Roamin' in Rome

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Today was Clay, Suzanne, Mar, Amy, and Patrice's last day with the tour as they chose not to continue to Athens. Suzanne and Clay had a few extra days here in Rome to themselves but everyone else would be flying home tomorrow morning. Today was a full on day of sightseeing. It was yet another early wake up as we were to be met at the Vatican for our tour of the Vatican Museum. We caught the public bus to the stop for Vatican City and rushed to get in line. It was still quite early but the line was already really long. Our guide was an older woman who kept saying "Mama Mia" with every sentence. At first it was kind of humorous but eventually got quite irritating. Once inside, we had to go through an enormous amount of security which was understandable considering the enormous amounts of historical artifacts here as well as this being the center of Catholicism. It was quite irritating trying to get everyone in order for the tour. People were either wandering off or their headsets didn't work. It must have taken a good 20 minutes once inside, to get everything settled. We were led through various halls, galleries, and courtyards. Each was filled with intricate statues, ornate ceilings, and faded paintings and tapestries that you could immediately tell were hundreds of years old! Many of the male statues had the genitalia removed which left a huge hole in that area. Quite a funny sight! I guess someone in power must have taken huge offense to this back in the day. None of the pieces of art caught my attention as they were nothing that I could immediately identify. I was actually getting a bit bored with the tour. The slow pace and the guide weren't helping matters much either. I could have easily done without the tour and walked around at my own pace. I would have enjoyed just wandering all the various room and soaking everything in. We finally arrived at the museum's main attraction, the Sistine Chapel. It was stuffy and warm inside as it was jam packed with tourists looking up at the ceiling. Every 5 seconds, you would hear the noise police saying "quiet, no photo". However, this didn't stop people from trying to steal a photo or take a video. I was standing with Amanda who tried to take a photo and was immediately approached by a guard who told her to refrain from taking a photo. She was really intent on getting a photograph, so she pretended to put her camera away and moved to another spot in the room when she attempted another shot. The same guard, angrily approached her and was threatening to remove her from the museum. I really wanted a shot as well but was far too nervous to even attempt pulling my camera out. It seemed like every time I looked up, there was a guard watching me. With all our concentration on trying to get a photo, we seemed to not notice the commotion on the other side of the room. The guards had pounced on someone for apparently trying to pickpocket. These guards really do have their eyes on everyone in this room! Just as we had tired of gazing up at the ceiling, we learned that the doors had been closed. Apparently, some important bishop was passing through a nearby hallway and they had to shut the place down. We had no idea how long we would be stuck inside there. It started to get really stuffy and claustrophobic. Roz even started to feel sick and had to sit down. Thankfully, they finally opened up the doors and we were able to proceed. The tour guide wanted to avoid the crowd and the possible detours created by this visiting bishop so she decided to take us on a short-cut. This short cut eventually led us outside into the square. Her short cut caused us to completely miss walking through St. Peter's Basilica. I was very annoyed and pissed off at this point. I had wanted to climb to the top of the dome and possibly visit Pope John Paul's tomb. Once the tour was over, I was more than grateful that we could finally be left to our own devices. It was now about lunch time and we wandered the area looking for someplace to eat. Being a very touristy area, I knew the food in the area wouldn't be that great. We ran into Rebecca and Julie who were also looking for something to eat. We settled on a small restaurant where the tables were right in the street. After lunch Amy, Mar, and Patrice wanted to do a little shopping before continuing with our sight-seeing. Since our tour guide prematurely guided us out of the Vatican, we weren't able to browse the gift shop. So they decided to trek back to the museum to see if they can get into the gift shop. Suzanne, Clay, and Julie decided they were going to get a head start on the Collisseum. I agreed to stay back here and wait for the others to finish their shopping and we'd meet at the Collisseum. After about a half an hour, I started to get ancy so I thought I'd kill some time and have another gelato. There's nothing worse than waiting around when you have such limited time. When they finally arrived, we made our way to the nearest metro stop 3 blocks away. We were all very aware of our surroundings as we had heard all the stories about public transportation in Rome being hot spots for pickpockets. The subway system in Rome has very few stops compared to other European cities. This must have something to do with all the archaeological sites in the city and ruins. They must not want to dig underground for fear of undermining the ancient sites. The metro stop for the Collisseum was pretty awesome. The second you step out, the Collisseum is right there in front of your eyes. We dodge the cheesy men dressed in gladiator outfits who were posing for pictures and made our way to the ticket booth. Today must be our lucky day as it was Roman Heritage Day and it was free to enter! I guess a lot of people had heard that it was free as it was absolutely packed inside. The 4 of us walked around dodging tourists and soaking it all in. We stopped at a couple of viewing spots and just imagined what it must have been like inside here with thousands of spectators cheering a gladiator match. The place was pretty much in ruins now with all of the marble removed from the facade. We met up with Suzanne and Clay who had spotted us from above. Walking around the upper levels was also pretty cool as I imagined sitting up here with all the other peasants. After the Colliseum, we took a walk through the Roman Forum. This area was the center of Ancient Rome. Walking along the cobblestone streets was very difficult as I had to tread carefully as not to fall flat on my face. We saw the Arc of Titus, the home of the Vestal Virgins, the Temple of Saturn, as well many other noteworthy ruins. We climbed to the top of Palatine Hill which was much cooler, shadier, and quieter. This was a nice little peaceful spot to enjoy the views of the Roman Forum below. It was here that we lost Clay, Suzanne, and Patrice. They had went ahead to do a little more exploring. Amy, Mar, and myself decided to stay back. After waiting for probably half an hour, we decided to go on our separate ways. I really hope Patrice was with Clay and Suzanne. Knowing how bad she was with directions, I can just imagine her reaction if she was lost and by herself. Continuing on, we wandered more through the Roman Forum and ended up at the Piazza del Campidoglio. Having remembered the Vittorio Manuele Montument from the night before, we decided to take the relatively short walk to check it out. Along the way, we ran into Michael, Claire, and Tina. They were lost and were trying to figure out the bus schedule. We tried our best to assist but I was in no mood to figure out someone else's dilemna. Especially since the 2 girls were not being friendly. Neither one of them even gave a hello to us. We arrived at the monument and started to climb the steps. This monument was also the home to the italian version of the tomb of the unknown soldier. The tomb had an eternal flame and was guarded by a few soldiers. Some of them even had machine guns! Amy, Mar, and I wanted to take a quick little rest and sat down on the steps. Almost immediately, we were being yelled at by one of the machine gun toting soldiers. Apparently, it is prohibited to sit here. I guess it makes sense, as this attraction would then just be another place for people to hang out like the Spanish Steps. Not sure of what to do next, we decided to walk Via del Corso for a bit and eventually ended up getting another gelato. It was getting close to dinner time, so we decided we would try to make our way back around towards the Vatican. We backtracked and walked through the Roman Forum again hoping we would run into Clay, Suzanne, and Patrice. No such luck so we caught the subway at the Colliseum back to the Vatican. We wandered around looking for a decent place to have dinner. At the same time, we did a few last minute souvenir shopping. We settled at this one restaurant with sidewalk seating. After sitting for a while, it was noticeable that the only people here were tourists. I immediately knew my dinner would probably be sub-par. After dinner and yet another gelato, we made our way back through St. Peter's Square to the bus stop that would take us back to the hotel. Once back at the hotel, we were wondering if Patrice, Suzanne, or Clay had made it back. None of them had yet arrived back. I was really starting to get worried if Patrice was even with them. Would she even be able to find her way back to the hotel? Does she even know the hotel name? After resting in our rooms for awhile, we decided to walk over to the neighboring hotel to use their internet access. While walking up the driveway to the road, we heard the sound of voices coming our way. Sure enough, it was Clay, Suzanne, and Patrice. They had apparently gotten lost and couldn't find us so they proceeded to continue on. With that worry out of the way, we made our way over to the other hotel. This was such a plush and upscale hotel. I was starting to get jealous that we weren't staying here. They had valet, porter service, a piano bar, huge lounge area, and a fancy restaurant. Why couldn't we have taken a tour that stayed at these types of places? After checking our e-mails and Amy confirming her flight info for the next day, we made our way back to the reality of our hotel to call it an early night after such an exhausting day. After hanging out in my room for a while, I started to get bored. I decided to go and visit Mar and Amy's room. They were on the second floor and when I went to knock on their door, I realized it was the wrong room. I correctly knocked on Mar & Amy's door but before she could open it, Amanda and Jess answered the other door. Eventually, me and Amy ended up in their room catching up on more gossip and learning Australian slang words like "cozzies" and "yurt". The night ended when Mar came out looking for Amy. He yelled to her "Come back in here". It was all pretty funny to see quiet little Mar come out yelling. With that, we called it a night and retreated back to our rooms.

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