Roaming Rome

 

We had an early day today. Woke at 5 and were at the bus stop by 6:15, which I need to mention we rode like champs. We had a 7:15 meet up with a Vatican tour company! Yes! We saw the Vatican today. That was pretty surreal. Let me share the daily breakfast shot and then I’ll go on. I mean, first things first. No it’s not a baked potato. It’s Maritozzi! It’s the brioche from Rome. It’s a sweet bun filled with whipped cream. Nothing says Vatican tour more than a sugar high!

After we ate them, we checked in for our tour and met the fun tour guide. She walked us up the steps quickly and we were second in line to go in. This was a skip the line tour so we had early access and did not have to wait in the crazy line. You should YouTube what the line for the Vatican looks like. It’s pretty crazy. She rushed us past a lot of the Vatican museum so that we had time to visit the pieces she knew we were all there to see. 

The Sistine chapel was pretty amazing. We were not allowed to take pictures inside. We learned that it is because someone like Fuji film owns the copyright to it. It was so amazing staring up at something painted by Michelangelo. I wanted to lie down on the cool tile floor and just stare up at it. I think that would have been frowned upon. 

Our next stop was the St Peter’s Basilica which was a wee bit crowded. Incredible to look at and learn about. We learned that not one thing in it is painted. Everything painted has been redone as a tile mosaic because the paint was not holding up. 

I’m sorry, but pictures don’t do this place any justice at all.

After almost 4 hours, it was time for lunch. We went in search of a very popular panini stop. Found it! 

It was like the Italian Subway only it wasn’t like it at all. We got our sandwiches and looked for a small sliver of shade to eat in. It felt so good to sit down. It was super hot today. It really wore us out. 

After lunch, we did some wandering around as we headed toward the Pantheon. We can’t stop marveling at the juxtaposition of these ancient structures among this modern world that surrounds them. 

Ok, it’s officially really late now. We are getting up at 5:00 tomorrow so we can dawn patrol the Trevi fountain. We went there today to get a before shot. We can’t wait to see it empty. I will finish today with some of our less planned out adventures and things we stumbled on along the way. Included are photos of our yummy dinner and very yummy tiramisu. Today was great! I need sleep! 

This tree is growing on a rooftop!

Ciao for now! Tomorrow we will tour the Colosseum!