Rome, Italy June 21

This day kicked off our 3 day "The Train Station Stresses Me Out" Extravaganza. Our plan was to take the subway (to get used to it) to the train station, buy our tickets we needed for the week (1 to the beach, 2 for Naples/Pompeii, 1 for our trip back to the Milan Airport). It started, when we arrived at the station, got in the ticket line, had been there for about 10 minutes, and I realized we didn't have our Euro-Pass. I was pretty sure we needed them to buy our tickets, but Craig said he wanted to stay in line while I tried to find someone to ask. There was a long line at one of the help booths, so I decided to try a kiosk to see if I could buy some tickets there. While trying this, "helpers" (who I've heard are mostly pick pocketers or beggers) kept asking me if I needed help. I was at the kiosk for no more than 2 minutes and they would not leave me alone for more than 15 seconds. They kept pestering me and I got so frustrated I yelled, "No GRAZIE!!" at one of them. That gave me about 30 seconds of alone time. I mean, I know that I don't know what I'm doing and they can tell, but holy cow.

Then, I saw the help booth's line had gone down and so I asked her if we could still buy our tickets, and she said, "Yes," and she spoke English well, so I felt pretty confirmed. However, after waiting another 30 minutes in line, the ticket seller said we did indeed need our Europass, but to go to the beach (Santa Marinella) the next day, we wouldn't need a ticket and could just hop on the train. So there was some good news.

I left feeling like we'd wasted quite a bit of time, but decided to push forward and go to Vatican City. Initially, I thought we'd walk through the city, go to St. Peter's Basilica, and then stroll into the Vatican Museum. Since we'd arrived in Rome, we would see a large line outside of the Vatican Walls, I assumed this was just a line to get into the city. Looking back, I don't know why in the world I thought this. As we got in line, we 1) Quickly learned it was the line everyone had to use to get into the Vatican Museum (Sistine Chapel, School of Athens, etc)., 2) More vendors trying to pester you into buying tickets from them to skip the line 3) realized it was Saturday, the busiest/worst day to go to the Vatican Museum. We'd already been waiting awhile and met some nice American college students behind us, so we decided to just stick with it. The line was at least 1 hour, but I've heard it can be up to 3 hours long.

I was a bit disappointed about this whole long line thing because our librarian back in Springfield, who's Roman, said not to be intimidated by the long line because it moves fast. But I'm sure she didn't think we'd go on a Saturday when she said this.

Anyways, we finally made it into the museum.

This was at the beginning. I know I've seen the outer shell of sarcophagi, but I don't think I've seen a mummy like this before. You could see the wrinkles of the skin.

Egyptian Cats!

This hallway had a ton of Greek statues in it. I think they look more silly (and draws even more attention to it) with the leaves.

These tapestries were huge and they many of them filled the hallways.

Cat in the tapestry.

Bad picture, but shows how the scale a bit better.

This hallway was pretty impressive. There are maps on the walls and then the ceilings were painted so intricately.

This is me, Instagramming, in front of one of the maps.

These are the mosaic floors in one of the rooms. The tiny tiles were no bigger than a1 cm x1  cm.

Just to give you an idea on the size.

I can't remember which room this was in, but it was cool because it wasn't a dome or flat ceiling but had multiple angles.

The mural in that room.

More examples of the mosaic tiles.

The School of Athens, by Raphael

Me and The School of Athens

Craig and the School of Athens

Craig and Dali. This was a set of galleries right before the Sistine Chapel. There was some great work in it, but I was nearing my limit and wanted to get to the Chapel. Wish I could have spent more time here. They had artwork from Impressionism to Contemporary art.

****Insert Mental Image of Craig and I in the Sistine Chapel*****

No photos are allowed inside the Sistine Chapel, along with speaking quietly, modest dress, moving to the center if you want to stand, and being on the outside if you just want to walk through. Here is a picture I found to somewhat give an idea of what it's like, although I thought it was a bit more crowded the when we were there.

 

 It's very overwhelming when you're in there not only because it's crowded but it's also so beautiful. I kept getting overwhelmed by what to look at first and then next and then I wanted to look at what I'd just looked at 2 seconds ago longer and on and on!!! I did the best I could while reading some out of the Rick Steve's book. Craig agrees that it's impressive, but he's not all for the rules while viewing it. His take is that it's more about the tourists viewing it, so let us view it and talk/wear/take what we want. I on the other hand appreciate the rules and although I'm not Catholic, still want to respect it as a sacred place. I wish they would let fewer people in at a time and maybe put some more signs up about the rules before people enter.

View of St. Peter's

I was not in favor of going down these steps. I had seen the Sistine Chapel and was ready to eat. Going in circles to get there was not enticing at all. I'm glad Craig felt differently so he could get a picture.

After going back to our apartment and eating cold pasta for lunch (no microwave), we rested and headed over to Maddie and Devin's apartment for dinner. We brought salad and cherries and they made pasta with a yummy tomato/veggie sauce. It was great to sit in their apartment where we could be in our own space. We talked about Italy, college, books, etc. Then, as expected, we went and got gelato at a high rated place called Gelateria Valentino's. It was definitely good, but I think most of the ratings came from the owner's interaction with the guests. He was very charming, almost to the point where it was too much for me, but I could see how some people would like that. I did like that he had a bench for us to sit outside on and people watch.

Craig and I making our way to Maddie and Devin's. This is us crossing the river.

We said good bye to Maddie and Devin and made our way home which entailed us trying to find Craig a bathroom. I have tried to explain to him he needs to use the bathroom when we have the opportunity because it's not like in the States where you can use a public bathroom or just go into a McDonald's or WalMart and use theirs. Also, we had to find a place to break our 50 Euro bill so we could use a kiosk to buy subway tickets. Well, we ended up being able to buy postcards to get change, but no luck with the restroom. We eventually made it to our apartment and no one exploded.