Day 3: Day three we went out on search for a little inner peace at the Vatican City. After a scrumptious breakfast of hardtack and granola we walked down all the long streets, about 2 miles from the hostel at least. We approached the Vatican and I was in a little disbelief, for on the map there is a big barrier wall that goes around the whole city. I had envisioned a fortress, but it meshed well with Rome, virtually no border. We waited in line at the basilica, and again I was unimpressed be the lack of Swiss guards. All that changed when we entered. I couldn’t help but compare it to the Notre Dame, but with the amount of marble and detail in all the sculptures, there really was no comparison. We walked around and looked at all the peaceful resting popes, some greener than others, and made our way to St. Peters foot. I was hassled by an attendant, who told me to take my hat off, and then told me not to disrupt mass by taking pictures, a two-for. Saint Peters tomb was pretty astonishing.
After the basilica we went round to the museum, which had no line at all. At this point we realized how hungry we were and couldn’t really give a good effort to the museum as we rushed through. We hustled through trying to get to the Sistine chapel, but we did stop to admire work by Raphael, etc. We got into the Sistene Chapel, and were pretty amazed. David and I looked around confused and finally had to ask where the creation of Adam was. It was right over our heads! I felt like an idiot. I had assumed it encompassed the whole ceiling, but like everyone but me knew, it’s just the centerpiece for the masterpiece Michelangelo created. The last judgment was equally captivating, and I could hear, but not see, the shutters of everyone’s cameras going off. I kept faithful and did not take any pictures. We rushed, literally, out of there in search of this great restaurant the Brittany found in the book. A note about the book; I hate the book, the book always steers us out of the way to a place that is usually closed. Not to disappoint me the restaurant we so hastily skipped to was a deli, packed to the counter with Romans, and no place to sit.
After deciding that we didn’t have any idea what food was being served at the first restaurant, we continued walking, trying to scout somewhere to eat along the way when we found a little place. Lunch was decent but afterwards succumbing to temptation I ordered a banana gelato split, all to myself. David went to the counter to order (we were sitting in those plastic walled porches) and came back in to the bombardment of two waiters yelling at him. You apparently can’t order inside and come sit outside due to the major inflation of price for sitting. So there was David, standing inches from the barrier starring at us, eating his gelato. He continued this until it was all gone. Quite hilarious.
We went back to the hostel later that night, and met a really nice brother and sister traveling pair from Minnesota, that we drank a couple of beers with. Surprisingly it is one of the few times we meet fellow travelers that we enjoyed talking to. Some might call us close minded, but there are some serious dorks, and their band geek friends who take the spotlight at pasta parties and dinners at the hostels. The dork part isn’t what gets us, as much as them pretending they are the most worldly and knowledgeable creatures traveling across Europe. We of course get these impressions when listening to their loud conversations from a different table.
The next day was of course Brittany’s birthday. We started off going to an open air market that was really cool. An old lady played the accordion and had little puppets that danced on her feet. We also bought and devoured some delicious dried fruit that ranged from kiwi, to pineapple, to strawberries. They were basically delicious chewy candies. We travelled from there to the pantheon, where Raphael was buried. Another amazing site, that quite mind-boggling. We had some delicious, food where I had another pizza, while the married folks had some pasta, and other goodies.
We went back to the hostel where Brittany wanted to sleep, “cuz it’s my birthday”. That night for birthday dinner, David and I went out and we bought an assortment of pastries from a store and found some candles. The pastries, were very bland, I doubt if any sugar was used to make them. One was a green blob. It also tasted like a green blob. The dinner part was a delicious trek to the corner pizza store. We ordered some cheese bread, and tomato bread, (they were out of most every pizza) and then David said, “…and let me get one of those pasta balls”. I was amused, not only did the guy not have a clue what he was talking about; there is not even pasta in these little fried balls of rice and ragu. Brittany had been calling them pasta balls all day and that phrase stuck in David’s mind.
There I was with another helping of pizza. I had only two meals out of 4 days that were not pizza. Its official, you can get pizza’d out. Rome, the eternal city, what a wonderful and magical place we found this to be. When in Rome… order some pasta balls.
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