(Day 15) Pope Corn

Good Morning to the Eternal City of Rome~! Erin and Marty have awoken and are ready to take you on. Breakfast was not in the nicely-appointed grand dining hall today – no, it was served on a tray in our shabby-chic B&B room. Cornflakes and melba toast anyone? No? We must get our energy up! Rome awaits.



We took the metro out to Barberini and started our hunt for the coolest attraction we could hope for – the Crypt of the Cappuccini Monks. I had read about this place in my tour book: rooms decorated from floor to ceiling with the skeletons of friars. It was something two old punk rockers like Marty and I could appreciate on behalf of our younger selves.







Pretty, awesome right? It didn’t even stink in there like I imagined it might.

Following my direction, we decided that the next place to visit was the crazy-famous Trevi Fountain. Thankfully, it was only a short walk away from the crypt and right along our path for the day’s explorations. The fountain area was just bursting with touristas, and we joined them. First, my choppy panoramic take on the fountain (click to enlarge!):


Yeah, I chopped off a bit of sky there, but you get the gist. Amazing, hey?





Everyone who visits Rome needs to throw a coin in the fountain. There are varying rules for the number and value of the coins to be thrown, but I decided to go Canadian-style and pass on the lovely Cariboo for the benefit of the Italians.





Our next stop on the Marty-Erin Tour brought us to the beautiful Spanish Steps at the foot of Via Condotti – the chi-chi shopping area of Rome.





It was a warm day in Rome for October and there were many, many people all eagerly taking in the sites. We even saw some people who were part of our cruise, but we were sick of them then, and still are. We can’t come to the Spanish Steps and not climb them – I’ve heard the view from the top is just lovely. Let’s check it out.








Not bad, but I’m all beautiful-sighted out.



We decided to pull out our lunch and enjoy our strange sandwiches on the steps, but as it turns out, they have security guards who walk up and down and boot hooligans like us off the steps. Drat.




Oh…so here are the rules. I see they are grammar-optional….and I can’t defecate on the steps. Well they just went and ruined all my plans. Fine! I’ll go somewhere else then!



Since we were so close to Via Condotti and Gucci and Prada were calling my name, we (I) decided to partake in some retail therapy. Wow…the service staff in Italy is even ruder than in North America! Amazing. I wanted to try some shoes on in Gucci and I had wait for like half an hour before someone was available to help me. And that wasn’t for lack of trying.



Did I mention that today is a very ambitious day? On top of already tackling a few major sites, we are also going to visit the Vatican. I heard from numerous sources that the Vatican is so insanely busy that the best time to visit is around 2 PM after the morning crowds have dispersed, so that’s when we headed there. It wasn’t looking too promising when we arrived as the grounds were still crawling with people like nothing else.



Thankfully, the lines belied the crowds and we waltzed right through the entrance portion and found ourselves in the courtyard of the Vatican Museums.





To be honest, I was only really interested in seeing the Sistine Chapel and the spiral staircase and was pretty focused on this. Poor Marty kind of got rushed through it since I was impatient, but even still, it took several hours to even breeze through these museums. The amount of work here is overwhelming.






I love these faces! This is my kind of artwork.


Another Perseus and Medusa sculpture.




*rotfl* These things crack me up.

















One major highlight of the trip to towards the Chapel was the Raphael Rooms – these were floor-to-ceiling masterpieces painted by Raphael in the early 1500’s.






It kind of reminds me of a full-sleeve tattoo.











The Vatican also had some really boring art pieces. I was really confused as to why they would even feature these after the Raphael Rooms, but maybe there was a Pope who had really bad taste in art? Or maybe I do – ha ha.





At LONG LAST we arrived in the sacred chambers of the Sistine Chapel. My frustrations in the two-hour long walk it took to get here was increasingly palpable. It was wonderful to finally see it though – so speechless.











Michelangelo appears to have a set of mad skills. Can I get a “whut-whut” for that? I mean, right? But seriously – the room was chock-full of people and they even had professional “shushers” (people who went “shhhhhhhhhh!”) every 30 seconds or so. Also, there were no pictures allowed, but the geris don’t seem to understand so they were constantly holding their little point-and-shoots up and letting the flashes go off for the whole world to see. They were in trouble! *rotfl geris* I have a bit of an addiction to taking pictures where I’m not supposed to, so I went covert like a ninja and managed to score these for you, dear readers. I even got a video!



I so nearly got caught for that one. But anything for you guys! Please enjoy.

After we’d soaked enough of the frescoes in, we were on our way through the never-ending (and I’m serious about that) halls of the museum once again.




This picture is the exact thing I’m talking about – rooms leading to rooms leading to rooms leading to rooms. LOOK AT ALL THOSE DOORFRAMES! Worst. Make sure you wear comfy shoes when you go.




The courtyard.



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We made it out alive! Of course, that wasn’t before I got yelled at by the lady in the gift shop. She was peeved that I touched something and told me that if I needed help, I should ask. Geeze, lady. Get a grip.


Our next target.

You cannot exit the Vatican Museums without traveling down the crazy spiral staircase – let’s go!





What I didn’t realize (and call me crazy) is that the super-famous St. Peter’s Square was at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. It was only when I walked through the pillars on the far side and this stretched out before me, did I realize (click to enlarge):














It was hot.


What’s your favourite part of the sculpture above? Mine is the coughing face at the bottom. *rotfl*

We eventually joined the insanely long line to get into the Basilica, but it moved at a really quick pace and found ourselves halfway across the square within 15 minutes. We also got a look at some of the guards at the palace.


Those are some very jaunty pants Sir. Not to mention the boots.



The inside of St. Peter’s was picture-perfect. It was the most majestic basilica I’ve ever been in – and that’s saying something! Or not. But it was really great.





















There was a big assembly of people who suddenly got seated and this piqued all the tourists attention – was the Pope going to show? We were booted out of the area before we could find out.





Back outside, we decided that our eyes had seen a lot and milled about before taking the stroll back towards the train.







After making a stop at my new favourite department store, Coin, we headed back to Termini and our B&B to rest our feet.





After stuffing down some food and gathering up a bit of energy, we decided to head back out to see Rome at night. Though we decided to re-see some of our earlier sights, Rome at night carries a whole different feeling…



Though significantly less populated during the night, the area around the Colosseum was now populated with shifty-shady individuals who looked like they wanted to snatch my purse. Awkward. At least I had some fun posing with my camera.





Marty came up with something slightly less-interesting.






And there’s this little tree growing up on the Colosseum! Life after death.

Next stop on the ghetto train was another trip to the Trevi Fountain.




Wow! How romantical. Of course, minus the hoards of crowds that were still present at 10:30 at night.



Our last bit of energy was spent making our way to the Spanish Steps, which were now much less busy than earlier. In the night, they too were very lovely.



I think we’ve expended enough energy today that my feet would kill me if they had the chance. Poor things. It’s back to sleep on the non-hypoallergenic pillow for another night and hope that I’ll wake up somehow with more energy to do the city again tomorrow. Gah! We’ll see what happens.