MY FIRST VISIT

Dear Caroline

I’ve been in Rome a couple weeks now, and to be honest it started a little low. Compared to Berlin, I’m not socializing as much and I haven’t made any true friends like in Berlin. It is very much because I’ve been staying home and cocooning, I do that when I’m overwhelmed. The classes I have been to felt a little too difficult but when I did the homework it felt too easy. Luckily the school has great support staff and they assure me that I’m doing great. Though I still felt rather low. Which is why a visit from your parents was such a welcoming grace. 

Your parents know how to travel! They had a tour guide, everything was planned, they even stayed in a castle one night! It’s not everyday I’m visited by my uncle and aunt in Rome so I may have skipped 2 more days of class to visit with them. Totally worth it! 

Thursday was spur the moment but I joined them to go to a Vatican property called Saint Paul Beyond the Wall. This is the first place I visit here in Rome. Man was I missing out! Rome has over 900 churches, of varying sizes and exuberance, and this one was EXUBERANT! This Basilica is dedicated to Saint Paul. It has been rebuilt a couple times after multiple destructions.

As it stands now it is a ginormous palatial structure built of marble and covered in gold. The ceiling alone probably has millions of dollars worth of gold. The art is incredible too, just thinking that is today would have trouble building a structure like this with all its opulence and we have the convenience of technology and machinery and those who built it had none of it. Just a couple donkeys and carts. It’s bananas! Even your dad was struggling with understanding how they did it and he is a developer. 

After the basilica we went on a drive to the and saw some great views of the city as well as walk the grounds of the churches of three fountains. All the touring around gave us quite the appetite and your mom had a recommendation ready for dinner. We went to a restaurant that your mom found, when I remember the name I’ll add it here. It’s a vegan restaurant near Rome Termini, and I gotta admit if I didn’t know it was vegan I wouldn’t have been able to tell. I was very impressed. We ordered a whole bunch of stuff and shared, we even got the cacio e pepe (a famous Roman pasta preparation) and it tastes as good if not better than the real thing. Even their desserts were tasty. Highly recommend it!