Rome - i

Today was our holiest day so far - we went to the Vatican, and I
managed to leave with no more than a postcard with the Pope on it (I
was thinking about the full set of dishes). St. Peter's was really
beautiful, and very different from a lot of the other churches we have
been in. I especially liked the Bernini stained glass in the front,
and how the marble statues seemed to be in motion. We spent a few
quiet minutes in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament (for praying
only) and it was spectacular! (I may have finished praying quickly to
look around) The chaple is gilded all over, has huge angel statues
guarding the Sacrament, and an intricately decorated ceiling. One of
the coolest things about being in Europe at this time of year (besides
missing out on huge crowds and awful heat) is that all of the churches
still have their decorations up from Christmas. St. Peter's had a huge
nativity up in the square, and then another, smaller one, inside.
Anyway, from there we wound our way through the Vatican Museum, seeing
tons of familiar statues from Art History class, past quite a few
rooms that provided visual overload with frescoes on 5 walls, to the
Sistine Chapel. It was beautiful and quiet. I had heard horror stories
about shuffling through without having a chance to enjoy the space due
to crowds, but we were able to find a spot to just stand, crane our
necks, and then ooh and aah.
After gelato and a brief siesta, we went for an evening walk towards
the Pantheon, but ended up walking all the way to the Spanish Steps
for the second time in two nights because someone asked us for
directions, and we couldn't explain, so we just walked with her, and
finally figured out which bus takes us back to the Campo de Fiori
(near the hotel) and got dropped off in front of a gelaterie that
served pineapple flavor (we haven't seen it in too many places).
Andrew tried to buy a "Rolex" but I guess that will have to wait for
another day.
<3 Lizzy