Slow day in Rome

Today we didn’t do too much. With all of this traveling, sometimes you need time to relax and enjoy Saturday morning cartoons in Italian. Apparently, they take old American ones and dub them into Italian, as we watched Police Academy the Cartoon, the Fantastic Four, and Power Rangers in Italian!

We also reminisced about this time last year, as it was the weekend of our wedding. Thank you to all of you who attended, participated, and sent good wishes!

We did venture out to do some shopping, as I need dresses for the formal nights on the cruise. I did not want to drag nice dresses around with me for three weeks, and I assumed I would find stuff as I went, but it has been harded than I thought it would be. Sure, I could find some dresses in Rome for a few thousand dollars, but I really wanted something that I wouldn’t be scared to eat dinner in! We checked out one of the main shopping avenues, Cavour, as well as Rome’s version of a mall. Interesting, but not what I was looking for. We did find their version of a drug store/grocery store, so we were able to pick up on stuff like toothpaste, but it was no Target. I miss my two story Target at home. Sigh.

We decided to end our time in Rome and Italy with the original Fettuccini Alfredo restaurant (at least, that’s what they claim). It was super yummy, though the restaurant was somewhat tacky and the waiters were very aware of that! Who cares? The dinner was delicious!

While walking back (apparently, the metro closes at 10 pm in some parts, so we got to walk all the way home), we passed a museum doing a show on Valentino dresses. I had read about it and now I wish we had gone! I’m so glad we could see most of it from the outside, as it was brilliantly designed and bordering on eerie.

We were ready to head to Greece!

Visiting the Pope’s Crib

 

Today we went to see where the Pope hangs out. We took the metro out to Vatican City, and it is SO bizarre to be in one city one second, and to suddenly find yourself in another country simply by walking up some steps! Weird.

The lines for both St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum were horrendous, but they actually moved really quickly. The lines to the museum actually circled almost entirely around the city’s walls! We sped through the museum as best we could to get to the Sistine Chapel, but since everyone else goes there too, we could only move so fast. They direct everyone along one path towards the Chapel, so we felt a little bit like herds of cattle surrounded by pricelss artifacts.

It took about an hour, but we finally arrived at the Sistine Chapel, which didn’t look like I thought it would. I thought it was a round ceiling, but it is in fact rectagular. Andy led me right to the middle of the room so I could see the famous painting of Adam touching God’s finger. I had read that it is a good idea to bring a hand mirror so you can see the ceiling without craning your neck, and that is an excellent piece of advice!

After the museum, we spent a ridiculous amount for lunch on food that was not that good (Andy is still complaining about it),  but we figure that since those people are ripping off tourists within spitting distance of the Vatican will certainly receive judgement someday!

We then entered the line for the Basilica, so we were able to enjoy St. Peter’s Square while we waited. Andy had read that people are pretty pushy and will simply cut in line and that is shockingly true. Rather than be frustrated, we decided to watch people do it and be amused. I also got really good at keeping right behind the people in front of me!

The interior of the Basilica was stunning. We have seen a lot of cathedrals lately, so it takes a lot at this point to impress us! It was, of course, chock full of pope statues and graves of important saints. Some of the tombs have glass caskets with either waxen figures or well preserved actual corpses. Either way, Andy and I were NOT fans of those! We also saw a little bit of the Pope Archives, and went underneath the Basilica to see where all of the Pope’s are buried. The grave of Pope John Paul II is very popular and they have extra guards there to control the crowds. We were able to glimpse the altar and gravesight where they believe St. Peter himself is buried, which was really fantastic.

Having climbed to the top of several churches lately, we decided to skip climbing this one. We saw the Vatican Guards, who wear the most un-intimidating uniforms ever. Find it on Google images or Wikipedia. Awesome. We were hoping to find some truly tracky Pope merchandise, but alas, most of it was tasteful.

The Metro system tried to kill me, as the doors slammed shut on me before I was on the tram (Andy rescued me) and then the turnstiles at the exit richoted back into my leg, so I have a nice collection of bruises to share with everyone on the cruise ship when I bust out my bathing suit.

We ended the evening with Mexican food, because neither of us could handle another bite of pasta or pizza. It was ok– not quite Azteca in Seattle , but it was refreshing to have chips and beans rather than pasta and tomatos.

Here is the view from our room!

Seeing the Sights in Rome

 

Today we got up early to try and beat the lines at the more popular Rome sights. We received a great tip by our hotel and we were able to purchase tickets for both Palatine Hill and the Colosseum at Palatine Hill, where there was no line at all! We walked around in the hot sun (thank goodness for serious SPF sunblock or we would be lobsters by now) and checked out  the ruins of Ancient Rome. We either overlooked or walked through Circus Maximus, the Roman Forum, Constantine’s Arch, temples, houses, gardens, etc.  We then proceeded to the Colosseum, where there was a ridiculously long line that we completely skipped. I think the line was about an hour or two wait, and we were able to walk right past then and go in. Yay!

We opted out of the audio tour because we are just sick and tired of those at this point! We enjoyed walking around the two levels of the Colosseum and I was amused at how similar our sports stadiums still are today. It’s pretty hard to improve on that design! By then it was the hot part of the day, so we cooled off in our room (there is only one channel in English, CNN, so I know way too much about the Madeline McCann case now) and then attempted to find a place for late lunch.

We walked a long ways to find a place called The Library that was supposed to serve afternoon tea, but they were closed, so we walked to a piazza nearby where we had a nice lunch (pasta, surprising, I know) and I had strawberry wine.  The Piazza was full of those guys who stand perfectly still like statues until you give them money, which Andy gets a kick out of, so we watched some of those. There was a really neat one of a guy dressed as a business commuter, complete with his tie and jacket frozen in midair as though he was walking. He had his cell phone and briefcase, as well as sunglasses, and when people gave him money, all he would do was move his eyebrows. He drew quite a crowd, and it was especially funny when a REAL group of commuters walked past him without realizing what was going on. 

We were close to the Pantheon, so we saw that, and then walked the long way back to our hotel (the metro only goes to certain parts of the city, so sometimes you have to walk a long ways to a station). There was a club nearby that was one of those bars made out of ice (very James Bond), but it was closed as well, so we instead decided to try out Chinese food, to see how different it would be in Italy than in the States. It was definitely different, as their sauces tasted an awful lot like marinara sauce, and they designed the menu to appear more like Italian meals, with antipasto plates and multiple courses. It wasn’t that great, but it was nice to have a break from pasta! 

Here is a nice shot of our view during breakfast each morning:

 

First Day in Rome

It was such a relief to be in Rome, in a gorgeous hotel, that we lolled around all morning and didn’t head out until lunchtime. It was Andy’s birthday, so we made special dinner plans, and then checked out the Archealogical Museum, which was full of ancient Roman stuff, of course! Being in Rome, we naturally passed lots of other ruins wherever we walked, including the Roman Forum and Constantine’s Arch (and plenty of columns, temples, and large piles of rocks).

We quickly discovered that it was wise to stay in during the really hot afternoons, so we reshowered at the hotel and then enjoyed Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps in the cooler evening air. The Steps are right next to the exclusive shopping area of Rome, so I took Andy window shopping and explained to him why names like Valentino, Dulce and Gabbana, and Prada are important. He clearly paid attention, as he was able to point out Louis Vuitton bags to me later!

We were growing tired of pasta and pizza, so I took Andy to an Argentinian restaurant to try their famous steak. Now we know why it is famous! It was soo good! “I don’t need sauce” good.

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes!