The ring of the alarm hurt my soul this morning. I know… 7:00 a.m. is not early, but we didn’t get to bed until late and we’re on vacation so 7:00 a.m. isn’t supposed to exist. Speaking of that our 4:30 a.m. departure is getting close and that feels so wrong.
The metro pulled up just as we got to the platform so we jumped on with no delay. That’s good considering we left a little later than planned and needed to be to The Vatican 20 minutes before our our left. We decided to splurge on a tour. We haven’t done many museum like things because when you don’t know much about what you’re seeing it’s all just stuff. Sure it’s old cool looking stuff but without context the wow factor is severely decreased. It took awhile to find our meet up due to the incredibly small text on our e-voucher on my iPhone screen. Luckily, The Vatican has people all around the entrance to point lost tourists towards their tour groups. After a few mistakes, we made it to our group.
If you ever do The Vatican it’s worth paying extra for the “Skip The Line” tour groups. Not only do you get to see a few places other groups don’t, but you don’t have to wait for hours to see the sites. Yeah it’s expensive, but it’s worth it. Boy can our guide talk… and talk… and talk. She was incredibly kind and knowledgable shuttling our group of 12 around the vatican like a preschool teacher on her kids first field trip. Seriously, I felt like a five year old. I would get lost in taking photos and all of a sudden lose site of my group. Luckily my lovely bride would give me a heads up or come back for me.
Leave no man behind!
I cannot regurgitate all the knowledge I was given today. It was like drinking from a fire hydrant. But I can say that The Vatican is an impressive building. The architecture on the outside is mostly unimpressive but the interior is great. The ceilings were the highlight in every room. Most of which have very little relief work done, it’s all faked through detailed perspective painting. Very cool. Here’s a bunch of photos to give you an idea what it was like.
The Sistine Chapel was of course beautiful. However, due to restrictions photography is not permitted. Unlike Westminster Abbey in London I respected the rule today. But I didn’t want to! Before we entered The Vatican our guide showed us a picture book about The Sistine Chapel so when we were in it the paintings made so much more sense. Fun Fact: The Chapel’s Vaulted ceilings took Michelangelo five years to paint and he painted them standing up with his head back. He did not lay down to paint. I complain when I have to paint a ceiling one single color in my apartment. Here’s a picture I found of it online.
We were finally lead to what was for me the highlight of our tour Saint Peter’s Basilica. Where four former Popes are buried St. Peter’s Basilica is awesome. Also, it’s dome is the second largest in the world. Rome sure loves their domes! The beautiful ornate design was fantastic. The scale and detail, breathtaking. Much nicer than West Minster Abbey. On occasion our guide would make mention of the new Pope and how he is making changes within the city. One of those changes is that apparently people can be married in any of the Basilica’s in Rome for free, including St. Peters. I don’t know when that goes into effect or if it’s only for Italian citizens, but you could do worse…
For a few extra Euro’s we were took and elevator and climbed to the top of the dome for a view of Rome that is unparalleled.
But, now it’s noon, our feet hurt and we are hungry. We walked off the main “Vatican Strip” and found a restaurant called Il Mozzicone to eat. As usual everything was delicious and we planned the rest of our day, which turned out to be napping until dinner. But lunch did not go on without a hitch. The credit card machine was down and we didn’t have enough cash on hand to pay. I told the waiter our situation and he told me about an ATM around the corner. I apologized and found my way to the ATM but it was out of service. Eesh, not a great feeling. I returned to give him an update. Turns out he owns two restaurants on the same street so he was able to walk me to the other one and run my card as payment. It was very very kind of him.
Before heading home we had to errands to run. First, we wanted to find Bethany a perfume that is particular to Italy. We eventually found one we liked but it wasn’t easy. When you’re in a perfume store everything starts to smell the same. Lastly, we decided before we even left for the trip we were going to buy two bottles of Italian wine one for us, one for our friends. With a little research we found a restaurant that sold wines from all of Italy and we purchased two: one from Tuscany, one from Rome. It was now time to head home and rest before our dinner reservation for the evening. I can’t tell you where, or I may be killed, but I can tell you it’s near this building and it’s in Rome.
Upon recommendation by Kyle and Sarah we went to a restaurant near the plaza we shopped by yesterday. We made reservations the day before when we arrived and they were full. Our table along the street was already set with a name placard on it and everything. Tre official! I review movies sometimes. I’ve noticed normally, when I go into movies with high expectations, I’m disappointed. I feared that may be the case with this meal. We were told that this restaurant had given our friends “The best meal of their lives.” As far as high expectations go, that’s pretty high? Could it live up to it? Mostly, yeah.
We couldn’t remember exactly what they told us to order so we got the one we did remember Lasagna covered in a black truffle sauce. What is a truffle? No one knows, but man are they good! Both Bethany and I really enjoyed this. The pasta that I got was okay in comparison to the same one I had with Kyle and Sarah two nights earlier. But Italian okay is still somewhere near american fantastic, so it wasn’t a wasted meal.
Again we went home with full bellies and satisfied. Unfortunately, we still had to pack and sleep before we were picked up by cab at 4:15 a.m. Four hours of sleep is not enough…
Cheers,
B&B
