THE VATICAN

Wednesday and it’s religion day. We have a tour booked this morning for the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s.

Taxi cost 20E, but 4E was my fault since I left my credit cards and money in the room and we had to backtrack. But  we got there with more than enough time to spare, only to find out that we would not be going to St Peter’s because on Wednesday Pope Benedict has audiences with the public and it would not open until 12-1.

I had been to the Sistine Chapel, but not the Museum…which is a MUST SEE. It goes on forever and each room is more magnificent than the previous one. Our guide, Damieno, was great and explained all the little things that you would have missed if you were doing it on your own. The best, of course, was saved to the last…the four rooms painted by Raphael. Entire walls, plus the ceilings, filled with splendid frescoes.

And then, the mother of all frescoes, the Sistine Chapel. No pictures allowed, and yet the Orientals kept trying, even with the guards repeating ‘no pictures, silence’. As the guide pointed out, on the beginning end of the ceiling the figures are smaller than at the other end. Michelangelo realized that when viewing from the floor the figures were too small and as the fresco progressed, the figures were enlarged. Words can’t explain the feeling of gazing upon this masterpiece.

After the tour, we went across the street to a café to get something to eat. Betty had made the entire tour and was feeling pretty good. She felt even better after she got her gelato. She wanted a cherry gelato and got what looked like an original Picasso. Ice cream, decorated with cookies, fruit, more cookies and more fruit. Shocker…the ‘small gelato’ that she ordered was 12E. I ordered a pizza (about 2 slices) and a coke…21E. My coke, because it was not ‘take away’ was 6E (would have been 3E if ‘take away’).

Finally, we walked along the wall to St Peter’s, since it was after 1 and we thought we could get in. SHOCKER!!! The line, at least 5 wide, wrapped around the entire square; where did they all come from???? Anna decided to head across the river to see St Angelo Castle while Betty and I tried to figure out where to get the hop-on, hop-off bus.

Note:  I have never seen so many hawkers in one place…Indians selling scarves, key rings, sunglasses, Vatican souvenirs, squealing slime balls, icons, handbags, wooden toys….we even saw a guy selling ‘carrot’ carvings….yep, designs made with carrots.

Anyway, we found a place that had information about the bus, but also had ‘skip the line’ tickets to St Peter’s for 14E. We’ll have to do that tomorrow, since they were out of tickets for the day. So we hopped on the bus and went around the city, seeing the sights and determining which ones we’ll hit tomorrow.

Around 5 we headed over to the Trevi Fountain, to toss our coins in to assure we’ll be back in Rome, and again, got lost. Came to an intersection and didn’t know which was to go. There on the corner was a souvenir shop the a sign in the door ‘directions to customers only’. Well, I needed to get a plate from Rome, so I went in; grumpy Italian couldn’t find the one I wanted, but when I went to leave he changed his tune. After I paid 5E (for the plate, but also to get directions) I asked him for a good place to eat in the neighborhood. ‘Italian?’ he asked. Well, yeah. He goes on to tell me everything in the neighborhood is frozen…you want to go down  2 blocks on the right…only good Italian food around and fresh. ‘Grazie, grazie’ I said and ‘by the way, where’s the fountain?’ Duh, it was at the end of the block!!!

Got to the fountain….hundreds of people and loads of hawkers. Funny, we were standing there and all of a sudden, they all grabbed their stuff and went running off. Turns out if a cop starts heading their way, they scatter.

We finally made our way down to the fountain, took some pix, tossed our coins, and headed to the ‘only real Italian restaurant in the neighborhood’.

We get there, only 2 tables occupied outside and a man putting out glasses…not even a hello or anything. We go in, only 1 table occupied. We’re wondering did we make a mistake? Betty goes over to the guy and asks if his pasta is fresh…he looks at her like she has two heads, but tells her yes. We sit down, order, and get the best dinner we’ve had so far in Rome. Really good.

Silvio finally warmed up and was joking around with us, asked where we’re from, and tells us he has a cousin in Florida who has a restaurant in Longwood. He pulls it up on his phone and there, in the Orlando area, is Enzo’s on the Lake, Longwood, with a great review. Guess where I’m going when I get home!

The dessert, again, torte ciocholato, was fabulous. On our way out, I went to say ciao to Silvio and even got a 2 cheek kiss!!!!!

Onward and upward! Tomorrow the final sweep of the city and the sites we missed today and then….home