Day 2 part 2

Vatican City continued......

  
  When we had made the decision that we would add Rome onto our trip my mother had made one simple request. She wanted to relive a little bit of her catholic child hood and requested a rosary from Vatican City. She even told us it could be the simple plastic beads that the nuns make, as long as she could say it is really from there. Naturally when we walked into the square I began looking for them. I saw a little man with a tiny box that had some, but something told me to keep looking. He only had the plastic ones and I really wanted to give her a nice set that would last through the years. Plus Scott had noticed that the line into St. Peters Church was really kind of long so we may want to jump in line now.  I decided he was right and we got in line to go inside. As we waited we realized the line moves fairly quick, so I wasn't too worried. I did notice that as the day started getting closer and closer to noon line grew HUGE. It literally wrapped around the square. I quickly thanked Scott for not letting me get carried away with shopping like a silly girl. *wink*

       Ok now I don't even know how to describe those first few steps walking inside that church. I literally just walked in and went wwwwoooooowwwww....... Everywhere you looked it there was gold or a painting. Scott and I both love art and the history of it all so we were like little kids watching their favorite movie. Just standing there staring (and possibly drooling a little)  Don't get me wrong Rome in general is that way, but inside St. Peters was incredible. My pictures will never do it justice with my rinky dink camera, but I can at least try to demonstrate it. I also am so happy that we decided to go there on a Sunday, because several room were holding church. You could hear the priests singing and everyone was very quiet and respectful. For a little while I wandered around not paying attention to other people (including Scott) and just stared. I honestly could not believe where I was. All the hard work of planning this trip and suffering through all our tourist moments did not even matter anymore. I was living a dream.

     Once my brain snapped back into the reality that I was walking around with my fiance I realized he was gone. I panicked for a small moment and started looking for him. I found him doing the same thing I was, getting completely lost in the building. I tried to snap a quick pic of him so forgive the blurry-ness but I still loved this one. I was so happy He decided to come with me. My best friend and I got to "Nerd out" about the world together. 
     We walked out of the church eventually because we were both getting tired from all the walking and standing and we wanted to find the Sistine Chapel to see the ceiling. We checked out little picture map to no avail. There was a lot of construction  going on that seemed to be blocking the streets that would lead us there. We decided to finish the hunt for moms rosary and see if someone could help us out. We walked around the corner and found a little shop cart FULL of different trinkets and a huge variety of necklaces. I started to look through them while the nice man chatted with Scott about the "Joys" of living in America. I thought it was a little Ironic because this man was CLEARLY from India and had no idea about our part of America. He asked if there are a lot of Indians living in this "Utah" place and Scott just laughed and said, "Not that kind of Indian, but there are a lot of the others" The man was confused at first and then caught on so he then engaged into the life of the Native Americans. Meanwhile, I had found several beautifully beaded necklaces and was trying to decide between two when the man handed me a small silver box. Scott had told him what I was looking for so he decided to help me. The Box had a picture of the pope on the front and when I opened it there was a completely silver Rosary inside. It was stunning, I asked him the price difference between this one the the plastic ones and of course he said for us it was the same price. (good thing Scottie can chat at times) So we bought it with the little change I had left in my pocket.
     We still had 4 euros left afterwards, so we stopped and got some gelato. We sat on the corner in the shade to give our feet some rest, and sip on some water before looking for the Sistine Chapel. We asked the man at the cart how to get there and he just pointed around the corner and said to follow the street straight up. We walked around and found the street blocked off. It was starting to get very frustrating. We decided we both had walked so much and we still had to make our way back so we would come back another day to find it. So we started the walk back. We stopped at an ATM and had lunch along the way then rested for a few hours to fix the sore feet issue. Not to mention it had started raining. I love rain so we relaxed with the windows open to listen.

     Later when the storm had calmed down I asked if we could make an attempt to see the Trevi fountain today. Our map made it look like it would be quite a walk, but nothing like we had done earlier in the day. Scott said it would be ok if we could stop for dinner on the way. I agreed and told him about "That's Amore" which was a place Georgi and Belinda had told us to try on facebook. Georgi had mentioned it was right around the corner from the Trevi and had the best carbonara.  I was so excited to get down there so we left right away. From Georgi's direction's I thought we would pass the fountain before reaching the restaurant, but Scott stopped me and pointed to the sign along the way. So naturally we had dinner first, and let me tell you guys. Georgi was right about the carbonara. *yum*

     We made it to the Trevi with a little bit of sunlight left, so we snapped a few pictures. There were people there but not really too many, so I made the way down next to the water for some better pictures. Making my dad's favorite picture of our trip! We didn't have a coin to toss into the water (other than a 2 Euro coin and we were on a very strict budget) So I didn't get to toss a coin in to make sure we came back. Scottie had taken the map from me while I took pictures and he made a suggestion that we head up the street and see the fountain of Triton. Another awesome spot. So that's how we ended the night. We stolled over there and watched several guys with dead flowers try to sell them to the tourists. At one point one of them walked right into someone's picture to put a rose in a womans hand claiming it was "free." Taking a few more pictures we then went on back to the motel to get some sleep before it started raining again. Of course I slept with the window open.

Day 2 in Rome (part 1)

The title says it all I guess, I know it's a little boring but, hey, it gets the job done. So here we go Day 2........
     
      We woke up the next day feeling hungry. Luckily for us, the hotel we booked offered us a "free breakfast" however;  not luckily for us, Italy doesn't really count breakfast as a meal. Usually people will drink Coffee and if they are feeling extremely hungry they will have a small pastry. Naturally, what was provided was warm milk, coffee, and a very small basket with some strange sort of stale bread covered in powdered sugar. (not great) I figured we could grab something else while exploring the city anyway so no big deal. We had made a plan the night before that today we would make our way towards Vatican City to see St. Peters and the Sistine Chapel.  I asked the guy at the front desk if he had a map and he gave us one that had pictures of major points on. The map that would later become, "our bible." Since we were still on the early days of our trip, we decided we would save the money and take the whole day to walk to the city. Instead of paying for a bus or taxi. Our plan was to take our time and hit the different pictures that were on the way, so we began walking. Along the way we quickly realized the whole "no breakfast anywhere" thing. Unless we wanted to pay 20 euros to get one meal. We both decided it wasn't really worth it and just stopped for a soda.

     Of course, I wanted to revisit the Pantheon in the daylight and see what it was like. So we went back around the corner to continue our daily ritual. There wasn't really anyone in the square except a couple of young muscular men dressed up in novelty gladiator costumes to take pictures with the tourists for money. I really wanted to go inside but the doors were shut and I could hear music coming from inside. I later learned that it was because they were having church. Apparently a lot of old monuments are still used as such. DESPITE the fact that there is a church of some kind on almost every corner of the city.

     Along the way, we actually ended up getting a little lost and went the wrong direction around the block. In doing so, we ran across the Column of Marcus Aurelius. This CARAZAY column that tells stories of the wars fought by Marcus Aurelius with an angel on top. I forget which one. It was still early in the morning so the sun was coming up right behind it making for an awesome view. (so there may be a lot of pictures in these posts.You can click them if you feel like it) We also went through the Piazza Navona which had Scott's favorite fountain. "The Fountain of the Four rivers" but I'll talk about it another day.
     
     We decided to place checks on the map next to the different things we had seen. So "check" next to the column, "check" next to the Piazza, and moving onward! We had a choice of different bridges to cross and chose one that would take us next to two more landmarks. The Justice building and the Castel St Angelo. It also set us up for my mothers favorite picture of our trip. A view of St. Peter's Square from across the Tiber River. It was gorgeous, like just sit and stare for a while gorgeous. I really feel as if we could have done that through most of the city. I was, after all, in my dream destination. I honestly wish we would have slowed everything down a bit and just took the world in. At least we did it there. We even spent time in the park behind the Castel St Angelo to sit in the shade and people watch. It was a wonderful place to watch the local people just be with their children and pets. Nobody being a silly tourist except us. We found our first "Caesar" statue there as well (more on those later). Scott was even kind enough to take a picture with me. 

     Once we got close to the Vatican we walked past two (not so muscular) men dressed in gladiator costumes. Asking to take pictures with us. I tried to say no, having walked through Vegas and knowing they only want your money, but Scott (bless his heart) Jumped at the opportunity. So we took silly pictures and had a good time, but then one gentleman comes up to Scott telling him he owes them money. I started to tell them we didn't have any and can delete the pictures when Scott proceeds to mention the only thing he is carrying is a 20 euro... *palm to face* ugh. OF COURSE they then say. "That's perfect because it is 10 Euro's a person".... not cool Scott... not cool...  Second silly tourist moment? CHECK. We give the man the LAST 20 euros we have with us "guess we're finding an ATM on the way back" and FINALLY make it to the Vatican....