We arrived in Rome, and it was closed.
It seemed all anyone could think of was Jubilee 2000. In a
typical year Rome gets 4-5 million visitors. We learned Vatican City had proclaimed 2000
as the year of the pilgrimage to Rome; subsequently they expect around 20 million visitors
next year. They didn't seem concerned with visitors who had made a point to drop by in
1999. Nearly every museum was closed for renovation or restoration and most of the city's
monuments were under reconstruction too.
We had three full days in Rome, so we figured we would see
the Coluseum, etc. on the first day, Vatican City on the second, and head down to Pompeii
for the third. What was that ancient adage about the Powers That Be laughing in the face
of those who make plans?
The first day wasn't too far off the plan. We saw lots of
scaffolding, underneath which we saw glimpses of the Coliseum, the Trajan Column, the
Forum, the Pantheon, and Michaelangelo's Plaza di Campidoglio. We could only imagine how
impressive they really were. Obviously, we'll have to come back. We also booked seats to A
Midsummer Night's Dream at the Rome Opera House for the following night; our first
cultural activity that we've forked out money for. Luckily the cost was about that of two
movie tickets in the States.
Day 2 started out as planned, except Dave's allergies were
acting up and Kelly had something in her eye that couldn't seem to be washed out. We
stopped at a pharmacy on the way to the Metro and figured that a little Visine and some
TavistD would solve both. We headed on to Vatican City. We thought we'd start at the
cathedral. We got up to the ticket booth and noticed lots of people putting on or taking
off clothes. We then noticed the sign in front of the gate: No Shorts. Funny, Let's Go
Europe didn't mention this in their Vatican City paragraph. Anyway, Kelly had on her
zip-off pant/shorts, so she went to work adding clothes. Unfortunately, Dave had left his
back at the pension. She would have gone in without him, but the entrance fee was kind of
expensive, and besides, it was the Sistine Chapel that she really wanted to see.
Score! We were able to get inside the Vatican Museum/Sistine
Chapel dressed as we were. We fought past the hoards of tour groups, hurried through the
hall of cartographic tapestries (we'll take photos on the way out, we thought) to get to
the Michaelangelo ceiling. There was a bottleneck at one of the rooms, so Kelly took the
opportunity to drop a little more Visine into her eye. Whoa! It dislodged something and
there was a shooting pain that felt like a knife was cutting up her eyeball. We quickly
found a guard and tried to explain we needed a doctor, and that no, it wasn't a problem
with a contact lens. He kept motioning to tell her to flush it out with water, until she
finally yelled "I need a doctor!" He and several other guards rushed her to the
first aid room, and fetched the on-call attendant. Several people took turns looking into
her eye, and eventually they found a guy who spoke some English to tell us that the
attendant was only a general practitioner and couldn't help, but there was an Optomology
clinic nearby. We asked for directions, but they said don't worry about it, and Dave
filled out some brief paperwork while they slapped an eye patch on Kelly.
Shortly thereafter, four guards escorted us through back
hallways of the Sistine Chapel, pushing aside tour groups, whisking us around ropes, past
Do Not Enter areas, inside hidden rooms, down an elevator and outside to a waiting car. In
the midst of Rome rush hour we were chauffeured to an emergency room, and ushered
immediately inside an office. The man next to the driver walked in with us and quickly
explained the situation to a couple of staff members.
The doctor sat Kelly down in a chair and looked at her eye
under a magnifying glass. She took a swab and with one quick motion disloged a small piece
of something dark and jagged. She took a second look under a bright blue light, and
then sent Kelly over to a reclining chair for her assistant to drop some solution and rub
ointment into it. It turns out that the cornea had been scratched, but that it would be
okay in a few days. We left with a prescription for some drops and ointment and were told
to keep the eye patch on for three days.
We'd never experienced service like that in the States! And
they never even asked about insurance. A little girl pointed at Kelly's eye on the way out
and said "Boo boo!" Guess some terms are universally known. Unfortunately we
couldn't find a single cab outside of the hospital, so Dave escorted a half-blind Kelly to
the Metro across town and back to the pension. She was a bit freaked out, and fell asleep
for awhile. Oh the irony of being so close to Michaelangelo's masterpiece and not being
able to see it.
Then we remembered we had tickets to the play that evening!
Kelly wasn't about to miss anything else. Luckily it was only a 20 minute walk from the
pension, so we decided to go for it. Again, Dave guided Kelly through the streets of Rome
to the Opera House. But we got there and there didn't seem to be anyone around. We found
the information office and tried to explain we had tickets to a play tonight, and the guy
motioned that it was up a street, down, and around a few corners, all in Italian. We
looked so confused, and must've also looked quite pitiful with Kelly's big patch, so he
called out for someone to escort us over to the correct theater.
The play (which we had double-checked to make sure was in
English) turned out to be an opera, with lyrics and score by Benjamin Britten. And yes it
was in English, but we both could have had both our eyes shut for as much as we could
understand. At least the music was good.
Needless to say, a three hour train ride to Pompeii was not
an option the next day. Luckily the Pension we were at had a TV, and the one station we
were able to get in English was MTV. Wasn't exactly like staying home and watching Oprah
on a "sick day," but close.
We also saw the Spanish Steps and found a group of fun
people to hang out with at a cafe. And that was about it for Rome. We were bummed about
all the stuff we missed, but thankful that we were able to get help so effortlessly.
Getting OUT of Rome was positively the worst travel day
we've had yet. We didn't want to dwell on it, but if you're bored and would like to share
our pain, click here (coming soon). Otherwise, just pretend our little jaunt to England
was uneventful.
