We woke up earlier than needed, of course, but were glad to
have time to wake up fully before heading to the Vatican. The breakfast at the hotel is so
awesome! Sarah smuggled lunch yet again
as well as an apple for an afternoon snack.
We walked about 25 minutes to the underground and arrived way early to
the Vatican. It was really nice to be
there early, because the office of our tour group was not easy to find. Today was full of waiting around to see great
things. We thought we were getting a
tour, but we just got a fast pass to the Vatican Museum. It was very unclear as to what we were
getting ourselves into, which was frustrating, but we went with the flow. We listened to Rick Steves’ podcast
throughout the museum trying to navigate through the crowds. People are NOT nice at the Vatican
museum. It is completely crowded and
people are more than willing to push you aside to get ahead of you. We were sharing earbuds and moved well
together while listening to the podcast, but got frustrated with the other
visitors who pushed us aside to get ahead.
The Vatican Museum is vast and gorgeous!
It is very elaborate. The Sistine
Chapel is amazing! We had a podcast which was 20 minutes long just for the
chapel. From there, they (the Vatican workers)
try to get you to buy souvenirs as well as food. All the signs lead you to these sights and do
not assist you getting out.
Sarah found a guard who told her that we could get quickly
to St. Peter’s Basilica, but after we back-tracked most of the way to the
Sistine Chapel, we got stopped by a guard.
It was very confusing trying to navigate the area, but thank goodness,
we have the fast-pass to get us to the Basilica.
We ended up walking all the way around to the Basilica,
which is quite a trek, but the Basilica is worth it! We listened again to a Rick Steves’ podcast,
which was better than the audio tour which was offered. We tried the audio tour, but Rick Steves is
way better. We stayed for about an hour
at the Basilica, and were pretty tired of being pushed around and also sick of
the crowds.
We took the bus to a center part of Rome and walked to a
little authentic family fun restaurant.
It was a little tough to find, but totally worth it! We had an
authentically Roman dinner which was awesome.
We didn’t spend much time there, but we did at the Irish Pub which was
around the corner. We met some people
from Ireland and some Americans from California. We ended up staying much more than intended
because the company was so nice.
From the pub, we headed to a spot where we thought the bus
was going to pick us up. After about 30
minutes, we decided to pick up another type of bus, which worked out
nicely. We have gotten a good idea of
the area, so we hopped off the bus when we recognized a stop near to our
hotel. On the way back, we stopped at
the same little shop where we have bought wine each night and bought another
last bottle. We are running low on Euros
and didn’t have quite enough to pay for what we wanted. The owner said it was okay and that we could
pay him in the morning. That cracked us
up and we felt bad, so we hit up the bank and took out a little bit of Euro so
that we could pay our tab. We hope that
we did not rack up a big fee from that transaction, but we also really
appreciate his kindness.
When we got back to the hotel, we made sure we checked into
the airline and actually changed our seats so that we could sit together on the
way back. Fingers crossed that we will
make it back safely.
Unfortunately, we are currently watching the coverage of the
events happening in Turkey and France.
Let’s hope that peace will come soon J
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