Honeymoon: Day 5

Day five began with our free continental breakfast at Hotel Taormina.  The offerings in Rome were not quite as good as what we had in Paris.  Each place setting had three rolls that were what I normally would have considered dinner rolls if I were at home.  There were a few soft cheeses to choose from, crackers and more bread.  We ate quickly before heading out to find the Metro line heading to Vatican City.

We arrived at Vatican City around 10am.  We were quickly approached by an English speaking man offering us a tour of the Vatican museum.  He explained that tickets for the museum would be 20 Euros each, but for 10 Euros more per person we could have a guide.  After a bit of debate, we joined the tour guide.

The museum was amazing.  So much to see, and not enough time to take it all in.  Our tour lasted two hours, and ended in the Sistine Chapel.  It was all so beautiful.  I wish that there had not been so many people in the Chapel and that our guide had allowed us a bit more time to look around in some of the areas.  I did sneak a few shots in the last room we visited before entering the Sistine Chapel.  The Chapel was so full that we didn't stay long.  There just wasn't room enough to look without being bumped around by the other visitors.

that's our guide....and check out that ceiling!

Exiting the Vatican Museum

After we exited the museum, we walked across the road to Ristorante Paolo for lunch.  We each had a Coke Light and split a prosciutto pizza.

After lunch, we walked down to St. Peter's Square and got in line to enter the Basilica.  I worried that it would take a while to get into the church, but the line moved quite quickly thanks to the Swiss Guard efficiently moving people through the metal detectors.

Michelangelo's Pieta

St. Peter's Basilica is enormous...... so many chapels, paintings, sculptures and people.  There were guards working in the church to move people along and allow everyone a chance to see everything.  I was most surprised to find popes on display.  I was aware that popes are buried at St. Peter's, but was under the impression that most were below the ground.  Pope John XXIII and Pope Pius IX are actually in tombs within the chapel.

Pope Pius IX

Pope John XXIII

After we had completed our tour of the chapel, we went looking for the ticket window for visiting the top of the cupola.  I knew prior to our visit that you could get there by elevator or stairs, and we decided to save 2 Euros each by taking the stairs.  We knew that once the elevator climbed as far as it could, there would still be 300+ stairs so we figured the elevator couldn't save us that much time...... wrong!  We climbed and climbed up those spiral stairs before finally reaching the level where the people were getting off of the elevator.  At this level, we were able to walk around the inside of the dome over the altar in St. Peter's.

Scary, Narrow Stairs

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From there we continued our journey up.  The next stairs were not at all like the ones we had been climbing.  The stairwell was narrow, poorly lit and the walls were slanted.  Just when we thought we were approaching the door that would take us out to look over St. Peter's Square and all of Rome, we would find more stairs.  This set was a spiral, metal staircase with a rope in the middle to hold onto instead of handrails.  I thought I was going to die.  Claustrophobia was setting in, I could barely breathe, and it was hot!

Resting on top of St. Peter's Basilica 

When we finally reached the top, the view was amazing.  We both agreed that it is definitely worth the crazy climb...... once.  Before heading back down, we bought two Coke Lights and sat down to enjoy the cool air and sunshine.  It was about this time that the bell tower next to where we sat began to ring.

After we left Vatican City, we took the Metro to find the Trevi Fountain.  Once I told Jtl that it was the largest baroque fountain in all of Rome, the jokes began.  "Why would we want to see a broken fountain?"...... and so on.  It was amazing, and I wish my camera's battery had not died before we found the fountain.  The shots we got with my iPhone are ok, but would have been much better with a quality camera.

The road that we walked down toward the fountain was wonderful with lots of little restaurants and souvenir shops.  There were people everywhere, and it was nearly impossible to get a picture of the fountain without people in the shot.  We had several "professional" photographers offer to hold my phone to get a picture for us at no charge, but we opted to stick with the extended arm self portrait method.   Across the street from Trevi, we found another Basilica.  We stopped in, but did not stay long.

After stopping in to freshen up at the hotel, we asked the front desk where we should dine that evening.  He suggested a restaurant several blocks away, and we set out to find it.  When we arrived, we were told that they would not serve dinner until 15 'til the hour, so we went next door to Panella to wait.  With our two glasses of house white, the waiter served us each a plate of finger foods.  He told us that they were a gift and they were amazing.  Looking back, I wish we had just dined at this restaurant....... even if they charged us 20 Euros for two glasses of house wine and our free appetizers.

Free gift

Jtl playing with his mozzarella appetizer

We dined at Ristorante Tempio Di Mecenate.  The service was wonderful.  The heated patio was lovely.  We ordered the table white wine and mozzarelline fritte, and began to look over the entrees.  I considered going wtih the gnocchi in gorgonzola cream sauce, but decided that I couldn't resist the Risotta alla Crema di Scampi.  Risotto in a creamy cognac sauce with shrimp?  Yum!  Jtl went with the lasagna.

That's not a shrimp!

Raw sausage anyone?

The verdict?  Jtl said that he prefers the lasagna that I make to what he had that evening.  Go me!  Mine was a plate of rice in a wonderful sauce with one large prawn on top of it.  It still had eyes.  Yikes!  I decided to ditch that and order a pizza.  Approximately 8 minutes later, our sausage and mushroom pizza arrived.  I thought that a pizza would be a safe bet, but I swear that they simply dropped raw sausage on top of this and sent it out to the table.  It was not pretty.

After dinner, it was time to call it a day.  We must be up early to head to the Colosseum on day 6!