A trip to the roof top terrace and we were once again reminded why we were here..to enjoy Rome. On top our hotel was this amazing rooftop terrace overlooking a beautiful part of the city. Literally all it takes is 5 minutes up there and all your worries seem petty because you are in the heart of this magnificent city. We decided to not let this baggage debacle ruin the trip and went down to get breakfast. A sorta strange combination of food - cereal, ham, cheese, yogurt, coffee on crack, juice on crack, and muffins we filled up to prepare for a long day ahead in Vatican City.
We made it out the hotel about 20 steps and stumbled upon a huge open market right in the square we had dinner the night before. A perfect place for souvenir shopping we knocked out a lot of gifts in one round. The Dreker's found this amazing tent with fresh made sauces jarred for traveling and we all sampled and stocked up. They made the trip back to the hotel room to drop off all our gifts while we stayed in the square and made friends with the civilizians. I played a violin with some street musicians and we goofed around and took pictures. Ready to take on the city, I lead us out the west side over the bridge and directly into St Peter's Basillica. Taking the advice of Erik Schafer we got the audio tour .. but entered on the completely wrong side of the church. Instead of using the audio tour right away we some how got in the line for that takes you to the top...upon that realization we quickly darted out and walked down some other roped off pathway that lead us into the catacombs of the Popes. It was a sight to see - needless to say I think the only Pope anyone knows of is Pope John Paul II. I say this because he had his own special guard and fan club surrounding the tomb with lots of people on their knees praying, saying the rosary, etc. Aubs and I darted across everyone as if we were escaping being caught in a picture and everyone seemed to follow. The majority of the catacombs are just marble tombs, ruins, columns.. nothing too crazy. Nothing like the badass bone designs we saw before. For the record Monks are way cooler than Pope's, just saying.
We made it out the hotel about 20 steps and stumbled upon a huge open market right in the square we had dinner the night before. A perfect place for souvenir shopping we knocked out a lot of gifts in one round. The Dreker's found this amazing tent with fresh made sauces jarred for traveling and we all sampled and stocked up. They made the trip back to the hotel room to drop off all our gifts while we stayed in the square and made friends with the civilizians. I played a violin with some street musicians and we goofed around and took pictures. Ready to take on the city, I lead us out the west side over the bridge and directly into St Peter's Basillica. Taking the advice of Erik Schafer we got the audio tour .. but entered on the completely wrong side of the church. Instead of using the audio tour right away we some how got in the line for that takes you to the top...upon that realization we quickly darted out and walked down some other roped off pathway that lead us into the catacombs of the Popes. It was a sight to see - needless to say I think the only Pope anyone knows of is Pope John Paul II. I say this because he had his own special guard and fan club surrounding the tomb with lots of people on their knees praying, saying the rosary, etc. Aubs and I darted across everyone as if we were escaping being caught in a picture and everyone seemed to follow. The majority of the catacombs are just marble tombs, ruins, columns.. nothing too crazy. Nothing like the badass bone designs we saw before. For the record Monks are way cooler than Pope's, just saying.
We finally made our way out and realized where we should of started and began the audio tour. It wasphenomenal. St Peter's like the Big Daddy of all churches. I mean okay I guess that makes sense being the Vatican and all - but it BLOWS your mind. I remembered our taxi driver saying that 60% of the art is in the Vatican city AND he sure wasnt joking. I recognized so many sculptures and paintings, Bernini's baptristy,Michaelangelo's Pieta, Di Cambio's St Sebastian. I mean Holy - HOLY - effing cow. We spent a good 2 hours in there 1 1/2 look at art, 1/2 trying to find Aubrey who was marching around to her own drummer haha. Ignoring the rumble in our bellies, I really had wanted to see the Sistine Chapel... little did i know we have to walk a good 2 more miles of endless wall-my direct quote " oh my god, is there really more wall around the corner, crap!" We FINALLY get inside and discover its 16 euros to view the whole Vatican Museum. We were all so famished that 16 Euros to see the Sistine Chapel for 10 minute or 16 euros for some pizza. Pizza 1 Sistine Chapel 0. Mom bought some rosaries outside the Vatican Museum and we found a cafe close by to eat at... It was nearly 4.30 at this point so we made our way back, we bumped into Vig's friend Father Glen along the way (so awesome for Vig to see a familiar face in such a foreign city) and he followed us back to the hotel. We greeted the doorman and muffy's 55 lbs of Suitcase Madness... I highly doubt there is anything left in her closet back at home. As soon as we got in, we all rested upstairs as Muffy hugged and caressed every item of clothing in the bag. One mention of the word gelato and we all were out the door. Mom,Muffy and I met Vig and Father Glen downstairs and took a walk up to the Trevi Fountain again so that mom could get some water and we could get some amazing gelato. More of our lifesaving thrown into the TreviFountain we all made more wishes for love and happiness and scooped up some gelato for the stroll home. When we got back we had been told Aubrey and Karly were in the square so we detoured back out onto the streets and back to the square. Caught red handed we found them at the closest happy hour (this immediately became so obvious they'd be there, duh!) and we all joined them for yet another wonderful full bodied glass ofmontepulciano and free snacks! Muffy stayed with the Dreker Drunken Duo haha and i made it way back with the old ladies to the hotel. We went to bed happy satisfied and ready to wake up tomorrow and say Ciao to the eternal city.
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