Second day in Roma

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Saturday morning: Today was our day to go to the Vatican Museum!! We ate breakfast at the little cafe downstairs…I had oatmeal with apples, and Kenya had some homemade bread with Nutella. It was sooo good! Then we went over to the train station to catch the subway to the Vatican City. We successfully bought our tickets at the Biglieterri, and promptly ran to catch the subway…in the wrong direction! so we got off on the next stop, and had to all the way back up and run back down to catch that one going the right way! We rode all the way to the stop called “Ottaviano”. When we got out, luckily we just had to follow the rest of the crowd over to the city wall. We were quite a bit early, so we sat at a pizza stand and Kenya had pizza and I had a Caprese sandwich (tomato and mozzarella). While we were sitting there eating a huge downpour came through! We got up to explore a little, and then we saw the LINE!!! OMGee!! The line was a good mile long…I am not joking! I was so happy that I had the foresight (ok, maybe a little help from Tripadvisor.com) to purchase our tickets online! There were tons of individual people there trying to hawk tours of the museum and avoiding the long lines. We walked past every single and last person in that line! I asked someone near the beginning how long they had waited, and they said just over three hours!!! In the pouring rain! Wow…that is all I can say…wow. It was very confusing once we got patched through the security/x-ray point…people milling everywhere! I asked one the guards were to go and he said over to “reservations”…it looked like a long line, but I saw one of the windows open that no one was at, so I went over there and bam! We were in! Kenya and I had huge grins on our faces as we walked into the entrance! Let me just tell you one thing…spending four hours in this museum was just not enough time! By the time we got to the Sistine Chapel-“Capella Sistina” we were thoroughly amazed by all we had seen! It was awesome that we could photograph everything (without a flash)! I have mixed reactions about the Sistine Chapel myself…I thought it was very dark, and the guards were not very nice…shoving people here and there telling them to do this and that, but I understood the need for it to be quiet in there…it was a “holy” place after all! Kenya had brought along an awesome pair of binoculars, so we got to see some really good detail in the ceiling!

After leaving the museums, we thought it would be awesome to climb to the top of St. Peters’ Basilica. Even though while we were standing in line, we kept reading that it was quite a daunting climb, we told ourselves “we can do it”, and did it we did! So you have a choice of climbing 562 stairs, or taking a lift and then climbing 360 stairs…we took the “easier” route for sure! So, the stairway was big enough for only one person at a time…about half way up I thought I was going to die! I wanted to stop and rest, so I squeezed myself into this little alcove so others could pass by…I did not feel bad at all with the looks on everyone else’s’ faces…well, except for the two guys who sailed right on by with their toddlers in hand!!! At his point we could hear the choir in the church…the acoustics were amazing! I took a little video so I could replay it…it was sooo magically beautiful! Near the top, the corridor got even smaller, where my arms were actually touching the sides…and not lightly! At the very top, the last dozen steps or so, was a super tiny, steep stepped, spiral staircase!!! OMG I had to hang on and good! It was completely worth the discomfort however…the view was astonishing!!!! We got some fantastic pictures too! Wow…my favorite moment thus far! Going down was a breeze…except my legs were shaking toward the bottom (we did not use the lift down…so it was 562 steps down!)

When we got to the bottom, we went into the basilica itself. There are absolutely no words to even prepare you for the enormity of this place! I mean, the ceilings were probably over 300 feet high…there was an alter above St. Peters’ tomb that was probably 50 feet tall. The statues were amazing at 25 feet tall…it was very overwhelming to say the least…and very quiet!!! I felt very very small in this vast place, but just stood in awe, taking it all in. I wish I could communicate effectively what I was feeling and seeing!!

After that we went out to the main square and saw the Egyptian Obelisk and the statues. There was another huge line to get into the basilica, so we felt pretty lucky that we just got to experience it without standing in one single line!! After all that, we felt that we deserved a gelato…Kenya had a stracciata (vanilla with chocolate chips) and I had pistachio…molto bene!!!! We then walked around the Vatican City, bought some post cards and a couple souvenirs…Kenya wants to get every single friend of hers something from her trip…yikes!

On the Metro subway back to our hotel, we thought that we would get off at the Barberini station, because Kenya saw a sign that the Hard Rock Café was located near the station. We walked for several blocks in the wrong direction, but got several awesome photo opportunities!! There was this absolutely darling tie shop that was the size of a postage stamp, but the little old man had about 1000+ ties displayed! I asked him if it was ok if I took a picture, and he said yes, but he did not want to be in it…he didn’t know it, but he would have MADE the picture! : ) We finally turned around and headed the other direction and finally found the Hard Rock. We waited outside for 40 minutes to get it…it was quite lovely though, they had a little seating area under an umbrella, and even though it was raining, it was perfect! I forgot to mention…there were a ton of restaurants lining the streets…pretty expensive looking, and across the side walk, from each restaurant, there was a gorgeous glass walled building, (like a rectangle gazebo) that seated more people for that restaurant…it was the coolest thing…hard to explain, but neat to see anyway…I tried to take a picture, but I don’t think it captured the image right. So anyway, at the Hard Rock, I had the S.O.B. Burger and Kenya had a bacon cheeseburger. A funny moment happened when Kenya tried to order root beer and the waitress brought her a “groupie” drink…it looked like a giant lava flow…we made her bring it back, and tried for the root beer again…finally she had another waitress come out and try to figure out what Kenya wanted…finally, she just asked for a Fanta, and they knew exactly what that was! After we ate, we trekked over to the Trevi Fountain. Boy, was that a sight to see! You would think that it would be out in the open for all to see, but actually, it was hidden behind this beautiful old building, and you had to walk down an alley to find it. Of course Kenya and I tossed our coins over our left shoulders, and hoped to come back to Rome one day…it was really late by then, so we got ourselves back to the Metro subway and made our way back to the hotel.

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