So Day 2 in Rome started a little later. We decided to go to the Vatican. I forgot what day of the week the Pope did his little greeting, so we missed that one by a day... opps. But Tuesday we went, and we heard the best time to get there was around noon. We dawdled the whole way. We left around 11am, went to get pizza which was DELICIOUS! We went to this little place, Nate at the hostel told us about, and it was really cheap. They sell it in slices in two sizes- Large and small. The large is half a pizza, and the small about 2 regular slices. So I got a large piece, and a small piece. He asked if I wanted it warmed, and I said yes. When he brought it back out, he looked between Kathleen and I, and asked if we wanted it in separate boxes. When I said no, it was all for me, his eyes nearly bulged out of his eyes. Yeah I felt really fat at that moment. Kathleen then ordered the same thing, and the guy nearly died. Danielle only ordered 2 small pieces, and that was normal I guess. But nooo ordering well a whole pizza basically is not normal. The pizza was so good, and of course we loved the looks we got, so we kept going back. But we ate our pizza on the steps of some building. It was so funny, some guy took a picture of the building whose steps we were sitting on, and in that picture there are three girls stuffing their faces with pizza... I hope he loves the picture.
After pizza, we walked to the Vatican, which is of course on the other side of the city. It's not a bad walk though. We stopped at the Marcus Aurelius column so that I could drool and stare. The column is for his victories in Germania. It was being worked on, but I stared at the top of the column which has a little statue of Marcus. Of course it looks a little weird, the Christians put a halo on top of it... er. I sat down on some steps, and stared up at the column, still in disbelief that I was in Rome. I've read Mediations, I've watched Gladiator more times than I will ever admit, and I've Wikipedied Marcus Aurelius many times, and now I was in Rome, the city that he ruled... once again just amazing. One day I might believe that I have been to Rome, but for now it's still all a dream.
After his column, we kept walking, and it wasn't long before we came upon another column. On the base of it there was the name of course in Latin, "Caesar Augustus" or "Augusto", and I was staring at it, thinking that looks like a sundial at the top. I looked between the name, and the sundial at the top, and back again, and my brain went back to last year. I could hear Peter Aicher's voice in my head telling a story about when Augustus defeated everyone in Egypt that he brought back a sundial and put it in the middle of the Circus Maximus. I then realized it was the same one. I did not know this still existed, I mean Augustus brought it back from Egypt more than 2,000 years ago. EXCUSE ME! I stared at it, I could not believe that I was seeing this. I didn't realize it existed, I thought it was destroyed or it fell. But no it's in Rome. I was dumbfounded. Completely. I could not think at all. I wanted to call Shorty at that second, because I didn't know anyone else who could have appreciated this moment like I was. So amazing.
We finally made it to the Vatican. We walked along the Tiber River to get there. The Tiber River is a little dirty, but just thinking about the history, and the importance of the river... well let's just say it could be as dirty as Boston Harbour use to be, and I really wouldn't care. If you look at it from a distance, or look down river, it's not bad, it's just when you get close to it. But anyway, so we crossed the Tiber, and went to the Vatican. Very crowded, lots of cars. We found it okay, and as soon as we crossed the street into St. Peter's Square, your jaw drops a little. The square is really nice, there is a fountain, and a column in the middle. It's huge though, and filled with PEOPLE. Not as many as the crowd at the Colosseum, but still a lot of people. Mostly big tour groups, but worse than big tour groups, senior tour groups. They walk so SLOW! Once there, we messed around a little bit, took our pictures in front of the basilica, and then got postcards, and send family members some Vatican post.
But finally we made our way to the Vatican museum where the Sistine Chapel is located. Going anywhere in the Vatican is like the survival of the fittest. You have to walk miles to get everywhere. But we finally made it to the building, and then I almost died. The doors are automatic revolving doors, and yeah note the word automatic. There are signs saying please no do not push on doors, they will go themselves. Well I got in one with Danielle behind me, and this guy in front of me. 3 people to each one was the way it was going, and we are moving along, and this guy was pushing on the door behind us, which pushed against us, but our door wasn't moving any faster... I nearly died. I was pushing into the old guy in front of me apologizing the whole time, and he's like this 90 year old man who has my weight against him, and yeah he didn't need that, and the old guy is not walking very fast as we can exit, so somehow I almost got stuck with doors... if that doesn't make sense... which it doesn't, but I can't explain it, I don't truly know what happened, just that I almost got stuck in doors, and I almost killed a 90 year man because some idiot was pushing on the door behind us. Argh, people are so stupid sometimes.
Anyway, we went right to the Sistine Chapel, and we didn't rush through the other rooms, but we didn't stay and chat with all the pictures. I did take some pictures, and we looked at all of the paintings, but we were anxious to see the Sistine Chapel. In one room, there was a bathroom in another room, so I told Kathleen that I was taking a pit stop, and in that room we lost Danielle. She got swept away in a Chinese tour group, and we didn't see her until the exit. Oh well. So Kathleen and I kept going. A lot of the paintings depicted scenes from the Bible, and on a few of them I had to rack my brain to remember which scene. There was a good number of paintings depicted Roman soldiers killing male babies. I saw these paintings, and I couldn't figure out why Roman soldiers were killing babies, but it did come to me. There was another painting with someone holding a mans head with a body on the ground. I believe it was John the Baptist, I cannot remember who else lost their head.
It was seriously a Disney ride, or survival of the fitness getting to the Sistine Chapel. There were so many rooms, and corridors leading to the Sistine Chapel. It took more than a half an hour to get there. We finally did get there, and wow was it great. Pictures are not allowed inside the Chapel, and there is no talking, but people did both. I was a little annoyed. The ceiling though... wow. Is there any words for it really? The whole chapel are paintings... and the first question I thought was... WHERE DO YOU BEGIN??? The detail is amazing, in good condition, the colors are so bright and just so COOL! I couldn't stop staring, but the problem was I had no idea where to look. Do I look at the ceiling, the sides... I couldn't figure it out. So I just started at the sides, and made my way up. One part of the ceiling that kept my attention was the part with the fingers of God and Adam just about touching. I think it's one part of the ceiling that grabs your attention at once. I believe that is the first thing I looked at. I think I would have to spend all day just looking at everything to remember it all. To me it's like a film that I rally liked, I remember it, but there are a lot of parts of it that I don't. It was really so amazing, I would love to see it again. I mean I can't draw a stick figure, and Michelangelo painted the ceiling... I cannot even imagine how he did it. Or where he started... Kathleen and I were in complete awe, our mouths were on the ground, and our eyes wide opened staring at the ceiling. Even if there was rule against talking, I wouldn't have been able to do. Other than once in a while going, "Wow" I didn't say that much. We just stood there for a while, but we had to leave after awhile, there was so many people there. I wish we could have sat on the floor, and looked up at the ceiling instead of having to crane my neck. Oh well, it was well worth it. We left after spending a good amount of time in the Chapel, and then left the museum.
We went across the street and got gelato. We needed to rest, our feet were tired, so we wanted to rest, and how better to rest than getting gelato??? After gelato, we went into the basilica. We had to go through security to get there, and it was there that we got cut a few times. There, and in line to get into the actual church. We got cut by at least 5 or 6 people. We were joking that cutting at the Vatican is a one way ticket to hell. Hahaha. Inside the Church, Kathleen said that it was the best and most beautiful church she had ever been in. Well it better well be, it's like the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. It really is like a museum. I walked all around the Church, and it was really beautiful. SO many people! Argh! I got separated from Kathleen and Danielle a few times because of the people. Oh well. The alter was out of this world. The whole place was out of this world.
We also went to the Tomb of the Popes, and I knew we were getting close to the tomb of Pope John Paul II when we were still a few tombs away. There was a large crowd gathered around it, and two guards that were trying to keep the line moving. There was a spot roped off that you could go to if you wanted to kneel and pray at the tomb. There was still a lot of flowers and letters on his tomb. It was a very simple tomb, it was white with his name in big letters.
We then tried to climb to the top of the basilica, but it was 4 euros to climb to the top, which was about 511 steps. 4 euros to torture yourself??? Um my limit is about 2 euros. We would have seen some amazing views, but it was okay, we had seen from up high, and we would see it again from on top of a mountain. Instead, we sat in the square and watched pigeons chase each other, and then a little boy chasing all the pigeons. It was so adorable, he kept chasing this one pigeon, who kept flying to escape the little boy, so cute.
We walked back to the hostel from the Vatican soon after watching the pigeons. Though the Vatican is on one side of the city, and our hostel on the other it's not a bad walk at all. We stopped at a few places along the way, and went home via the Trevi Fountain. As we passed the sundial Kathleen made an observation that she thought it was about to rain. Of course that is what she said the day before, 10 minutes before it started raining, so I was not happy when she said it. Danielle, who was in a white blouse, was convinced that we could make it back to the hostel before it started raining. Of course, it started raining at the Trevi Fountains, and I kept saying that we should stop at a cafe until the rain stopped. This was only agreed to when it started to downpour! We jumped into a pizza place. We were in there for just a few seconds, when it started HAILING! I looked at Kathleen and Danielle, and took a bow, if I hadn't suggested a cafe, we would have been in the hail. It was not huge, but it was big enough... I would not have wanted to be in it. Kathleen went outside, and I took a picture of her in it... hehe.
We ate dinner at this pizza place, and I got a salad and then my chocolate cake! I had to continue my European Chocolate tour. The cake wasn't bad, but nothing beats the cake I had in Norway. What a great day though... we crashed at 9:30pm though. I gave Kathleen my MP3 Player so she could listen to the Mighty Boosh, and I told her I would take it away from her if I heard her laughing... I was asleep before my head hit the pillow though. Hahaha.
Well that's Day 2, our last full day in Rome is next, and it was a great day. That will be my next post though.
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