Vatican City

Brad and I are having a tough time with jet lag as we were wide awake at 2 am again. I eventually went back to sleep around 5 am, but Brad ended up going for a 6 am walk around our neighbourhood. If you were worried about Evan, don't be. He slept for 12 hours straight. In fact, he had to be woken up at 10:45.

After we all managed to roll out of bed, we had "brunch" and I started doing laundry while Brad went to the grocery store. Evan was still working on his journal. Once home, Brad managed to have a brief nap before we had a light lunch. Finally, we were ready to start our day.

We had Googled the bus route we needed to take to get to St. Peter's Square and we headed to the stop. However two buses came by and neither was the one we needed; in fact, we saw the bus we needed drive right on by. So we tried to follow it on foot and eventually found a stop. We waited there for 45 minutes (this bus was supposed to come every 20 minutes) and it never came back. Finally we just decided to get walking.

It was about a half hour walk to St. Peter's and I know I said I wouldn't mention the heat, but it was 35c outside! Nonetheless we got into the line to get into the Basilica, which moved fairly quickly. Evan chose to stand by the fountain until he absolutely had to join us in line. I should also mention that the boys both had to wear pants today because we were worried that the fashion police might kick them out of the church for not being dressed appropriately!

The Basilica was bigger than I thought it was going to be and it was very ornate. I don't quite understand the people taking selfies with the sculpture of Jesus dying in his mother's arms, but regardless, we enjoyed actually looking at the ornamentation.

We left the Basilica and headed, on foot, to a pizza place we saw on Anthony Bourdain's show The Layover. It is called Pizzarium Bonci and it has really unique toppings, although there are no signs to tell you what's what. Brad bravely pointed at four kinds and our best guess is that they were: traditional margherita; spinach, anchovy and cheese; eggplant and a soft cheese; and a smoked ham (Evan's pick). All were delicious! We ate them standing outside at a small table and Brad and I split a bottle of wine that the cashier uncorked for us. We had to eat somewhat quickly because we had Friday night Vatican tickets reserved!

Normally at the Vatican, you have to wait in this insanely long line for hours to get in. I found out a few months ago that they use a ticketed reservation system on Friday nights, so I booked us in awhile ago. Hardly a line and almost no real wait - it was a lifesaver.

After getting through security, we went through the various rooms of the museum and saw Egyptian sarcophagi, Greek and Roman statues, and huge floor to ceiling tapestries. The main event was seeing the Sistine Chapel of course! I had seen it years ago, but it was so crowded that it was nice to actually sit and really take in the ceiling and back wall. Of course you can't take any pictures in there, so I have none to post!

We spent about two hours in the museums before calling it quits. We decided to walk back home, but not before we had a gelato stop. Today, Evan got pure chocolate and creme brûlée. It was interesting to see our neighbourhood on a Friday night as there were so many people out and about. I think we will check out the nightlife at the Tiber River river walk tomorrow night. For now, though, I need to rest my feet!Read more