Italia: Day 2 - Roma, May 5, 2011

We woke up to the smell of fresh baked croissants. Breakfast was a beautiful spread of fruit, yogurt, pastries, and cereal. We ate as much as we wanted on the terrace of our apartment building. The air was crisp and cool at this time of morning but we were hoping it would get warmer by the time we would head out.

It did.

We walked to the Vatican today. To cross the streets, you don't really wait for the lights, just when it's clear, you walk in between the cars.

We arrived at St. Peters Square and found a 2 hr. line to get into the Basilica Chapel.

The Pope had a Beatificazione (beautification) on May 1st, so tons of Catholics swarmed to be where the Pope was. This made it slightly difficult to plan our time.

We decided to try back later and started walking toward the Vatican Museum.

We stopped for lunch at an Italian insalade (salad) place for luch and Angelo got his first Pizza, and I got plain salad (since the ham (which was actually prosciutto) and cheese sandwich I had last night had made me feel super nauseous all morning. No more Italian meat for me)
They didn't have dressing, so I mixed olive oil and balsamic to give it some flavor. It kinda helped.

We walked to the Vatican museum and saw tons of famous paintings. We saved the Sistine Chapel for last.It was beautiful, but surprisingly not my favorite. There was a ceiling in with the frescos that was so stunning. I loved it.


After this we walked back to St. Peters Basilica, stopping for gelato (gelateria) and a roman scarf (bought for me by my love) on the way.

We waited in line for the entrance and when we got inside, we were blown away.
It was the biggest cathedral we had ever seen let alone imagined could exist.

There were pillars and paintings and sculptures and the most beautiful architecture.

Simply Stunning.

It was all very catholic, though. The glorified Pope, Mary,.... eh.

I wished so badly that all of this beauty wasn't for them but just for God. It was a little bit sad how misguided the masters of art were.
After walking around, listening to Rick Steve's audio tour and down to the crypt, we decided to climb the 550 stairs to the top of the massive dome.

But, we took the elevator half way after we realized how tired we really were.

It was intense. Very high and very claustrophobic. But way fun!!!
The view from the top was a panoramic Roma sight. You could see everything from up there.

We took a bunch of photos, then made our way back down the slanted (yes, slanted) spiraling staircase.
After a few last stops inside the chapel, we walked to the metro headed to the "shopping triangle" near the Villa Borghese to see if we might find a leather jacket for me and an "Italia" jacket for Angelo.
We found a few places that had nice jackets for us but nothing perfect until we found one local lady's shop and her leather inventory. And Angelo bought me my perfect leather jacket for 100 euros! :D
I couldn't find his perfect Italia jacket yet, but we will.

Dinner was raviolis and lemone esta the (lemon iced tea) which was awesome and the tea tasted so good! I cant even describe it.

We walked back to the metro which was closed,(because the workers were on strike) so we took a taxi back to our hotel.

After a long day, it's time for sleep. Ciao Ciao!