Constanze

I found that travel handbook warnings of intolerable queuing were unnecessarily ominous; waiting in the surprisingly short line for St Peter’s Basilica was made such a joyful experience, thanks to a lovely conversation with my new friend Constanze...

Can you tell me you name, a bit about where you’re from and what you’re doing here in Rome?

My name is Constanze. I am from Germany and living in Ketsch - it’s nearby Heidelberg. I’m here with a friend of mine. We did a little trip from one city to another. First we were in London, now we are in Rome, and then we will go to Florence and Pisa.

What have you done in Rome so far?

After going to the Coliseum, we went to the Palatine. I like the history about the city, and seeing all the statues. It was really amazing to think of how it looked one hundred years ago.

What did you think of London?

Oh London was a wonderful city. I loved it. I loved the white houses, and Hyde Park was so big and... yeah, I really loved London. I had never been there before. I thought before the trip: ‘Oh, London will be cool, but Rome will be amazing’. Then I was in London and I thought ‘Oh my goodness, London is amazing!’.

Good answer, I like that answer. Can you tell me about what you do?

I’m studying economics in a dual system, so I spend three months in a company, and then three months in a university.

We continued to find out about one another for the rest of the morning, in a cobbled mixture of Constanze’s wonderful English and my much shabbier German. We ended up both sharing one another’s language and sharing the experience of climbing the many steps of St Peter’s dome to look out across the city – an experience which extends to the multiple implications of the word ‘breathtaking’!

If you ever visit the Vatican and decide to face the queues outside St Peter’s Basilica, tourist catchers will try to convince you to pay extra for a ‘skip the line’ pass. I for one am very glad that I didn’t do this, but instead waited in the queue for a while. What better place to make a friend?