Vatican Shmatican

So for our second day in Rome, we decided to hit the Vatican experience, this time with a tour of the gardens and then entrance into the museum and Sistine chapel. We woke bright and early to make our 9:30 tour time, picking up breakfast at a little cafe (included with the cost of our room). It consisted of a cappuccino or tea and a small breakfast pastry. And it was delicious. Even Diana enjoyed a cappuccino, abet with a healthy dose of sugar. We are pretty sure adding sugar to an Italian coffee is a little like adding casup to french fries, but we do it anyway. These Italians like their coffee strong!

We made it with 20 minutes to spare to the Vatican, and jumped into the tour line. If you ever have the chance to get to Rome and you want to visit the Vatican, pay the extra money for a tour. it allows you to avoid the long lines which wrap all the way around the Vatican walls. But the garden tour is not that impressive. Pretty gardens, to be sure, but you can see better for free by going to the Borghuese gardens.

Many parts of the Vatican museum were different than Tim and Michelle remembered, so it was fun to tour the new exhibits, but it also made the amount of time spent on your feet very long. By the end, we could not wait to get to the Sistine chapel to have a place to sit down. Once there we found a place for Ed and Diana to sit, and let them listen to an audio tour by Rick Steves on the itouch. Tim and I then listened to the same tour on the ipad and relaxed a bit once we were able to find seats as well. Going in the middle of March versus the middle of July was wonderful for crowds. It seemed like there were 1/4 the number of people at the Vatican as the last time we went.

Once out of the Sistine chapel we headed over to St. Peter's basillica. Ed was getting a little tired and said he would rather sit on the steps and rest instead of going in. Tim persuaded him to go in for a minute, and once inside his eyes got wide and he was re-energized to see the space. Mainly because it is so HUGE, and vastly overwhelming the first time you see it. Michelle noticed this time that all of the art in the upper portions of all of the domes were actually mosaics. Which is amazing, because there are at least 6 domes that allow light into the space, not to mention the large center dome. This is the one you can climb, and of course that is on Tim's list of things to do on this trip. So he and Michelle find the entrance, and of course instead of paying the fee to take the elevator half way up, we decide to pay the smaller fee to walk it. All 551 steps! And some of those steps, as you get inside of the dome, are quite steep and slanted towards the curve of the dome, so you climb a step and your right hand is guiding you on the sloped part because you cannot stand up straight. The last set of stairs is so steep that instead of a handrail you have a rope that hangs from the ceiling in the center of the staircase. It was a workout, but oh my were the views worth it. We know our knees and hips will be killing us tomorrow, but we would do it again if given the chance.

After the dome climb it was back down and off to find some food and a nice place to sit. We tried to go to one restaurant but found that it was closed for the afternoon. So we tried the one across the street - Hosteria Pizzeria "Da Vito E Dina" - and found the owner, Vito, to be hilarious. It turns out that restaurant had been reviewed by an LA times writer, and Vito had the original article framed and posted on his wall. Being so early for dinner at 6PM, Vito had to turn on the dining room lights and obviously we had the entire room to ourselves. Tim and Diana each had a sausage and mushroom pizza, Michelle had the mushroom ravioli, and Ed had a salad and bruschetta. All of the food was delicious, and not just because we were starving. :)

After such a long day on our feet we headed back to the hotel around 8:30. Tim crashed while Michelle looked for hotel rooms in Florence for the next 3 nights. She also skyped with Susanne and was able to see Zander. At one point she sang one of his favorite songs and he stared into the camera and laughed the whole time. We have to say, modern technology is amazing. It makes traveling so much easier and almost cures the homesickness that delevops from being away from your loved ones so long. Almost that is.

Well, time for bed. Tomorrow is a light day full of the last visits to sites and then catching a regional train to Florence. We are looking forward to a slower pace of life for a little while. Ciao!