A pope, a park and a trip to the circus

Buongiorno! Out day began at a local cafe and a quick bite to eat. Our tour bus picked us up at the hostel only twenty minutes late - not too much stress and away we went. We were then transferred to another bus, luckily we got on the right one this time! Next stop the Vatican! The line was intimidating to go in, and we were so blessed to be part of a tour group, as the line for those with out a group wrapped around 3 sides of the Vatican City walls. Let me tell you, it stretched on, and on, and on. We were lead to a "shorter" line that only stretched around 2 sides of the wall, but moved much quicker. We soon found out the reason why, many of those in front of us were single families not on a tour, and they were in the wrong line. Woops, what a bad way to begin their day!

We made it in with our dapper guide named Michel, our resident Michaelangelo of the day. His assistant equipped us all with headphones and he expertly lead us through the miles of paintings, tapestries, busts, murals, sculptures . . . insert any other artistic form you could think of, and they probably have it! High points, of course, were the Sistine Chapel, where the Hardley boys gave Michelle chest palpitations. No, not because they were oh so cute that day, or because they smelled good (that won't happen for a while) but because there is no picture taking ever allowed inside the chapel. Duane of course had the bright idea to take his "oh so cool camera that can shoot great pictures in complete darkness with no flash" and take contraband photos of the chapel. Not only that, he also had the great idea to challenge the guard to a visual showdown, thus drawing attention to himself and causing the guard to come towards him. In yet another moment of brilliance, Duane says to Michelle, "Here, hold this" with the camera still on and the red light on it flashing as he then walked away, drawing the guard with him. Once Michelle remembered how to breathe again, she remembered that this was supposed to be a fun trip, and who can have fun without breaking the rules a smidgen. We are all a bunch of crazy Americans! And let's give credit/blame where it is due, as it was Justin Buzzards brilliant idea and instructions that Duane was following when he was almost busted, taking Michelle down with him.

Just to let you know (and by you I mean my wife Christina) Michelle definitely took some creative license with that last bit of prose.

Ok, now that Duane has cleared his conscience :) let's get back to the drama. The Sistine Chapel was beautiful, awe inspiring, more than you thought it could be and more than you could ever comprehend. The Vatican and St. Peter's Basillica were much of the same. Duane was a picture freak today, and rather than describe the sights we saw, we will have to do a slide show once we get home. We are all still struggling to find the words to describe what we saw today, which amounts to a small country of the WORLDS finest art. A definite must see if you are ever in Rome.

The next stop was a return to our favorite (said with a health dose of sarcasm added in), the Spanish Steps, where we again walked the entire length of the steps (around 100 in all - for the 3rd time in as many days) on our way to the Borghese Gallery. It is a small gallery filled with some amazing pieces commissioned by one of the cardinals. There is a 25 acre park surrounding it, and we walked almost the entire length in our misguided attempt to find the Gallery. We had a lot of Roman help in the misguided part, but we did manage to find a fountain in which we dipped our feet for a bit. The high points would be Bernini's David, art by Tishan and Raphael and a great audio guide to explain what we were seeing and why it was important. Michelle's favorites were the sculptures, one of which detailed a woman naked with a sheet around her waist (yes, yes, I know, but it was Tim's favorite too!), another of a man chasing a woman as she was turning into a Laurel tree (with some amazing sculpting - you could almost see her as she was changing) and one of a man carrying a woman on his shoulder (where the artist was able to capture the pressure of the man's fingers on the woman's arm and leg - remember, this is in marble!).

Now that we are leaving tomorrow, it is important to let you know that we have finally figured out the Metro system. It figures! Kudos to Tim who is our Metro guide and the one that makes sure we are always pointed in the right direction.

Our last stop of the day was to the Circus Maximus, from the Spanish steps straight there via the metro, which meant minimal walking. Praise the lord for a good metro system we finally understand. And the purchase of the Roma pass gave us three days of unlimited use of the metro and two free museum entrances. This was the best buy of the trip, as there were a few occasions early on where we got on the metro on the wrong side of the tracks, and had to go out and come in the correct entrance. An expensive mistake when you multiply it by 4!

Back home, a bit of stress on determining where we will stay tomorrow. It looks like we have a great place lined up, but we are not sure if this includes internet (as it did at this hostel). We will update as we can. The hostel does include air conditioning (OH MY GOSH YEAH!), tv (eh, cool, but we have been out from 8 am to 10 pm every day so far) and a great central location. We are excited about the next leg in the journey, and look forward to the sights that Florence has to offer.

Just so you know, you can always add a comment to the bottom of any post we make. We can read these, and sometimes a little touch of love from home soothes a minor bout of homesickness. Feel free to comment away!

Ciao from Roma, see you in Firenze