September 14th - Roma, Italy

September 14, 2006
Roma, Italy

When in Rome...(yes, i have been saying that all day)

This morning we woke up at 9:00. I made the treacherous climb out of bed and then headed to the shower (my bed folded out of the wall above the desk). After we secured our room for another night we grabbed some breakfast at the local restaurant. We all ordered the same thing: eggs, bacon, and toast. It hit the spot.

As we were eating the Canadian girls found us and joined our group. We all headed to Vatican City together. Our first stop was the Vatican Museum(s). It was incredibly large and very crowded. Somewhere along the way we lost our Canadian friends.


We cruised through what seemed to be thousands of ancient roman statues. The amount of art was ridiculous. Eventually, we made it to the Sistine Chapel (no pictures allowed). The entire room was really cool. Still, the ceiling was a little smaller than I imagined. Also, the ceiling was not as domed as I had always imagined. In fact, it was not really a dome at all. Still, it was super cool!

After thoroughly examining Michelangelo’s masterpiece, we decided we were ready to leave the museum. As we ate lunch at the cafeteria we planned out the rest of our day. We decided we would head to St. Peters Basilica.

As we exited the museum we were disappointed to find that it was raining very hard outside. Even so, it was warm and we headed for the famous square. On our way one of the strangest things happened. We randomly bumped into the Bastons Aunt Judy and her husband Gerry! It was absolutely incredible! After talking with them for a while (and getting completely soaked) we continued on our way.

It was a only a short walk but we were still harassed by numerous vendors trying to sell us umbrellas (apparently these guys read the weather report!). Once there we had to wait in a massive line to enter the Basilica. Once we passed through (airport like) security, we got to enter the building. It was a crowded, wet experience.

The building was cluttered with more statues than I could take in. My favorites were John Paul’s (what number?) tomb, the Swiss guards, and the entrance to the catacombs. For anyone that has ever read Angels and Demons (prequel to the Da Vinci Code), it was cool to be in the area where the climax of the story occurs.

It was still raining cats and dogs when we left the basilica. We were all soaked and ready to return to our hostel. We headed to the bus stop where we had to wait for about an hour. While waiting we were reacquainted with Meghan and Sheryln. We also met a new fellow by the name of Tom Storm.

On the bus back to the hostel Tom Storm taught me how to peel a banana upsidedown (from the opposite end one normally peels). It might not sound that exciting but once you do it, it can be very rewarding. Once we reached the hostel we all headed to the supermarket to get some dinner. Several members of our group purchased bananas to try the new peeling method.

We are currently a little saddened by the weather in Italy. It has been raining very hard all day long and shows no signs of letting up. The weather report forecasts rain for at least the next four days. It is somewhat disheartening that we will have to visit the Coliseum in the pouring rain (tomorrow).