Rome Day 3 - The Vatican

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Typical Trastevere street 

Last night's dinner was a place Rick Steves has listed in his guidebook - Pizzaria Dar Poeto here in Trastevere.  Excellent pizza and only 8 Euros!  Combined with the vino russo della casa at 4 euro, it can't be beat.  We have found that these individual pizzas are more than enough for the two of us, making for a reasonable priced meal.

8AM:  Whoo Hoo! We slept through the night!  I had a few problems the night before, unlike my wife.  Jet lag my ass!

Today's plan was the Vatican.  We think we've figured out the transportation, but all bets are off once you get on the bus.  The only problem is that on Wednesdays the Pope does his weekly address in St Peter's Square, so there is bound to be a thousands of people there.  We waffled a bit during breakfast, but after talking with Lorenza (the proprietor at Arco Del Lauro) we decided to go for it.

So we hopped on the #23 bus and it dropped us off at the edge of St Peters Square.  Sure enough, the Pope was talking to tens of thousands of people in the square.  But, our plan was to hit the Vatican Museum during his address.  

The Pope!

After fighting our way through hundreds, yes hundreds, of people trying to sell us guided tours allowing us to skip the 3 hour long line, we arrived at the entrance to the Vatican Museum.

Guess  what?  No line!  We breezed right in.  It's like we were the only ones there!

We were the only ones there!

The Vatican Museum is filled with all forms of significant religious art obtained throughout the last two millennium.  Not sure how it was all acquired, but it's here.  We wandered the halls with the other masses for two hours, with the tour ending in the Sistine Chapel.  No photos allowed here though.

In one of the halls visited (Galleria Della Carte) we even saw an old map of Umbria showing some of the cities we'll be visiting in the coming days.

After squeezing through the mass of humans out of the Sistine Chapel we found ourselves in St. Peter's Basilica, tired and hungry.  Rather than continuing on we elected to head back to Trastevere for a meal and some rest.  Now to find the #23 bus stop.  Of course, it is not the stop we departed from, that would be too easy.  But we found it in no time and were some back home.

Along the way, I entertained myself by taking pictures of Italian dogs.

 

They look just like American dogs, but have no clue on what you are saying!

After an afternoon/evening rest it was time for dinner at a local recommended spot Da Enzo. It was a great night and the wait was worth it!

I just love these narrow streets at night - too bad the photos don't want to cooperate!

Tomorrow morning we have an early train ride to Assisi for the start of the bike riding on Friday.  Can't wait.

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