Change of Plans!

Late afternoon I rushed home after my midterm to pack for Barcelona and make my night flight.  All 8 of my friends piled into two taxis’ and went off to the airport.  Half of the group was on a flight through the company Alitalia and the other half was on another airline called Vueling which I was on.  They were both leaving within 20 minutes of each other.  When I got to the airport, I was quickly notified that my flight had been canceled due to the terrorist threat in Paris.  A great deal of the Rome airport shutdown as well as the Barcelona airport and many other airports in Europe.  Tara and I went up the counter to figure out when the next flight would be.  It turns out it would not be until the next day at 4:00 pm but we could try to get on standby on a plane that left at noon.  If none of those options worked we could also receive a full refund.  They then informed us that they would put us in a hotel for the night near the airport.  The night ended up being one of the most fun nights.  I love hotels and whenever I am in a hotel I always have fun.  Something about the environment makes them special and fun.  So we were told to go to the Satellite bus stop where we would be escorted to the Satellite Palace Hotel.    We arrived at the hotel at about 8:30.  When we arrived Tara and I requested to share a room even though we were both given our own.  Also as a bonus they gave us dinner vouchers!  Who would have thought we would be given dinner vouchers and a hotel room.  We were quite happy because we would be getting into Spain extremely late anyway and staying in an uncomfortable hostel so this was great.  We dropped out stuff of in our room and went downstairs where we turned in our dinner vouchers and received a full buffet dinner.  The dinner was delicious with chicken, spaghetti, salad, and desserts.  We were each given a bottle of wine and a liter of water as well.  We sat and enjoyed a nice dinner and went up the room, watched TV (which we have not done in months) and set our alarm for the morning.

The next morning we had an included breakfast at the hotel.  The breakfast had eggs, bacon, cereal, yogurt, assortment of cheeses and pastries.  After, we went off to the airport.  Turns out I was unable to get on the standby flight so I decided to cancel the trip because I would be in Barcelona less than 36 hours which would not be worth it to me.  I have a good amount of friends who are staying in Rome that I can go out with this weekend.  I am happy that the airlines were being safe.

Tara and I decided to take advantage of our day in Rome and went on a tour of Sant Angelo castle.  I walked by this massive castle everyday but have never had a chance to actually go inside of it yet.  In my history class this quarter I have learned a great deal of history about the castle.  It was originally built as a tomb for Emperor Hadrian then used through the middle ages as a castle, prison, and a place for the pope to take refuge.  For nearly a hundred years, Roman emperors were buried here.  In the year 1590, the Archangel Michael appeared above the castle to Pope Gregory the Great and he signaled for the end of  the plague.  The former Hadrian’s mausoleum eventually became a fortified palace.  Castle Sant Angelo spent centuries of the Dark Ages as a fortress and prison, and was eventually connected to the Vatican via an elevated corridor at the Pope request.  Since Rome was constantly under attack it was a good place to for the Pope to hide from invaders.  Inside the castle was beautiful and was decorated with many mosaics and granite.  Touring the place turned out to be a stair stepping work out.  I went in and out of rooms that held previous emperors ashes and room with a big treasure chest that is said to hold all of the treasures of Rome at one point.  A narrow flight of stairs leads to the rooftop and perhaps the finest view of Rome anywhere.  I was able to pick out landmarks as I walked around.  From the safety of this dramatic vantage point, the pope surveyed the city in times of siege. 

After the castle Tara and I walked around the shops at the Spanish Steps and enjoyed people watching.  Tara is in the newspaper and her assignment was to go to an ethnic food restaurant and write a review.  Chinese food is one of my favorite kinds of food so naturally I jumped on “helping” her out with her assignment.  We went to a restaurant near my house and it wasn’t the most incredible Chinese food but it was good for being in Italy.  I ordered chicken with onion and fried rice.  It’s a little disappointing not to be in Spain but I am planning a fun, adventurous weekend in Roma!  The pictures at the top are at the top of the castle.