An American Girl's Travels in Europe: Our Visit to the Pope's City

Today we planned to head to Vatican City (technically it's own country) to see the Vatican and St. Paul's. This morning before we left I looked at our itinerary and noticed that it said reservations recommended. I thought I'd take a look and see if we could get tickets for a tour. The earliest tour was at 12:30. We decided to wing it and try our luck without tickets. We learned the hard way. It was an hour and a half in a line full of "colorful characters." It was sort of like going to Disneyland on the busiest and hottest day of the year. We were glad that we only had an hour and a half wait, but would for sure next time get tickets ahead of time since those people didn't have to wait. We really wanted a guided tour, but the people kept directing us upstairs, and so we bought our tickets and got upstairs only to find out from information upstairs that we needed to go downstairs (to an area past where our tickets had been scanned). We decided to settle on the audio guide tour. It worked out ok for us, although we still thought a guide might have been better. We were there for almost 5 hours. The Egyptian exhibit was cool, but we all agreed we learned the most in the Etruscan exhibit. Seeing the works of art that I teach on first hand was amazing. I don't have adequate words for the feelings of seeing the School of Athens by Raphael or the Sistene Chapel ceiling or Last Judgement by Michaelangelo. It was beautiful!!

After the Vatican, we quickly grabbed paninis and fresh drinks. We then headed over to St. Peter's Cathedral. In both the Vatican and St. Peter's it is expect that people will adhere to a dress code. Women have to cover their shoulders and pretty close to their knees. We were glad we knew that ahead of time, as we saw people get turned away at St. Peter's for not adhering. The fashion police (no joke) stopped them! We waited in line and then began the trek up to the cupola. Emily, one of my former students INSISTED we go, so we did. It a total of 500 and some odd steps if you're really adventurous. Since we'd already been on our feet and walking all day, we decided to opt for the elevator (a whole 2 euro more.. well worth it) Once you take the elevator to the top of the cupola you can stay there (after you've been inside the dome of the church) OR you can go all the way to the top of the church dome (some 200 more steps). All 3 of us braved the steep climb, which Amanda decided was "not for the faint of heart". Your legs will definitely feel like jello after you climb up AND down those 200 steps, but the view is ABSOLUTELY worth every euro!! We had a breathtaking 360 degree view of Rome. We then went inside the Cathedral and happened to be there as a church service was going on. The organ played and the women's choir sang acappella filling the cathedral with beautiful sounds. We walked around in awe of the beauty and size of the Cathedral. It definitely rivals St. Giovanni's from yesterday. We even headed into the crypt and got to see where the Apostle Peter is buried (according to the church). As we were leaving the Cathedral it was 6o clock. The Swiss guard that protects that Vatican was making a changing of the guard and we got to see that. While it was no where near as impressive as the ceremony at Arlington, it was still cool to see. Their outfits are snazzier than the guards at Arlington though. ;)

We come home showered (Did I mention it was in the high 80s and humid today as we did all this?!) and then headed down to the Tiber River to eat dinner. We found a cute restaurant across the bridge from where we are staying near the Camp de Fiori and ate there. It was the cheapest dinner yet, but by far one of the best. We watched the sun set over the river and then headed along the booths that were peddling everything from dresses to jewelry and food.

Tomorrow we're hoping for a little slower pace.

me in front of St. Peter's Cathedral