la città eterna.

GIORNO VENTICINQUE

Entrance to the Vatican... this wall is older than the US

PI CHIS do the Vatican!

St. Peter's Basilica

Today we woke up early to bus to "La Città Eterna" ("the Eternal City... Didn't anyone read the info packet?"- Lizzie Maguire Movie... of course).  The bus took about six hours, but it went by fairly quickly!  We first arrived and got off the bus right outside The Vatican City, where they gave us some time to eat before our tour. 

After our break, we walked to the entrance of the Vatican Museum and got our headsets. On the way, a man on the streets, attempting a pick up line, told us that the Vatican wall was older than the United States... I mean I do like history, but no!  The inside of the museum was mostly paintings, sculptures, tapestries, and of course it included the most famous part, the Sistine Chapel.

Now I know that Roma and the Vatican are two of the most visited cities in Italy, but seriously, I had never seen so many people. I felt so claustrophobic... I absolutely love history and "old stuff," but the Sistine Chapel was almost painful to be in because of all the people.  Unfortunately that number a people takes away from the experience a little (and we had already been up for more than fifteen hours...).  But I still appreciated Michelangelo's work in there and the humor he added to the paintings to spite the Pope and others who questioned his paintings.  Michelangelo didn't consider himself a painter, rather he was a sculptor, but Pope Sixtus IV asked him to paint the ceiling of the chapel and he could not refuse.  Within some of the panels on the ceiling, Michelangelo painted God's back, symbolizing (disrespectfully) that God was turning his back on the Pope.  He also painted important men that he didn't like being attacked by snakes and depicted them in Hell.  It is amazing how he painted that ceiling for four straight years, looking straight up from a scaffolding, under candlelight.  Wow!  Apparently he almost went blind from the lack of natural light.

Anyway, after the Sistine Chapel, we practically sprinted to the outside world where we could actually breathe, haha, JOKE.  We couldn't escape the people!  They were everywhere!!!  They were sitting on every available ledge, they stood in every lookout area, and they also stood in every inconvenient, "I want to block every entrance/exit" location.

By this point we were so tired, but we still had to see St. Peter's Basilica.  It was truly beautiful and HUGE!  We were told that the letters that encircled the inside of the basilica on a banner were three meters tall... they look about a foot at most.  Everything from the ancient world just seems so big!  I don't understand how they built all these magnificent things... it is truly incredible.

A cool fact about St. Peter's is that you can take pictures inside of it because none of the paintings are actually painted.  Everything is mosaic.  It was crazy cool because you couldn't tell that every single dot of color was a piece of individual tile until you creeped really close.

Also, Pope John XXIII's body was beatified in 2000 and they moved the body into the altar of Saint Jerome where you can openly view him.  His body was preserved oddly well and the tour guide told us that parts of his body are even original... YIKES!

After the Basilica, we had some free time before we rolled up to the hotel to relax for dinner.  I took a shower, feeling so refreshed, and got ready for our fun night out in Roma!  Dinner was pretty good considering the trip included the meal, so we just assumed it would be average.  We ate at this little place called La Gallina Bianca, which was strangely southern for Roma.  There was a great salami antipasti and a combination of chicken and French fries.  Dopo, we all decided to walk to this cool piazza where there is apparently decent night life.  On the way during our two(ish) mile trek, we stopped at the Trevi Fountain for a nighttime viewing.  It was packed, but so beautiful.  Nothing is the United States is as old or cool as anything in Europe... You can't just walk through a city in the US and walk past some famous fountain where xyz happened like ten thousand million decades ago. BECAUSE EVERYTHING IN THE UNITED STATES IS ONLY LIKE 300 YEARS OLD!

So after our side trip to the fountain, we found our way to the piazza, as did EVERYONE else.  We found this classy classy place called... here it goes, "The Drunken Ship" and set up camp at a table.  They brought out these pitchers of mixed drinks that they precariously placed straws in.  It was interesting... but all in all the evening was a lot of fun!  I was able to speak to some Italian to people before we went back to the hotel.  I guess with a little bit of liquid courage I can actually get over my fear of making mistakes and I was non-stop talking in ONLY Italian.  I actually do know things!

The Trevi Fountain!

           
We stupidly, but healthily decided to walk back to the hotel from the piazza.  Forty-five minutes later we got back to the hotel and after the best shower ever fell asleep for only five hours... oops!

CIAO!