Whew!

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Well, what didn't I do today? Lets see...

up at 730 and a quick breakfast then i took off across town on an hour walk to the vatican. i was NOT in the mood to repeat yesterdays pickpocketing so i avoided the rush hour metro. then i got in the crazy line-up for the vatican museum, it only took about 45 mins. apparantly its hours sometimes, so i'll consider myself lucky. Saw all kinds of egyptian and roman stuff, then off through the tapestry and map halls and raphael rooms to the sistene chapel. CRAZY. thats all i can say. i took hundreds of pictures to bore everyone with when i get home hehe...

i had a little snack at the vatican cafeteria then off to st peters square where i think i saw the pope, in the flesh! i wasn't even thinking about it and then this band started playing and i noticed that the top of the square was all blocked off and there were hundreds of people dressed in crazy colorful clothing. then (this is like a football field away from me, hard to see) this guy dressed in white in a little golf cart goes driving by. i only assume it was the pope in his little popemobile. i guess i'll know for srue once i get my pics on a computer for a better look. so as soon as they got him put away somewhere safe they opened up st peters basilica and i went in for a look. HUGE isn't the word... this coming from teh guy impressed with the basilica in St. John's! hahah

I paid €4 to go up to the top of the dome of the church. so many steps, but so worth it. the view over Rome was unreal, with the whole square then the river, then the rest of the city all laid out below. the stairs were slightly unnerving, not for the claustrophobics. and of course i got stuck in the middle of some german school group with a bunch if idiotic 12 year old boys acting like morons. also the smell of BO was slightly disgusting. but again, worth it.

so after coming back down, i got back on the metro. it was a much nicer experience when there were almost enough seats for everyone and i didn't think i was going to die of suffocation and no ones hands found their way into my pockets (which i had thoroughly cleared before getting on).

Got off the metro at the colosseum stop but the line up there was madness so i went over to palatine hill to buy my ticket there (thanks for the tip rick steeves!). palatine hill is the ruins where all the richies of 2000 years ago lived (caesar maybe, augustine or augustus or someone for sure)... crazy big, and nutso that there's even that much ruins left after all this time. Next door to that is the Forum so I figured I'd better do that at the same time to save having to come back. Didn't take too long. Then off to the Colosseum just across the street!

What a crazy place! I can't remember anything about it from when i was there as a kid and man, is it impressive. I wish they still had gladiators putting on shows, i'd love to see a few christians battle the lions! lol It was a little disturbing though when i went to go to the toilet and some woman was cleaning the bathroom and started yelling at me. Then she proceeded to escort me to a stall and smiled when i went in. I don't know what that was about but boy was it clean. I guess it's not too hard to clean a hole in the ground! of course, got a pic of that too

So finally it was like 600 and i thought my sightseeing day was over. so i wanted some supper. not wanting to get back on the subway at rush hour i hoofed it home. since i was passing by the pantheon, i figured i'd pay a visit. saw rafaels tomb, and this building is immaculate and 2000 years old! mental, but again, interesting.

so i figured after such a long day i deserved a good supper. so like a big loser i sit to a table by myself and order up some weird meat, chese and greens salad for an appetizer (i must interrupt to say i am sitting in an internet cafe listening to larger than life by the backstreet boys... eek)... anyhow after the salad i had the rarest steak i ever had with peppercorns and white sauce over it. reminded me of argentina a lot, but delicious!

now i am finally almost bck to the hostel and i am gonna PASS OUT as soon as i get back! lovely, and only one more day left in rome. hopefully picking up my temporary passport at teh embassy in the morning.

till next time

jason

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Comments

[Kevin]

Re: Ahhh
Ahhh...reading that brought back so many good memories of Rome for me, what a great day you had...enjoy your last day!!!