Roman Around

I believe it was Galileo who first suggested that the Earth wasn't the center of the universe. Given the fact that modern science was more or less in its infancy at the time, he took some serious heat from the folks in Vatican City. Heresy, blasphemy...I think those words were probably bandied about and directed solely at him. Of course, he was proven right and the Church later apologized but after spending nearly a week in Rome with my friend Caryn, I can't help but feel that the Holy See wasn't entirely wrong in chastising Galileo. Rome very well could be the center of the universe in my opinion. Art, culture, spirituality, music, architecture, design, cuisine...in terms of human accomplishment, it's all here. The only shortcoming I can see is that it isn't on the water but if you like wine, it more than makes up for any lack of H20.

I'm working on finding a fun storyline for the past 10 days but for now the best I can do is give you all a brief run down of our time here...travelogue style.

It all began New Year's Eve with a huge celebration in Piazza Venezia near the Colosseum. Caryn was able to find a room in a historic hotel located near all of the major city sites, so everything you could possibly hope to see was all with walking distance....Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Vatican, Spanish Steps, McDonalds...

After several days in Rome, we made our way by train down to Sorrento along the Amalfi Coast. We spent a day touring Pompeii and followed that with a hike up to the rim of Mt. Vesuvius the next day.

While Sorrento proved to be a surprisingly charming town, we headed back to Rome to catch Epiphany mass at St. Peter's Basilica with the Pope. It was the first time on this entire trip I've made it to church...you could say I made up for a lot of missed opportunities in one shot. We got there early and had excellent seats along the aisle where the procession passes so we able to get a lot of great close up photos of the Pope. It was a pretty amazing experience, especially given the seemingly spiritual element this journey has taken on for me. What was really special about it was being able to share it with someone else as well.

In addition to checking out all of the sights and sounds of Rome, we did a lot of sleeping in and a lot of dining out. For me, it made for the most perfectly balanced segment of my trip. Had a full-on Italian experience but never felt pressured. It was actually like a real vacation...and, we saw the Pope. Not bad. Not bad at all.