We took the boat to PAROS. More on this later.

The fever didn’t break day before or even in the day, so I was miserable when I woke up. I decided that I was not going to allow myself to not go on the trip to the Archeological Museum because it was one of the most important of the trip for me.

I ended up dragging myself there, and I was happy that I did. The things in that museum are amazing. I have been studying them for three years, and having the ability to see them and look at them for as long as I wanted in real life was great. There are so many things in that museum of great importance to Greek history.

After the museum, I was feeling badly, so I went to bed.

We went to the Parthenon with Jeffrey. I had been there before on my own before, so I was able to see the things I had seen and studied about before in a much more detailed light. It was very nice to see it again, and I loved being in the Greek air finally hearing the Greek language around me. It made me feel wonderful.

Unfortunately, I got a really bad fever while we were there, so I spent the rest of the day trying to sleep it off.

We took the plane to Athens this day.

The only notable part of the journey was that I was escorted through security for causing trouble. I asked if they would hand inspect my film, and they refused to do it. The security person made me send it through and guaranteed that it would be fine. When I asked for his name, he called the military to escort me away from security as I sobbed about my film being x-rayed.

It all worked out though. The film developed fine, and I wasn’t thrown from the airport and stuck in Rome alone.

This was our last day in Rome. It was supposed to be very magical, and it turned out to be for me at least.

We spent the morning in the Roman Forum with Jeffrey. It was a lot of fun to walk around what used to be a busy street and try to put it all back together. I had been there before, but being guided through it with Jeffrey really was a big help.

We ended the morning tour in front of the Coliseum, and we were allowed to go wherever we wanted.

A group of us ran over to the church that holds Michelangelo’s Moses for the tomb of Pope Julius. We were kicked out quickly because the church was closing, but I at least got the joy of standing in front of it.

After that, I walked with a group of people to another church. I went in and they continued on to the church that they wanted to go see. My church turned out not to be so good, so I ended up meeting the group on the steps of another church that was closed.

We decided to go see if a museum was open, so we walked past yet another church that was designed my Michelangelo on the way to the subway station that we took to the museum we were interested in.

The museum didn’t look as promising as I thought it would, so I left the group alone and decided to walk across Rome alone on my way home.

It was a wonderful walk. I went into any church I could, and I saw a lot of good things. I ended up seeing the Deposition of the Cross by Michelangelo as well as many Carravaggio paintings. The afternoon turned out to be a very good one. I was ready to head to my Greek land.

This was one of the most inspirational days I’ve had, and I am doing the very rare thing of writing about it actually on the day because I do not want to forget everything I have to write down.

Early in the morning, we had to wake up and get ready. The Vatican Museums are known for being really crazy, and you have a chance of getting there before the real crowds hit if you get there early.

While Christy was showering, I decided to call Jared, and I actually ended up getting a hold of him right as he was coming back from his surprise Birthday party put on by his mom. He said that there were a lot of people at the party and that it was really nice. I was happy to hear about it.

We headed down and had a very big breakfast before heading off onto the bus. The bus was really crowded, but we managed to cram in as a group of 20 on our way. When we got off the bus, it was still before 8, but the line for the museum wrapped well around the block already. We were told that it was bad news, so we sat and waited. The Museum didn’t even open for another 50 minutes, but we were able to fill the time. The line moved very quickly, and we were in only an hour and a half after we had arrived. However, we were not able to beat the crowds. Once we got in, we were walking shoulder-to-shoulder with the many other people that were in there, there was no room to move or breathe, and it really was very crazy.

We had to walk through four or five very long crowds to make it to the Sistine Chapel, and once we got in there, it was very crazy. However, it was very worth it. When I looked up on the ceiling and saw the real fresco of Michelangelo of God giving life to Adam, tears welled up in my eyes. It was as emotional for me as seeing some of the other amazing Boticelli pieces that I had so long admired. I felt so lucky to be there even though it was difficult physically to get there and to be there.

We spent quite a bit of time in the chapel going over each scene and each character. The impact of the scenes on me was immense, and being in that chapel was one of the best things that I have done so far in this life. Michelangelo really does change the entire space of the architecture of the building with only paint. It was very impressive.

Jeffery then went over the Last Judgment with us. We had a little time then to look at the other frescos in the chapel painted my Boticelli. I was very happy to see them as well.

When we left the Sistine Chapel, we spent time going through the other parts of the Vatican Museums very slowly. We saw the cabinets that used to house the volumes that are now in temperature and climate controlled vaults out of view of the general public.

I saw frescoes that have the maps of Italy on them that are very famous.

We moved slowly through the Egyptian and Assyrian parts of the museum before landing in the Ancient Greece and Rome section. I was able to see some of the statues that were very influential to the people of the Renaissance. The sculptures are just amazing, and it reminds me what an incredible group the human race has been and that this brilliance is not just isolated to the present day. The experience was very humbling.

We then moved back through toward the Sistine Chapel to look at some rooms that Raphael was working on at the same time that Michelangelo was painting. I saw the School of Athens fresco, which was something I have seen many times, but never expected to see today. Raphael did a very good job in his day.

We then headed to the painting section of the museum and looked at the last Italian Renaissance paintings we will look at as a group. The painters were amazing, and the evaluation of them was very easy because I now have a large amount of understanding of Italian art under my belt from which to judge. It was amazing to see the masterpieces in that museum.

Everyone was very tired at this point, and our feet were hurting, so we decided it was time to take a break for lunch. We had seen all of the important parts of the Vatican Museums, so we headed out onto the streets and into the rain for lunch. Christy and I spent some time walking up the street until we came to Saint Peter’s Square. We decided to eat the lunch we packed under the protection of the covered walkway leading to the church. It was a very nice way to eat lunch. I had bare feet because walking in my sandals was slippery, and I did get stepped on. I got accused of being an American for getting mad at the person I stepped on. The charge, for which, I am guilty.

We then headed off into the rain to get gelato and umbrellas, and eventually, we had found both. I had even managed to get a white umbrella, which I have been looking for for a very long time.

We then walked back to Saint Peters because it was raining very hard. We still had quite a bit of time, so I asked Christy if she would be willing to photograph me in the rain with my umbrella. She did a little bit, but then my friends showed up, and we started to run around. Eventually, we had ditched the umbrellas and our shoes and were running around in a torrential downpour. We were dancing and doing cartwheels (yes, the pregnant woman was doing cartwheels). Christy took quite a few photographs of us messing around. We decided to play follow the leader in the rain and ended up running around crazily laughing and smiling. I am told that we attracted quite a bit of attention, and we were photographed by many tourists who found us amusing.

It was finally time to meet up with the group to go into Saint Peter’s Church.

The church is amazing. It is very big and is in fact the biggest church ever. As we walked in the doors, which are great masterpieces, we came upon the stone where Charlemagne knelt and was crowned emperor by the Pope. That was very amazing. I felt like a piece of history.

I was able to see Michelangelo’s Pieta. It is very amazing, but we were not able to get close to it because it has been well protected since a crazy man attacked it. The people were all just standing there trying to take photos of it, but I weaseled my way to the front and got to spend some time looking at it. It was very amazing.

We looked at the rest of the church after that. The church has a lot of legends and other things associated with it like the spear that put the wound in Christ and the rag that wiped his face on the way to the cross. Saint Peter is said to be buried under the church, and the altar over his body is very magnificently made.

There are so many fine things in the church that the only way to describe it would be to send someone to look at it. I was humbled by it, and I plan to return tomorrow without my camera to look some more, even in more torrential rain.

It was time to leave the villa and head off to Rome. John hired a coach bus to come and take our luggage and us to the hotel in Rome, so all we had to do was show up on time at the door of the villa with all our luggage.

We had all bought shirts on the trip that said “Chao Bella.” Almost everyone had a different color, so we decided to do a group shot with everyone wearing his or her shirt. It was a lot of fun to set up.

The ride to Rome was long, so I slept.

When we got there, we put our things in our rooms and then we headed off with John Pack on a walk. He was going to show us around Rome and take us to some of the sites around our hotel that really inspired him. One of the first things we did was go and see the Pantheon. I was just amazed at the workmanship of the dome, and it was truly an incredible thing to see. Our walk took us all over Rome up to the Capital that Michelangelo designed, down to the Roman Forum and through the Jewish Ghetto back to our hotel.

The walk was really amazing. Rome isn’t one of my favorite cities, but I was able to truly appreciate the beauty of the place that it was and that it has been.

We walked off at night alone to the Trevi Fountain. I threw a coin in for good luck. It is supposed to mean that I will return to Rome.

I have nothing exciting to report for this day. I spent the day packing and lounging getting ready for the next big week in Rome and Athens and then on to PAROS!