eekend. What we didn't know was that the pope has a regular Wednesday morning audience. The bus was jam-packed with people and when we got to St. Peter's square, there were met
al detectors, barricades, guards, and thousands of people. Oh well, we figured with everyone there to see the pope, maybe the Vatican museums wouldn't be as packed. This turned out to be true, and as we 
read in the guidebook, Wednesday mornings around 10:30am are an ideal time to visit the museums.There was almost no line at all and we were quickly inside and on our way to the Sistine Chapel. The route
through the museums is mostly one way, culminating at the Sistine Chapel. Tour groups at choke points make it a very slow journey with many areas wall to wall people. Still, we saw a lot of cool stuff and the Sistine Chapel is really amazing. No photographs are allowed inside the chapel, and it was amusing to watch people whip out their cameras and take photos anyway. The guards would clap at them, yell, "no pictures!", and sometimes even make their way through the crowd and escort people out.On our way out of the Vatican Museums, we stopped to eat som
e not-so-great pizza (compared to Italy/Rome). Then we headed to St. Peter's square and the Basilica. The line here was similarly tiny. The basilica is utterly massive, and extrem
ly ornate. It comes across as much more of a palace than a church.After leaving the Basilica, we headed to the cupola access. We took the elevator option, which shaves off 250 of the 570 stairs to the top. Tiny spiral staircases that seem endless finally lead to the top where there are fantastic views and tons of people.
We headed out from the Vatican to check out a local market area only to find it closed (too late in the afternoon). We looked for pizza instead, some truly Roman style pizza to counterbalance the crap in the Vatican cafeteria.
After pizza, we headed to one of two metro lines that serves Rome and used our 3-day metrobus pass to take the metro to Spagna to see the Spanish Steps. The fountain at the bottom of the steps is really cool, designed like a leaking boat. We were amused to see people come and drink from the fountain... gross. We searched our guidebook, but couldn't find anything about special luck from drinking the fountain water.We walked up the Spanish Steps and checked out the church at the top. From here, we followed the walking tour from the DK guide and found our way back down to the fountain by the Colanna dell'Immacolata, a column with the Virgin Mary atop.
On our way back to the Trevi, we stopped in at the Santi Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso church which has in the back behind the altar the actual shriveled heart of San Carlo. It's been there for hundreds of years.We rounded out by the closed off Mausoleum of Augustus, built in 28 BC. Then we went by the Ara Pacis (Alter of Peace) which was closed at this late hour. Continuing on, we went into a couple of more churches, including San Rocco.
We ended the evening with a fantastic meal at a restaurant recommended by one of the guidebooks, il Bacaro. Misty had a pasta dish with pumpkin and bacon sauce with parmesan cheese and I had beef strips in balsamic vinagar, rucola, and parmesean cheese and a salad.
2 comments:
Wow, you visited the Sistine Chapel! One of my favorite paintings by Michelangelo is the Creation of Adam with the two hands outstretched towards each other. I even tried drawing the two hands when I was younger and you know I am not an artist at all. That's how much I loved that painting.
Fascinating accounts. I wonder what divine conspiracy brought you to the Vatican on the exact day the Holy Father grants an audience. I hope you were able to catch a glimpse of his Holiness.
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