarked at the appropriate point. A short walk brought us to the line for entering the Vatican. According to our knowledge, it was supposed to open at 8:30am. We arrived about 10 minutes before 8, so we figured we were there in plenty of time. Mitch had worship for us there on the sidewalk as we waited. 8:30 soon became 8:45, and after that 9:15. Before we knew it-- well, actually, we were quite aware of each and every second-- it was 10:30 and the line was finally moving. We got into the Vatican at about a quarter to 11, and had to go through a security check similar to the ones in airports.

That place was PACKED. We got our passes for the day and were let loose with orders to meet at the time of the spirally staircase in an hour and a half. I ended up in a group with Vange, Ricky, Alex, Allie, Jadie, Yvette, Joliann, and Shannon. Ricky split and went into the Egyptian museum, so I was left with the girls. We continued to follow the signs for the Sistine Chapel, upstairs, down the hall, and through one extravagantly-decorated corridor after another. Apparently, each of them was designed by one pope after another, each trying to outdo the last. Around each corner I expected to see the Sistine Chapel, as we were continuing to follow the signs. We were in a group of several hundred people, all gradually making our way through the museum. After probably half an hour, the Sistine Chapel still hadn’t made itself known, but the faithful signs continued. Pretty soon we ran into the rest of the group, so we continued through together. The art in the rooms we were in began getting more and more modern (interpret: stupider and stupider), and I was beginning to wonder if this Sistine Chapel business was all a ploy to get people through the museum. FINALLY, around a corner appeared a large sign with little pictures telling us what was expected in the Chapel. Apparently cameras (and their flashes), video-cameras, and slipping down steps is not permitted. Well, I didn’t have my camera (or its flash) with me, I don’t own a video-camera, and I don’t plan to slip down steps, so I figured I was safe and headed into the very thing I’d gone through all the other stuff for. The noise inside sounded a lot like a HUGE crowd of people trying to be quiet, and not doing a good job. Probably cuz that’s exactly what it was. There were several guards whose entire purpose in life appeared to be shushing people and telling them to stop taking pictures. I saw the famous picture painted by Michelangelo of the creation of Adam, along with the rest of the Sistine Chapel. I was satisfied and left, though not before taking an undercover shot from the hip of Jadie’s mug (with her camera) with the ceiling in the background. We waited for the rest of the group at the top of the spirally staircase, then exited to make our way to St. Peter’s Square.

Once again, it was our lot to stand in a long line to get into an old building to see ancient relics. The heat became uncomfortable enough that Ricky and I scooted our way across the Square to the fountain to dunk our heads in. We went through another security checkpoint and made our way into the St. Peter’s Basilica. That place was pretty cool. I got to touch the famous toe of St. Peter that has been worn away by so many hands and lips (ewww) over the centuries. Being in the largest church in the world made me feel pretty small, as I think it did everyone else. But that was about all it was good for. There was nothing particularly uplifting about the whole experience, other than the experience part. It was pretty cool to see everything though. And hey, now I can say I’ve been there. And for most of you reading (except for WFL’s, past and present), I can say that I’ve been there and you can’t. So there. Anyways, this post is getting really long, and I’m now in Turkey, so I’ll continue it at a later date. Toodles…