Next, it was the Vatican museum, which was basically an hour of misleading “Sistine Chapel This Way” signs. In fairness, there actually was some pretty cool stuff there like Egyptian and Roman relics, and of course medieval and Renaissance sculpture, frescoes, and tapestries. Katelyn was keenly interested, having studied several of the Raphael rooms in art history class (textbook in hand, passers by asked if she was Greg’s private tour guide).
At last, we made it to Michaelangelo’s sistine chapel. The ceiling was much higher than we anticipated, and lucky for you there were no photos allowed (or you’d have seen 9234712359626198 posted here). Jen did steal a few before getting yelled at. But don’t worry, she didn’t use the flash so no harm done. Katelyn made sure to point out Botticelli’s narrative frescos—one each about Moses and Jesus—that line the walls. Poor guy always gets overshadowed (literally) by Michaelangelo’s work above.
They make you walk through the gift shop on the way out, but all we had in mind was lunch. After a spot of rain, the girls were on a quest for fake purses. Well, Jen at least. By the end of the day, she managed to negotiate her way into ‘Chanel’ and ‘Prada’ handbags.
After that, we decided to split up with Jen and Nick heading back towards the Forum and Greg and Katie heading off to look for other famous Roman things like the “type-writer” monument, Trajan’s column and Santa Maria Maggiore.
At nightfall, we went on a self-guided walking tour through the city center. We started at Campo de’ Fiori then made our way through Piazza Navona, where there were lots of street performers and such (check out our pics of the fire twirlers). The Four Rivers Fountain was under restoration, which seemed to be the case for a lot of fountains we saw. From there, we walked past the Pantheon, which was lit up and looked spectacular!
A couple piazzas and an obelisk later, we arrived at Giolitti’s, home of the best gelato ever anywhere…and its cheap too! Even more thrilling was our sighting of David Krumholtz (better known to members of our generation as Charlie Eppes from Numb3rs or Bernard form The Santa Claus, or Michael the nerdy guy from 10 Things I Hate About You.) Okay, so he’s not REALLY famous, but we were excited nonetheless.
With gelato in hand, we continued on our way to the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps which were terribly crowded so we didn’t stay long. Instead we headed back to our hostel and called it a day!
