The tomb of the Apostle Peter

Saturday – April 27, 2013

I wake up excited.  I wake up excited because today is the day I get to visit the grave of the Apostle Peter. 

I had heard some vague rumblings about some  kind of underground at the Vatican the last time I went to Rome but knowing that I already had an overfull plate with visiting the Vatican museum and St. Peter’s Basilica the afternoon we were there, I didn't look into it at all.  Once I knew we were going back to Rome, even though I didn't know any details about some underground thing, I started looking into it because I wanted to do something different.  What I found exceeded all of my expectations.  I think if you’re a believer, this impacts you on a whole different level as it literally makes the Bible come alive - but even if you’re not, it’s still fascinating from a historical perspective.  

I knew from our last trip to the Vatican and our guided tour through the museum that St. Peter's Basilica was built in layers.  The current basilica is built on top of an old basilica that was built on top of something else.  What that something else is a necropolis.  It's a centuries - no, millenniums old graveyard filled with pagans and believers that had been built into the southern side of Vatican Hill, back when it was a hill (the hill was levelled, thus burying the necropolis for the construction of the first St. Peter's Basilica).  It was discovered around 1940 when Pope Pius XI ordered excavations to begin as he wanted to be buried as close to Peter's tomb as possible.  What they found was a necropolis - literally, a city of the dead with streets, cisterns, yards, terraces, art and mosaics.  After years (about a decade) of quiet excavation (no electric tools were ever used - all done with shovels and brushes as most of the excavation took place during WWII and this project was kept on the down low as the Pope was afraid the Nazis would get wind of it) they found what's arguably the bones of Peter the Apostle.  There is a lot of archaeological support as to why the bones found belong to Peter, and circumstantially, the evidence is pretty compelling - but ultimately, like our guide said, it's a matter of faith.  We can't DNA test the bones (well, we can, but we don't have a known standard from Peter to compare it to), and his name isn't carved on the bones - so whether or not you choose to believe that the bones found belong to him is a matter of faith.  I'd like to believe that the bones are his, but to me, whether or not those specific bones belong to him doesn't really matter.  What does matter is that this is the location of Peter's grave.  This is where he was martyred for the Lord - crucified upside down in Nero's circus, where the last thing he saw in this world could have been the Egyptian obelisk that used to stand in the middle of the circus but now stands in St. Peter's Square.  

Once I realized that there was a necropolis, I was determined to see it.  I started researching what I had to do to get in and realized that it's essentially a crapshoot.  You send an email (or fax) to the Vatican's Scavi office (which I hear is manned by like, a dude and 2 nuns or something) with the dates you're requesting, the number of people in your party, your names, the language you're requesting, and your contact info.  Then you cross your fingers and pray.  Follow the directions they give you very closely.  If there's anything wrong, they don't email you and let you know you're missing something - they just ignore you.  I emailed my request to the excavations office on 7/5/12 and received an automated reply the same day indicating they've received my request.  Then I heard nothing until 7/29/12 with an email telling me that they're still reviewing my request and I have not been confirmed for a visit yet.  However, on 7/31/12 I received an email confirming my visit  They assigned me April 27, 2013 at 9:15 am.  Now, this is  not the type of tour where you write them back and say "hey, nuns and priests - yeah...9:15 ain't gonna work for me, can you give me like, a different time?"  They'll just give you the finger.  I got the email confirmation when I was at work.  I got it on my phone.  Then I jumped around in my office like a retard all excited.  Once I got the Scavi confirmation, then I was free to arrange the rest of our trip in Rome.  Literally, our entire itinerary in Rome was planned around the Scavi tour.  

I told my parents about this before I requested it, and once I received confirmation, I jabbered at them for days about this - but I honestly don't think any of this sunk in.  I got a lot of absentminded "that's nice" replies, but I didn't care if no one else was excited.  I was excited.  

The tours to the necropolis are very strictly regulated. There is a strict dress code and you must be over 15. No kids.  They also do a security screening on you when you first arrive and you can't have any large bags on you.  No cameras are allowed outside your bags - no photos are allowed when you're underground.  So even though the necropolis was one of the most incredible things I ever saw in my life (yes, life, not just trip), we have no photos of it.  While I'm sad that we couldn't take any photos, in a way it was liberating.  While on a tour viewing something awesome and interesting, I find that only half of my attention is really on the guide while the other half is focused on juggling my big camera and my camera phone and trying to focus the stupid cameras and trying to find the right angle and view and then trying to dodge the other tourists and avoid getting their hair/head/hands/arms/cameras in my photo.  Blech!  So when you can't take photos, you are 100% focused on what you're seeing and what the guide is saying - not on trying the capture the moment when in reality, you're missing it.  (however, this does not mean I will no longer take photos.  Screw my attention - I need documentation bitches!)

So, after a breakfast of crustless toast (yay for crustless toast) we set off.  This time, instead of walking the 40 minutes to the Vatican, my parents requested we take a taxi there instead because they wanted to conserve their energy and not expend it all before we even get there.  I had no problems with that.  Truth be told, at this point of the trip my feet were sobbing in agony every. single. day.  OMG.  I think if I had a day or so to recuperate it wouldn't be so bad, but we were on the go everyday and there were NO breaks.  It wasn't until halfway through the cruise after a sea day and spending a few days in my Rainbow flip flops (too cold in Paris and too cold, rainy and dirty in Rome) that my feet finally recovered and didn't sob with unhappiness anymore.  Anyhoo, we walked 5 minutes to the taxi stand on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and got into the first one.  I don't know how to speak any Italian.  Other than grazie.  And buongiorno.  And prego.  And ciao.  All of which is worthless in real life.  But I looked up what St. Peter's Basilica was in Italian before we left since I didn't want to be dropped off by the Vatican museums (which is freakishly far from the Scavi office we need to be at) if I just said "Vaticano."  I have no idea if I said it right (Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano please) but the guy understood me enough to get me to the right place.  I think it was about 7€  for the trip and it took less than 10 minutes.

Once we arrived, I tried to make sense of the directions the scavi office gave me.  They sucked donkey balls as I was walking in circles like a retard.  I ended up going to the information office and they directed me to the right location.  Then we had to get through the Swiss guards.  You know, the ones who look like clowns?  Which is very sad because these dudes are actually really in the military, and this is an honor for them - they're like, the special forces of the Swiss military.  But they're dressed like Bozo's classy Swiss cousin, which is a very sad, sad thing.  There were so many people taking photos of them because they're dressed like clowns.  Wanting to be a little more subtle than my comrades from the Motherland sticking cameras in the guards' faces, I stuck my parents in front and used the zoom on my camera.  Hey, I may be trashy, but I'm ABC trashy, not straight up fob trashy.  (though I am a fob.  I've got the badge of fobness on my arm - sob!)

see?  don't their outfits totally suck?  With their rainbow puffy pants and all?

They directed us to security (plain old polizia) who wanded us and searched through our bags, then we went to the scavi office.  We took some photos outside Scavi office since we couldn't take any once the tour started.  This is the backside of the Vatican that tourists don't usually go to.  

the door that guy in the back is going through - that's the entrance leading to the necropolis

the magic office that either makes your vacation awesome - or in case of a denial, sends you sobbing in the agony of disappointment

Once it was 9:10 or so, we were summoned into the tiny office where we had to show our confirmation email, our ID's, and all be present to receive our tickets (my parents were waiting outside, but the dude in the office refused to give me their tickets, so I had to drag my parents into the tiny office).  Once we all got our tickets, our tour guide (an American who received her masters in Dallas and has worked in the Vatican for the last decade) met us outside and took us in.  There was WAY too much information to relay here - but suffice it was incredibly fascinating and unexpectedly moving.  

Though there's no way I can adequately summarize everything I saw, what I recall off the top of my head were tombs with Egyptian carvings (there were lots of Romans who worshiped the Egyptian gods), mausoleums with roofs and those without (if the roof was too high, Constantine had it chopped off when he was leveling Vatican Hill during the construction of the first St. Peter's Basilica), stairs to terraces where families picnicked with their dead and cisterns dug into the ground to catch rain water so they didn't have to lug water to the necropolis for their meals.  There was art from various centuries and various religions - there were Christian etchings on the walls and the oldest surviving Christian mosaic in the world - a mosaic on the roof of one of the mausoleums.  The only reason it wasn't desecrated was because of its ambiguity (these mausoleums were used mostly prior to Constantine legalizing Christianity).  To a non believer it just looked like a random mosaic depicting Helios, the sun god.  However, to a believer, if you're able to take in the details, you can see very clearly that that "rays" behind the figure is actually in the shape of a cross and the figure was depicting Jesus, not Helios.  In the same mausoleum on one wall there was a mosaic showing men fishing and the other there's Jonah being swallowed by the whale.  

After the legalization of Christianity by Constantine, Christians flocked to this cemetery in a bid to be buried closer to Peter.  When it was announced that the burial grounds were being closed for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica, the families of believers started shoving their dead into the mausoleums and grounds before their sarcophagi were completely carved - and we were shown a few where the face of the deceased is barely carved in contrast to the intricate work detailed elsewhere on the sarcophagus.  (Apparently sarcophagus sellers(?) would have these fabulously carved ready to go sarcophagi where the only thing left to do is to chisel on the face of the deceased who ended up in it.  Because they were so afraid that they weren't going to be done before the cemetery was closed, many families opted to have their dead buried without a complete carved sarcophagus instead of missing out on being buried by Peter.)  There were plaques on the walls identifying those who were Christians (placed after its legalization, so not defaced), in essence eulogies carved in marble.

For wealthy families, they were placed (or their urns, Romans were cremated) inside their (covered, except when Constantine lopped their roofs off) mausoleums where there was art and carvings everywhere and their servants were placed outside in the courtyard where there were niches carved into the walls for their urns.  If they had terraces, we saw stairways from the interior of the mausoleums leading up, except the terraces have been destroyed, so all that's left are the stairs.  Anyway, just thinking about everything makes my brain hurt because there was so  much to see.  

The climax of the tour was of course the bone fragments of Peter.  How they found the bones, the trophy on top of his grave, the red wall and the graffiti wall are all too convoluted to go into here (also, it gives me an aneurysm because it's so complicated) - but what we DO get to see is a part of the trophy that stood over the burial place of Peter, erected by believers after his death to mark his grave which was then incorporated into the altar of Constantine's first basilica.  Through a small slit we were able to view the red wall that the trophy was built against and in a different location, the fragments (from his mandible, as that's what he used to spread the gospel) of bone in a clear case in a small crevice.  It was inside this small room where we had to take turns to see the bone fragments where our guide gave us a moment of silence.  Many people had their heads bowed and I silently prayed.  It was a very moving moment - particularly so when our guide started reciting the Lord's prayer from Matthews 6 and everyone joined in.  

The tour lasted an hour and a half - and from reviews I've read, your experience depends on your guide.  The guides assigned range from priests to historians to archaeologists - so the tour could be geared towards archaeology and focus on the art and mosaics, or history with an emphasis on the graffiti and plaques, or have a stronger religious slant depending on who's leading the tour.  Our guide was really good - she was clear and concise and her presentation was a good mix of history, religion, and archaeology.  She told us great anecdotes and pointed out a lot of hidden details in the crypts.  If you ever have an opportunity, PLEASE do this tour.  Out of everything we did on this trip, this was my favorite.  (just remember to send over a request as early as possible.  There's much sobbing and gnashing of teeth from those who didn't get in because they procrastinated.)

Since I can't show you anything that I saw, I'll refer you to this - a virtual tour of the necropolis.  If you can't be there, it's the next best thing.

The tour ended in the Vatican Grottoes, where popes and other people important to the church are buried after their deaths.  We passed through the Clementine Chapel (freakin' awesome) and saw the tomb of Pius XI, whose excavations were those that discovered the presence of the necropolis.  For his actions he was given a tomb close to that of Peter's, in the vicinity of the Clementine Chapel.  Once we were lead through the grottoes, we were right outside St. Peter's (but past the security line) and I convinced my parents to go into the basilica again.  Yeah...you can say there were a lot of people there.  I had initially wanted to climb the dome and go to the top, but considering just how many people were there (and the place was nuts!  This was the weekend of the Papal confirmation of 44 youths - the whole place was a madhouse that weekend) I decided that I didn't really want to do that.  But I did want to go inside the basilica again, so we shoved our way in with a gazillion other people.  The last time we were here it was a whirlwind and we speed walked through the basilica, ending up with a bunch of blurry and crappy photos.   I really wanted another chance to take relatively decent photos here this time and have an opportunity to try to soak in the atmosphere without being as rushed as we were last time.  

my dad saw this and said "people mountain, people sea", which only makes sense  if you're Chinese

Bernini's gigantor baldacchino

Michelangelo's dome

if you don't know what this is, you are way trashier and much less classy than me

yes, I know you can't see it behind me, but the point is I know it's behind me

tomb of John Paul II.  He was moved from the grottoes after he was beatified.  He's so popular that they kicked out Pope Innocent XI from this prime location (Chapel of St. Sebastian next to the Pieta) and installed JP II instead.

yes, we lurve those clown uniforms.  We have like, 12 pictures of them

pink granite obelisk.  Built by Pharoah Mencares in 1835 BC to honor the sun and brought to Rome by Caligula in 37 BC.  Moved to current location in 1586 by order of Sixtus V from its original location in the center of Nero's circus (original location is actually just outside today's scavi office)

all set up for the confirmation that weekend.  A sea of folding chairs

more sea of folding chairs

Papal apartments (Apostolic Palace).  The window on the top level second from the right is where Pope Benedict XVI would deliver his speeches

So, after we do a walk through of the basilica (once again being squeezed and jostled by other crazy tourists) we walk out to the square where my parents go and find a pillar to sit by while I wander around and take some really bad photos.  But my parents are patient, and they wait for me while I take photos of random crap like birds and stuff - then I'm ready to leave.  So we  walk out of the Vatican on Via della Conciliazione and see this:

look!  it's the Taiwanese flag!

OMG, I thought my mom was going to bust a move on the street when she saw the Taiwanese flag.  She was so excited she took a gazillion photos of it.  Since I had the camera with the super zoom (seriously, my camera was called a super zoom.  I didn't think it was that super, but whatever) I zoomed all the way in so we could see what the little sign beneath the flag says.

uh, I can read none of this.  But I can probably figure out what it means.  And I gotta tell you - whatever Taiwanese dude who's the ambassador to the Holy See - that's a sweet ass job 

Then my mama worried - what if people don't know where this is?  I mean, a Taiwanese flag can be just planted anywhere, right?  So I took a photo of the flag with the basilica in the background.  This appeased her.  I swear, the sight of this flag excited her to no end, she would beam the rest of the day whenever it was mentioned.  I was born in Taiwan, but because I left when I was so young, I don't have any deep abiding roots there like she has (she says I'm unpatriotic and hate my people. I'm patriotic.  For America.  And I don't hate my people - unless these are those people who are hocking loogies everywhere and pee all over the floor and cut in line all the time.  I hate those people) so while I was like, "oh, look at that - a Taiwanese flag", my mama was about to bust out the pom poms.  

So we walk, and walk and walk and we encounter the Castel Sant'Angelo (originally Mausoleum of Hadrian, before the popes took it over and turned it in to a fortress).  At this point, we were hungry and in search of food, so we opted not to go in - but we walked around  a bit and took some photos.  I made my parents watch Angels and Demons before we came because it takes place all over Rome and I thought it'd be a good primer for our vacation, so when we saw Castel Sant'Angelo, my mama was like, "hey!  this is where the bad guy hid all the pope guys in the movie."  She was correct - this is where the bad guy hid the papal candidates.  See?   You do learn from movies.  

Archangel Michael, located at the top of Castel Sant'Angelo

with Pont Sant'Angelo in the background

obligatory crappy self-portrait for the day (well, for the location)

we saw this.  My parents thought this was awesome.  These people were freaking all over Rome.   And yes, we have photos of these peeps all over Rome.

So we walked.  A lot.  And I was tasked with picking out a place for lunch.  The last time we were in Rome we had lunch at a place called Ricca, so I yelped it and found a location on the way back to our flat.  The location closest to use was an Insalata Ricca, so while they had HUGE salads (not common in Italy) and bruschetta and pastas, they didn't have pizza.  Which was fine - because I wanted delicious, delicious pasta anyway.  The place was PACKED.  All the tables were super close together and we had about a foot between our table and the one next to us.  We opted to sit inside since my mama didn't want to sit outside on the street, so they lead us down a flight of stairs to the basement, also filled with people.  We got a corner table, which was awesome for us to store our bags and to deter any would be thieves -  but sucked donkey balls trying to get in and out to use the facilities since you had to climb over like, 5 tables of people to get there.  

Once we settle in, we ordered a platter of assorted bruschetta (no pictures because I literally stuffed it all in my mouth before my dad was like, "aren't you going to take photos of it?  You always take photos of food." Oops - sob!) and my parents ordered spaghetti with clams and spaghetti with clams and mussels.  Which was the same thing really.  Except one had mussels in it.  The end.  I opted for gnocchi.  Because it's damn hard to find good gnocchi but hell of a lot easier to find good spaghetti.  Hell, I can make pretty decent spaghetti, but not gnocchi.  Mmm...now I'm hungry.  And drooling.

After lunch (carb coma baby) I decided that my mama had to see Piazza Navona so we walked over.  Fortunately, I had the foresight (genius!) to pick a restaurant that was a block away from Piazza Navona, so we literally moseyed over after lunch.  It was quite nice when we got there, but then it started raining so all the  umbrellas were busted out.  

why did all the Romans steal all the Egyptian's obelisks?  Why were they obsessed with them?

the umbrellas weren't accessories for show yo, they ain't parasols.  We actually needed them to protect us from the gross gunky dirty rain.

some random lion.  I know there's some sort of deep symbolic meaning.  But there's so many things in Rome with deep symbolic meaning that I was all symbolic'd out.

there's a palm tree! Yes, that's what I noticed.  

I  made my parents take a picture with the palm tree.  Because we don't have enough of those here in California.

So we wander around and get our (wet) photos in.  But since we just had lunch, we didn't feel up to sitting in some little sidewalk cafe with a small cup of espresso and a biscotti (yum), and dude - it's raining.  Not hard - rain in Rome was like light showers that come and go.  It'll rain a bit, then the sun will come out - then it'll rain again.  But I was so full that I felt like the Pillsbury dough boy.  I couldn't even fit coffee in (gasp!).

Since we weren't going to buy any fake (and now damp) art from a sidewalk artist (vendor) or have a cup of coffee in one of the cafes, we started to head towards the Trevi fountain.  We saw the Trevi last time we were here - we spent about 15 minutes there and it was so. freaking. packed.  They were also cleaning it the last time we were in Europe, so no one could go down to the fountain and throw their pennies (I ain't throwing in anything more than a freaking penny.  I'm a cheap ass) in to assure their return to Rome.  We had to view the fountain from the street level up top.  And though the people in our tour group tried to toss in some coins (someone has seen Three Coins in the Fountain  one too many times), no one was successful.  So this time dammit, I wanted to throw my damn penny in the fountain.  And I wanted to take photos without the fountain cleaning people in them. 

no, Raymond did not magically make an appearance all of a sudden at the Trevi Fountain.  This is from 2011 to show 1) the crowds are craaazy at all times and 2) we were standing at the upper level (next to an exciting Italian trash can too) and couldn't get close to the fountain.  I also just realized that I had the same hair in 2011 as I do now.  Dude I need a change.

But first, we had to walk back to the Pantheon area to reach the fountain.  And as we walked by and saw that they were open, we decided to go in.  Once again, by we, I mean me.  My dad didn't go in last time. It was crowded and crazy (like it always is) and he just wasn't in the mood to fight with everyone else, so he stayed outside and just snapped photos outside.  So I made him go in this time.  

It blows my mind that this building was built 2,000 years ago (close enough, it was dedicated by Hadrian between 118 to 125 A.D to replace his friend Marcus Agrippa's prior Pantheon which burned to the ground in 80 A.D.) and has been in continuous use as a house of worship this entire time.  Whoa.  Can you imagine the history and changes this one building has seen?  It was here when the gladiators fought in the Colosseum, when the Romans worshiped Greek gods (they just gave them different names to pretend they were Roman, but we all know they were posers), when Christianity was legalized by Constantine and all temples that had been dedicated to pagan gods were converted into churches.  It's stood through numerous wars, celebrations, mourning, and triumphs - and unlike the Colosseum or the Forum where they've fallen into disrepair only to be revived as tourist attractions - the Pantheon is still standing fully intact and still in use.  Like I said, whoa.  

the original floors it says.  Whoa.

mom and dad already need a break

the tomb of Raphael - the artist, not the ninja turtle

Raphael's sarcophagus

tomb of King Umberto I and his wife Queen Margherita

tomb of King Victor Emmanuel II

After spending about a half hour first wandering around and taking fuzzy photos of the interior of the Pantheon and then sitting in the pews resting our feet, we decide to head over to the Trevi Fountain already.  It takes us about 7 minutes or so from the Pantheon to reach the Trevi.  And once again, it's packed beyond belief.  There are so many tours there - lots of people wear little stickers, carrying flags, etc.  Oy.  But we manage, Chinese style, to work (shove) our way down to the fountain level and snap lots of photos down there.  

another one of our obligatory (now mandatory) self-portraits

Once we tire of the crowds (this does not take long) we decide to head off to the Spanish steps, which we only drove by last time.  But a shoe store in the corner catches my mom's eye - and we see some mighty flashy shoes there.  (I do have photos, but honestly, I'd feel stupid putting up photos of random shoes we didn't even buy - not that I don't feel stupid for putting up photos of my feet, food, and other random crap.  But dude, I've got some standards.  They  may be low, but they're there.)  However, the shoe store is taking a siesta, so she couldn't go in to try some of the flashy shoes (sigh) - so off we went following my phone's gps to find the Spanish Steps.

And then we get there.  Along with half of Rome.  Oh. Em. Gee.  Dude.  

looking out from the steps.  I have no idea why the whole world was there

can you find my mama?   it's like where's Waldo

Being awesomely Chinese (which means we're genetically inclined to shove people out of our way) we manage to squeeze onto some steps on the Steps.  Hehehe.  You can't come here and not sit your ass down.  That would be like, illegal.  Not literally, like thrown in jail illegal, but like...travel law illegal.  You don't do that next time Rome won't let you in or something.  All tourists will boo you and throw tomatoes at you 'cause that's just wrong.  Wait, what was I talking about?  Why am I talking tomatoes?

Oh!  Yes!  (see?  senility - I'm telling you, it's coming for me)  We decide to sit because 1) you have to and 2) we're tired.  See a theme?  We're freakin' tired all the time.  Because our feet (my feet) are sobbing and wondering why I'm torturing it so.  And I wear 4" heels.  Everyday.  I run up and down stairs and to my office and to court and to lunch (hell, sometimes shopping too).  My feet are used to abuse -  but not this kind of abuse.  I owe them a foot massage.  Lots of foot massages.  And a pedicure.

doesn't my dad look super excited about being in Rome?

our obligatory self-portrait on the Spanish Steps

those crazy balancing stick buddhists again!   And do you see?  My dad smiles when he poses in front of crazy stick buddhists who perform tricks for money.  But does he smile when we're on the Spanish Steps??  Nooooo.

So we sit around on the Spanish Steps  until my dad says he wants to go home.  Then he sees the crazy stick buddhists and he wants a photo with them (really?!).  Then we walk the 15 minutes to our flat on Via del Pie di Marmo.  We get gelato (uh, and cake).  For once I didn't take photos of the gelato.  Because I scarfed it all down and refused to pause.  But I did take an ugly crappy photo of the cake!

sponge cake with a raspberry and custard filling.  Mmm...

We lay (literally, lay) around the flat, start packing for our departure the next day for our cruise (yay!) and then make a harebrained trip back to the Trevi Fountain to try to buy Raymond some flashy shoes - except we get there literally as they closed for the day (7 pm.  wth dude?) and not even my mama could talk us in.  Sob!  So dejected, we walked back to our flat where we comfort ourselves with lots of pizza from the little shop next door.  Carbs and cheese and meat always  make me feel better!

With that, we finish packing up and I lay on the couch to watch the Clippers get their asses kicked by the Grizzlies (sob!) AND the Bulls and Brooklyn go into TRIPLE overtime.  

Tomorrow - we take the train to Civitavecchia where we begin our week of eating like it's going out of style.