Judgment Day

July 12, 2014

Judgment Day

Wow! Today was a busy but successful Saturday- our final one in the land of Eatily for 2014.

We got up early to catch a bus to the Vatican. But first, we needed breakfast and two Roma Passes for the two adults. So, we searched to find pastries and crepes to eat. We found a restaurant that had takeaway coffee, Roma passes, and crepes! All was great until they started to make the crepes. I'm pretty sure that I could make a better crepe than the people making them. With the two tries we gave them, it was really funny to watch them attempt to create a super thin pancake-like creation out of batter made for fluffy waffles. We then decided it wasn't worth the wait to order a French masterpiece in Italy. So, we ordered pastries and coffee before heading out.

We caught the famed 64 bus after that. Thankfully, it wasn't too crowded and it was kind of early for any pickpocket to be successful. We arrived at the Vatican shortly after and walked in to see St. Peter's square. I was amazed at the architectural genius of Bernini and even spotted a famous stone from Angels and Demons, pictured below.

We then got going for our 9 AM reservation for the Vatican Museums. It was quite a trek to get over there, but totally worth it. I would like to applaud mom for getting us the reservations because we are pretty sure she saved us about a week in line. The artwork was pretty cool, but we skipped about half of it trying to get to the one and only Sistine Chapel. However, don't you worry- we saw the highlight!

The Sistine Chapel was amazing once we finally got to it! After passing through tons of tour groups, we made it to the chapel but were certainly not alone. I wish I could have taken pictures with my eyes to display the splendor and "wow" aspect of Michelangelo's ceiling and Last Judgment to you... But pictures weren't allowed.

Saint Peter's Basillica was next. This was so ornate and really cool to go inside- unlike anything I have ever seen before. Pictures were allowed here, thankfully, because we got to see Michelangelo's Pietà. He must have been one crazy busy dude to be able to complete everything that we've seen and more.

After taking a little break, we got some lunch and walked by Castel St. Angelo. Though we didn't go in, the bridge was cool and so was the outside.

We took a different bus to get back to our hotel for a longer siesta. Around 2 pm, we headed back out to go see a couple more major sites. When in Rome, one of the "must-do" things is the Colosseum. Here are some pictures of us enjoying a widely recognized landmark:

While we were there, we sat down by Constantine's arch and regrouped. Nick really wanted to go back to the hotel rather than finish up the Colosseum area. So we made a compromise- we went to a church before walking back to the hotel (about a half mile away) for a final siesta. The church was St. Peter in Chains, and it featured another Michelangelo sculpture (also very cool!).

After a final siesta, we did dinner and gelato. Tonight's restaurant is highly ranked on tripadvisor and was quite delicious! Here are tonight's meal pictures: