Vatican!

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Have to make this kind of short because it’s really late. It’s also going to be short because as Faye and I were discussing, how do you blog about the Vatican? It’s pretty much that amazing that I don’t have words to describe it.

We started our day off a little earlier than usual and headed straight for the Vatican. We intended to go to the Sistine Chapel first, but ended up walking into the square and to the Basilica. We weren’t sure which was to the Cappello…of course had I looked at my handy dandy map, I could have figured that out a little bit more easily. Esta bien. We made it to both. Probably better idea to do in reverse order but no pasa nada. So I can now say I’ve been to the three largest Cathedrals in the world. None will disappoint. This one was like none other. Every cathedral I’ve seen in the past 6 weeks has been astounding in its own way with a few that stick out more—St. Peter’s Basilica, the Catedral in Sevilla and the Duomo as well as the Cathedral in Cordoba. I could go on because they’re each so unique but oh I don’t have time for that tonight! In St. Peter’s Basilica, you can actually see the bodies of two of our past Popes as well as amazing statues, frescos…my oh my. I can hardly remember all the amazingness. I went into the chapel as well but that is only for prayer so no photos (I wouldn’t do that). I would have loved to spend time in the square, but as we’re only in Roma for three days, we had to keep a move on…also, we needed to see the Sistine Chapel and the later it gets, the worse the line gets.

Soooo…we headed to the line. And waited forever and ever and ever and the heat and eventual sun and standing for at least a couple hours were well worth the wait. Who would have known how many amazing treasures would lead us to the Chapel? Works of Botticelli, all sorts of frescos…I can’t even think of everything we saw. I think you would need a month to even be able to look at it all. Room after room with amazing ceilings, walls, murals, floors…wow, wow, wow. Then. Finally. The Sistine Chapel. I wasn’t really sure what to expect upon my first glance. Initially I thought, wow. I’m in the Sistine Chapel. THE Sistine Chapel. I have thought about this for a long time. I always wondered what it would be like and now, I’m standing in the Sistine Chapel. After I got over that phase, I moved onto the wow. I’m in the Sistine Chapel phase. The, wow, there are a lot of murals in here and Michelangelo is a genius because these are amazing and wow. I’m in the Sistine Chapel. Then I was able to really look around and realize that every time I looked at a different part of the wall, there was another part of a mural—or another mural altogether—that I didn’t see before. I was amazed. Parts of the paintings literally look like they are jumping off the wall. The pillars on the ceiling look like they’re 3-D. Parts of the paintings jump off the wall to lead you into the work. It was so grand and so amazing to be…in the Sistine Chapel. Faye and I stood there talking about how we were in the Sistine Chapel. Eventually we did have to leave. I could have stood there and looked at it for a day and still would not have seen everything. Amazing. Simply amazing!

(Like how I kept that “short”? Just imagine if I actually went into detail. You’d be reading til next week!)

After leaving the Chapel, we walked through MORE rooms with MORE treasures! These were more artifact-like and were interesting, but gosh, how can you follow up Michelangelo’s greatest work ever? What do you do after something like that? Answer: eat at the restaurant across the street. Overrated. Last night’s food was far more amazing, but it got the job done. We decided to take advantage of some down time because we probably would have all dropped like flies if we continued on without it. We chilled out for a couple hours and recovered enough to go out on another excursion in the evening.

*approx 2 hrs later*

I really wanted to see the Trevi Fountain…and throw a coin in…and take lots of photos. It did not disappoint. It’s so huge and impressive. I think I’d enjoy just sitting there for a lengthy period…but we had more to look at. From there we made our way to the Spanish Steps. It was impressive, but after what we’ve seen today, we didn’t need long to view it. Following that, we took the metro to Piazza Popola…more amazing fountains! We had a bit of fun, bit of relaxation, bit of photo taking and bit of listening to someone in the piazza playing his electric guitar to Bohemian Rhapsody. Quite a lovely night if I do say so myself. In the mix we made sure to get some gelato—strawberry & chocolate for me!—and I finally caved and bought an extra bag because I have to keep checking my backpack and I can’t really fit everything in my totebag any longer. I bartered in the store and got $10 off…yay! So now I feel like I can pack for real. It’s kind of nice! My bag has zebras and butterflies on it. Wasn’t my initial choice…but of today’s pickings, that stood out to me…which is good when you’re traveling because you’re more likely to end up with your own bag when all is said and done!

Anyway when we went to leave the Piazza, we found out that the metro line that we took there was closed for the night so we decided to take a bus. Which bus? Good question. We think we figured it out. However, we weren’t sure our metro cards were the cards we were supposed to use (think so) and decided when I saw TERMINI on one bus, THAT was the one we should take (Termini is the main station and we know where that is and it connects to the blue line…which we hoped was open!). Luckily we found our way and gosh I tell you that metro station is the WORST smelling metro station I have ever smelled in my lifetime. I sure hope they don’t come worse because I might not make it through another one like that. BLECH! We took the blue line down to Colisseo to view the Coliseum at night. It was a beauty of course. It’s so big. It’s hard to believe that only 1/3 of it still stands. It’s also interesting to think that my great grandfather, from Rome, walked very different streets when cars weren’t ambling down but horses instead…yet the Coliseum stood! It was cool to look inside as we were able to see through portions of the walls. Took lots more photos, of course…and after we did a circle around it, we headed back to our hostel/hotel.

Definitely stopped for food…pomodoro e formaggio panino…mmmm…I wanted salame also, but I didn’t know how to ask if she could add it to that sandwich and I didn’t want salami on a hamburger bun, which was my other choice. Soooo, in my limited Italian, I settled for what turned out to be a decent sandwich. Now I’m up, blogging for all of you, when I really should be in bed so that said, I’m going to bed after a couple of sidenotes.

#1: We totally saw someone who looked like Mr. Bean today in a darker ethnicity. Whoa!
#2: I can’t remember what number 2 was. Teaser. Sorry.

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