The European Extravaganza!

"I think the sun gave me Mono"

Duuuudes. It is so frickin' hot here in Rome. Even though it was overcast today, we made the mistake of taking the subway which is made up of little sweatboxes of death. The ride to Vatican City was only about 10 minutes long, but it felt like a neverending trip to Hell. Oh man. If it weren't for our midday siestas, I don't know what we would do!

Sooo... we also made the collosal mistake of taking the advice of TARYN (again... when will we learn? We still have the foul taste of the Topography of Terror fresh in our mouths...) and made our way to the Vatican Museum early in the morning. We arrived about half an hour before it was scheduled to open, and found an incredibly long line snaking around the wall enclosing the city. Of course the line was hardly shaded, and so just standing there caused sweat to trickle down our backs. Lovely. We must have stood in that line for at least an hour, and had little more to do to pass the time than to eavesdrop. The couple in front of us had a little Goth Girl, who was decked out fully in black in a skimpy tank top and short pleated skirt. It looked like she would be purchasing an entire paper outfit! The family behind us had a weird overbearing Australian dad, who kept reciting random facts about the Vatican and proudly crowing about his various previous visits to Rome. At one point, the eldest daughter (clutching a Balenciagia bag, while her younger sibling held onto a Louis Vuitton purse) asked if the Vatican Museum was going to be the family's "last historical thing". Her father (?) kept telling her that the great thing about this trip was that she could get all the touristy things out of the way, since the next time sh came she could say that she had already done them and there was really no need to see any of the attractions more than once. Of course he then contradicted this story, by saying that all the times he had been to Rome, he had gone to the Sistine Chapel 6 times. Freak. He then got all moralizing with his wife (?) by talking about how so many people in the line were going to be denied entrance to the museum because they were wearing shorts and sleeveless tops. He then began talking to the couple in front of us (with Goth Girl), telling them that he thought they were going to have to buy pants and scarves in order to get in. Thanks a lot Sartorial Security Guard. Although this wasn't totally horrible (despite him doing this several times), his smug know-it-all attitude was unbearable. What was worse was that his wife began saying how she couldn't believe that the couple let their daughter dress like that, and that with her, there would be "no question" (whatever that means). Then pompous Aussie dude was all, "They're probably just glad that she's not pregnant...". Say it with me: Dick! Also, sweet irony would have it that his daughters were all tarted out, and looked like such ignorant prissy princesses that you couldn't help but shake your head in complete bemusement.

Once inside the museum, we took care not to "rush" through it, but man is it big. The Egyptian collection was really impressive and remarkably well-preserved. Laura remarked that there must not be anything left in Egypt, what with all the pillaging done by the Vatican and the British Museum! I had to wonder whether the Popes could have been doing something more worthwhile with the (clearly) large amounts of money at their disposal than buying ancient artifacts. ANYWAY... it was all very nice and beautiful and extensive. I think our favourite room in the whole place was "The Map Room", which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It was a long corridor with ornate ceilings that had these ancient painted map all down the sides. It was really remarkable and not like anything I had ever seen before. The Sistine Chapel -- and we hate to agree with Taryn -- was also nice (obviously), but didn't really seem to be any more spectacular than many of the other rooms in the museum. We expected it to be bigger and perhaps more vaulted. Also, the sea of people really detracted from the experience, since if you looked up for too long while walking, you were bound to slam into someone or get run over by the many tours that take huge groups through the place.

After sending postcards from the Vatican Post Office, we made our way to St. Peter's Basillica, where we wandered through the catacombs and saw Pope John Paul II's tomb. They seemed to be enforcing the dress code more rigorously here (don't worry: our research was helpful here and we were both appropriately dressed). We made our way into the cathedral proper, and were suitably creeped out by the wax effigy of PJP II they had on display. It seemed kind of sacreligious to me, but what do I know about worshipping false idols? The Cathedral was huge and extremely ornate; no mistaking any other church as the headquarters of the Catholic faith, really.

We took the subway one stop to check out this restaurant recommended by the hostel that serves rice balls. Of course, like everything in that book only printed 3 months ago, this restaurant does not seem to exist, so we instead popped into this little hole-in-the-wall pizzaria, where we each got some... pizza. You buy it by weight here (unless you ordering a whole pizza), although we just gesticulated making "smaller" motions with our fingers, until they got it right. Laura used the universal "thumbs up" sign to indicate when her slice was just right. Maybe it was because we were having our first meal of the day at 3 pm, but that pizza rocked!

Then we got back into the death box, and made our way back to the hostel for a siesta. Several hours later, we reemerged into the city, and headed to the Campidoglio where my book of lies claimed we could get a nice view of the city. Of course, if we had read the fine print, or rather the print at all, then we would have realized that the Capotoline Hill really just gives you a spectacular view of the Roman Forums, which is still not on the schedule until tomorrow. However, we have decided that Ancient Rome is like a magnet and that no matter how hard you fight it, you end up there even if you don't mean to. Giving in, we walked along the forum taking pictures and made our way to the Coliseum. We had intended to make our way across the river Tiber and go into the Jewish Ghetto for some food, but neither of us were super hungry so we instead decided to stave off the strange not-hot but will make you sweaty and sticky weather, by getting some gelato. We found this awesome place, where you can get 3 scoops for 2.20 euro! Amazing! I had: pine nut, chestnut, and pear (All soooo good!). Laura had: coconut, peach, and almond (also very good). Probably the best gelato we have had anywhere... ever! So, we'll be going back tomorrow, since you can't beat the heat or that price! Also, we will actually go into the Coliseum, the Forums, and up Palatine Hill. If only the weather tomorrow were like today, that would be tolerable since it was mostly overcast (of course we spent a good portion of the day inside the museum, or sleeping).

We wanted to head to the Trevi Fountain to see it lit up at night but the A line (Metro) is closed at 9 pm, because it too is undergoing rennovations. We will try and find out how to get there by bus tomorrow so that we can get some night shots as we did the Coliseum (which really is incomparable. Nothing like it. At all. Soooo cool.).

So, we've been up for about 5 hours since our last nap, and that's plenty long in this city. Have to get our rest since we'll be exclusively outside tomorrow, working on contracting skin cancer. We'll be the finest Italian leather you've ever seen!

posted by Steph @ 8:43 pm