Subiaco + Soccer (oops, futbol) game + St. Peter's Dome = a full weekend!

Overlooking Subiaco

Wow, that's a weekend full of amazingness! Subiaco, a Roman soccer game and climbing the steps to the top of St. Peter's dome, all in one weekend! First on the agenda: Subiaco, St. Benedict's and Scholastica's Monastery. Let's just start with the bus ride there. The bus pulls up to our CEA campus bright and early and late (on Italian custom) at about 8:45am. We get on the outskirts of Rome and the views become absolutely spectacular! Afterall, we are heading up the mountains! Let me just say, we are in a huge tour bus, driving up the mountains. Roads on the mountains don't go straight up; they weave in and out in an "S" like pattern. Mind you these roads are very narrow and we are in a huge tour bus...yea. There were some VERY close calls. Sometimes I noticed myself leaning to one side thinking that it would prevent us from tipping off the edge! That's what I'm talking about when I say close calls! But none the less we made it to the top, and thank goodness because it was a wonderful day visiting St. Benedict's Monastery.

St. Benedict's Monastery

It was so great for us Bennies and Johnnies to see where are school kind of got it's start, so it had quite a significant meaning for us all. We were given a tour by a Johnnie grad as well, making it even more significant! Everything was so picturesque! Here we all are on top of a mountain, overlooking Subiaco. Wonderful!! It was a bit of an overcast day, perfect for touring these two beautiful Monasteries (Benedict's and Scholastica's). All the frescoes in these Monasteries were so beautiful and for the most part, pretty well preserved. Each one had a meaning or some sort of story to portray. We also saw the cave where it is believed that St. Benedict had lived for three years of his life. This Monastery was built right into the side of the mountain and the art work was incorporated right into the rock as well! Such a great site to see, especially for us at CSB/SJU!

PASTA!

Enjoying the wine and eventually the food!

After our tour, we drove back down the mountain a ways (much smoother I might add) to enjoy lunch at a ristorante. For a group of about 35 of us or so, I was thinking a nice little outdoor eatery with pasta and water. I was definitely wrong! We walk in and see two long tables waiting to be filled with 35 hungry people. One on side, there was a huge picture window overlooking the view over the mountain. But wait, I haven't even started on the actual lunch. Water AND red wine is sitting out on the table for us to enjoy. I do open the wine :) I love a glass with my meal, what can I say?! And warm bread is sitting in baskets as well. The waiter eventually comes out carry these huge platters of pasta, and we all were dished HUGE helpings of this delicacy!  Divine pasta, hands down, some of the best I have tried as of yet! Well, we all quickly finished that off (we were all starving) and then course number 2 comes around: fried potatoe wedges with rosemary and pork! Incredible! It gets better...then comes dessert! I really have no idea what we had, but I will just say it was fantastic! I think mine was some sort of almond dessert. Like I said, not sure what is was but I'd definitely eat it again! :) Italian meals are always very long, so we sat there and enjoyed each others company and this wonderful lunch for about 2 hours. Next was St. Scholastica's Monastery, the twin sister of St. Benedict. We had a tour from Fr. Luigi for this one. Again, beautiful frescoes and courtyards of gardens and flowers! It was such an enjoyable afternoon! I'm pretty sure about 80% of us slept on the trip back home to Rome!

Go Roma!

Futbol Game!! Soccer  (futbol) is a huge sport here in Italy, so of course, we couldn't pass one up! I have never been to a professional soccer game anyways, so why not?! We got our tickets and Sunday morning we woke up and got our new jerseys on and we were ready to get our game on! We all gather at the guys apartment here on Via de Nomentana for some festivities before the game started. (Our belief was that it started at 1, so we'd leave at around 11:30) Well, we all look at our tickets and realize it doesn't actually start until 3 pm (15:00, since Europe goes by military time). Oops! good thing we noticed that though! We continued on with our day until we left at about 1:30 for the stadium, which was a bit outside central Rome. We easily find it (because we saw everyone walking in one direction and all wearing Maroon and yellow attire, which are the colors of Roma) so it was hard to miss. The fans for futbol are amazing! Everyone was so into the game and it was just so exciting!

Roma vs. Bologna

I loved just hearing all the fans shouting in Italian at the refs for something they didn't agree with! It was quite an intense match against Bologna (another region in Italy). But oh so much fun! The final score was 2 to 2, and apparently they leave the score at a tie, which I was not aware of. We squeeze our way through the crowds to the exits and walk all the way back to the metro station. We would have taken a bus, but seeing how the bus ride there went, we decided to walk (I have never been so squished on a bus than the one to the game! crazy!) And good thing we did walk! We came across the most delicious bakery..and SO cheap! Everything looked so fresh and yummy! I got myself a creme filled canoli, which is pretty similar to a donut. And it was wonderful! I am definitely coming back to that bakery. Yes, it may be a ways away from home, but it is so worth taking the metro for!!

Finally, in our busy weekend, our whole group climbed the stairs to the top of St. Peter's Dome in the Vatican! and not just a few stairs or an elevator ride, it was 551 all the way to the top and 551 all the way back down. So I got my work out for the day again! As we got higher and higher the spiral staircases got more narrow and skinny, so I got a bit claustrophobic, but made it to the top anyways. And what a spectacular view! It was definitely worth the 551 stair workout! You could see for miles and all of Rome and St. Peter's Square...another experience words can't describe or do justice to the real deal. Plus we were out of breath anyways to say a whole lot right away. I'll just let a few of these pictures do the talking. Enjoy! :)

View from the Dome: St. Peter's Square

Overlooking Rome!

Roommates in front of the Basilica!

Inside the Basilica

Michelangelo's Pieta

In St. Peter's Square

The Dome at sunset