Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Day 3 - Vatican City & First Game

Today was our first full day of sight-seeing. After breakfast, we left the hotel to head to Vatican City for most of the day. Our first stop was the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, where we walked around the outside of the entrance to the back of the line for tour groups. It was a decent sized line that probably would have taken us over an hour to get through. But, we lucked out in the first of two instances of the day. Elena went up to the front to check with our tour guide, Roberto, and we were able to get right in because he is a Vatican Museum specialist. The tour lasted about an hour-and-a-half and we were able to see a replica of Michelangelo’s Pieta, the original one sits directly inside St. Peter’s Basilica. We were able to get up close to the Pieta, which is one of the few works of art that has Michelangelo’s name on it, and many of us took photos of the statue.

The walk down to the Sistine Chapel was long, not in terms of time, but in length of the corridor. There was so much to look at and enjoy along the way. I am sure that each of us saw something different. The paintings on the ceilings, tapestries, and sculptures were all amazing and done by many different artists, including Michelangelo.

After the tour of the Museum, we quickly made it to St. Peter’s Square, where we were able to catch the tail end of the Wednesday morning mass said by the Pope. The square was simply breath-taking and even larger than it appears on TV. We concluded the official portion of our tour with Roberto here and broke off into separate groups for three hours of free time and lunch.

Everyone broke off and headed to lunch in groups, where some even found an all-you-can eat pizza and pasta place for 10 euros. After lunch, some of us relaxed, some went shopping, and some to St. Peter’s Basilica. The Basilica opens for visitors between in the early afternoon and when the mass ended at 12:15, people were already forming a line. We had a feeling the line would be long by the time we got there at 1:15. As we suspected, the line was wrapped around more than half of the Square, and we figured we had to meet here at 3:15 anyway, so we might as well try to get in. Minutes after getting in line, a young woman approached us as said if we spoke English, there was a free tour being given up ahead so we decided to move up to the tour, skeptically at first. We decided to stay with the group and for the second time today, hardly had to wait to get into the building and we were inside within 15 minutes. Hopefully the luck continues for the rest of our stay in Europe!

Inside, we were all amazed at the beauty of the building. Words really can’t describe the Basilica so I have posted some photos of the inside, which was truly awe-inspiring.

After our various afternoon activities, we all met in St. Peter’s Square to head back to the hotel for a brief pit-stop before heading over to the sports complex 10 minutes away – though it took nearly 30 minutes with rush-hour traffic - for a pre-game meal and the first game of the trip against G.S. Roma, a B League Team. Dinner was once again a four-course meal with salad, pasta, a meet dish, and dessert. Our wait-staff provided some entertainment and was extremely accommodating, bringing out extra water and bread for all of us.

The team had about two hours between dinner and the game and used the time preparing for the contest, which was played on a turf field similar to Brown’s turf field behind the OMAC. The Bears continued to play their aggressive style and controlled the game throughout, winning by a 4-0 score. Lindsay scored an unassisted goal on Brown’s first shot of the game and then she gave the Bears a 2-0 lead before half-time, scoring off a pass from Alex. After a quick break, Jill put Brown up 3-0 off a feed from Lindsay and Kellie scored the final goal off a pass from Kate. Both Brenna and Steffi played in net with Brenna stopping three shots in the first half and Steffi making four saves in the second.

The difference in style between the two teams was readily apparent, with Brown committing the majority of the fouls called in the game and Roma playing a European style with a lot of flare and dramatics.

Brown had several fans in attendance to watch the game, including Gyneth Sick ’87, who played for Phil from 1983-1986 and now lives in Rome. After moving to Rome in 1987, Gyneth continued to play soccer for several years, suiting up for the same team we played tonight, G.S. Roma. Also in the cheering section were Jill’s parents, Dennis and Beverly, Aida, Meghan and Alexa Faria, and Janet Pincince.

After a quick photo of the team with one of the Roma players, we made the short drive – now down to 10 minutes – back to the hotel to relax, pack, and check our e-mail. Tomorrow, we will check out of this hotel and after touring the center of Rome, we depart Roma and move on to Tuscany, roughly a four-hour drive.

Pictures: As I figure things out over here, I apologize again for not getting pictures posted. The blog site is in Italian for me and I am trying to figure out the process for posting pictures. I hope to be able to have some for you tomorrow!

1 comment:

Drea said...

Thank you for the updates, they are certainly fun to read. Having been with Phil on 2 previous European tours, I'm feeling a little jealous. Just one thing - can you post the first and last names of the players with their grad year too? It makes it easier for me to picture who they are. If not, no big deal, just thought I'd ask! Tell Phil and everyone I said "hi"!

Drea Harms '91