The Vatican City, Pantheon

One of the few things open on Mondays in Rome is the Vatican Museums, so we decided to go there, with a visit to the Basilica d' St. Peter first. To the right is a photo of the Swiss Guard, the "army" of the Vatican (which is its own country). The photo above and to the right is the Basilica, which surprisingly wasn't very crowded on the day we went. It is amazing inside - the artwork, ceilings, statues are breathtaking! Just the immense size of it is amazing. Sean loved the statue of St. Peter with the toes worn off his foot from so many people rubbing it... We then went to the Vatican Museums - there is so many amazing pieces of art in this museum and it is so big, it would take days to go through. We focused on what most people do: the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel. We followed the herd of people through long hallways filled with art, and hardly were able to look at anything because there we so many people you just had to keep going! It was a LONG walk too... and there is only so many Life Savers/M-n-M's I wanted Sean to eat!! We "missed" the Raphael Rooms because they were not marked (we walked through them, we just didn't know it because there is no signage), and then went into the Sistine Chapel. Again, so many people it was hard to enjoy it. And poor Sean, being shorter than an adult, he couldn't see very well and also had no interest in it. He let us look for a few minutes though... It is beautiful, and I have a hard time imagining how Michelangelo created it.

We decided to have an "authentic" Italian meal for lunch - a first course of pasta with wine, and then a second course of meat (with more wine). We were pretty full after the first course, but managed to stuff in the second course. And then there is dessert (which we didn't have at the restaurant - we opted for gelato later on!) We decided that the meat course isn't worth it because the meat wasn't of good quality and the pasta is so good, why have meat??!! I don't know how Italians stay thin - all those carbs, wine, gelato...but the breakfasts aren't anything heavy, so maybe they only eat one big meal a day and that is it. Makes sense I guess...they take a nap after lunch too, which I love that idea!

After lunch we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant and went to the Pantheon - above left photo. You can't really tell from the picture, but it had started pouring rain after our lunch, so we took a taxi to the Pantheon. This is a church that has a hole in the roof of the dome - so the rained poured in! We thought that was very funny! There were pews for people to sit in, but not in the middle because it rained in and it was roped off. Very interesting building... We then walked back to our hotel via the Trevi Fountain, where Sean had to throw more money into it! Good thing we had lots of 1 and 2 cent Euro coins!