Rome in a day?

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Today we walked a LOT. Our tour guide Massimo met us at our hotel at 9am. He was very well informed and helped us to cover a lot of ground. However, he didn’t score big points for personality. He was pretty much a stale smelling old man who wasn’t all that friendly. He was also kind of sexist; for example, he didn’t seem to think I could step off of the city buses by myself. That was annoying. Anyway, we did see the Piazza del Campidoglio (I believe Nero committed suicide there), the Spanish Steps, Trajan’s column, the Victor Emmanuel Monument, Trevi Fountain, the ruins of all the forums, and the Coliseum with him. I do not think we would have been able to cover so many sights in such an organized way on our own, so for that I must give him credit.

Then we decided to head over to the Vatican on the bus because we both wanted to see the Sistine Chapel. We ended up being on the bus for a very long time because there was some kind of demonstration going on that had closed several of the major roads. When we finally got to St. Peter’s Square we decided to go for lunch before heading the Vatican Museums. We really had no idea how many people would also be at the Vatican museums. With all of the tour groups it was out of control. We also didn’t realize how big the place was. Getting to the Sistine Chapel was like a maze! All I have to say is, if you aspire to visit the place, try to do it before stairs become difficult for you because there are lots of them.

We FINALLY made it to the Sistine Chapel after going through what seemed like 100 rooms. It was very impressive but also kind of overwhelming. I would hate to be one of the museum officials stationed in that room that tries to keep people from taking pictures (an impossible task, given what a mob scene it is). I just feel like those people have to be hating life. After taking some pictures of St. Peter’s Square, we got some gelato and headed back to our hotel on the metro.

When we got back to the hotel I got stressed out when I realized that my pay-as-you-go phone was out of minutes. I attempted to “top up” over the phone but it wouldn’t let me, probably because I was out of area. On the way to dinner, I made Dad come with me to an internet café so that I could try to add minutes online. It would not let me do this either because it said there was some security issue with me trying to “top up” too much recently? What is that? It didn’t even work? I mean I realize you’re supposed to notify your credit card companies when you go abroad, but do you need to do the same with your pay-as-you-go phone carrier? I was very distressed about the prospect of heading off into the hills of Tuscany without any way to contact anyone if we had difficulties.

We ended up eating dinner at a Sardinian restaurant which made me feel temporarily better. Once again, we ate early by Roman standards. But then again, we were also exhausted!

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Photos

Dad in front of the frog fountain
OF COURSE :D

ancient city wall
love the old/new contrast

plaque showing Bernini's home
for all of the Angels and Demons fans :)