This morning was interesting...I love people...
Moving on.
Our train to Rome left at 7:52 am so apparently I needed to be up at 6:00am...
I got ready and realized I get the whole apartment to myself from Sunday through Tuesday and that made me feel a little better about the morning. I met Nora at the train station at 7:40, ten minutes late...oops. But don't worry we made the train (we're such paranoids now). An uneventful train ride made me think I get to do this by myself on Sunday, sad. When we made it to Rome first we went to drop our bags off at the hotel. Our hotel is called Hotel Papa Germano and when we walked in this really energetic animated guy greets us. He was hilarious! And we're pretty sure he is Papa Germano. So we just call him Papa. We're going to get a picture with him before the weekend is up!
After all that we left to make our way to the Vatican City. Because on the train ride to Rome we found in the guide book that it is apparently closed on Saturdays. Which neither of us knew. But we had been planing to go Saturday morning. So instead we made it today.
Another rumor we had heard was that we wouldn't be allowed in with bare shoulders or short shorts. And this seemed to be partly true. Some security guard made sure we were covered up before we walked in. Yet once we were inside no one had anything covering their shoulders so because it was hot we took our sweaters off too. And no one ever said anything. Bare shoulders! In the Vatican? *Gasp*
So getting to the Sistine Chapel takes forever. And the other stuff is cool but really I don't know what much of it was (I haven't studied about it I mean). So we get to the Sistine Chapel and put away our cameras because it had a No Pictures sign right outside. but then when we saw everyone taking pictures we got out our cameras again. And after like ten minutes this guy comes up to me and is like "No pictures allowed" So I put my camera up. But then he's like "Ma'am you can wait for your friend outside!" and points to the other end of the room. Well Nora and I start walking that direction and then stop to look at something and the man yells out to us, "No stopping". Oh okay! Haha. So we get to the other end of the room and he doesn't seem to care if we stop there. (Actually he's probably already preoccupied by all the millions of flashes going off in the room). So here we are standing at the back of the Sistine Chapel, where they send all the misbehaviors. And I'm not going to lie to you, I could see the entire room still just as well as I could from the other end. I mean, what are you looking at in here anyways. The ceiling. Haha. So we stood there for another 15 minutes before my friend started making his way through the crowd yelling at some other fancy photographers to get out. So we left. It was amazing to see though, besides the crowd (barely room to stand or even walk) and the deathly heat I probably could have spent a year looking at it!
Now it was time to trek back out of the museum. As we did we came up with a game plan to also visit St. Peter's since it happens to be right next to the Vatican. Oh did I mention we did not wait in any lines to get into the Vatican even though every one told us it would be hell getting in (no pun intended). So we thought St. Peter's would be the same, well it twas not! There was a line that practically wrapped around the entire piazza. After about five minutes of standing in line the boy behind us asks me if this is the line for Basilica di San Pietro. "We hope so" I say and laugh. Because actually we're not entirely sure that we're in the right place/line. But we wait anyways. the rest of the time in line we learn our new friend's name is John, he is a lawyer from Argentina backpacking for a month around Europe. Also during our conversation he said something that made Nora and I laugh. "It's cheap for you to visit here. 1.7 right?" (meaning exchange rate) And then we learn that his exchange rate is like 4.something. Yikes! Yeah I guess in perspective to that it is cheap for us to be here.
Next thing we know we're through security. We decide against climbinb the stairs to the dome and instead go into the crypt of the popes (or something..) first. I'm going to be honest with you. It's not that interesting. A bunch of stone caskets with what, I'm taking a wild guess and saying, holds many old very dead popes? Maybe if I was Catholic or thought the pope held any sort of importance. Eh. Oh and Saint Peter's "tomb" is down there too. But the inside of the church I loved! Beautiful. I saw Michelangelo's Pieta, wow...thats all I can say. It has been protected by bullet-proof glass since 1972 when an axe carrying freak attacked it breaking Christ's nose and Mary's hand, which is a very useless yet hopefully interesting tidbit of information for ya. What I want to know is how did said attacker get into the church with an axe? They examined my chapstick like it was something dangerous.
Then we saw a bunch of people were touching some statues feet. So Nora and I did too. Then I felt kind of gross cause little kids probably picked their noses and then touched those feet. Gee thanks Jess! Hehe :]
After walking around for a little while longer and talking with our friend John about some of the things in the church. Nora and I went back to the hotel to grab some stuff and head out again. This time for the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain and maybe some gelato. If the mood strikes us. While on the underground going to Trevi fountain we realize that if we stay on one stop longer we'll end up right by the Spanish Steps, so thats what we do. I don't really understand the big to-do about the Spanish Steps but here's how my guide book describes them: Designed by an Italian, paid for by the French, named for the Spaniards, occupied by the British and currently featuring American greats like Ronald McDonald, the Scalinata di Spagna are, to say the least, multi-cultural. Hmmm...So we saw those steps. And took some pictures. The moved on. Went into the Pantheon which was pretty neat! There is a huge hole in the top and I learned that when it rains 22 small holes in the center of the floor drain the water. How neat!
On our way to Trevi fountain, we just happened to walk by this gelato place that Nora's mom recommended to us and well...we couldn't pass that up. Hehe :] So we did get gelato..and it was excellent. Then we saw Trevi fountain, and made a wish!
We did call it an early night...it was an exhausting day 1 in Roma.
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