When in Rome...

Tuesday

**Warning: Please be advised, due to the beauty and artistry and all gold everything everywhere, this post is going to be chock full of photos.
 

Another very exciting day was upon us. We were going to Rome. To see all the places everyone wants to see at least once, whether you're Catholic or not. In preparation, and to avoid another Sicily/Valentino store experience from happening again, I came loaded down with euros and was more than ready to spend them.

We arrived at the Vatican City after an hour drive from the port and visited, in order, St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Square, another adorable family-style pizza place, yet another Basilica I never got the name of and so can't tell you who it's for, the Trevi fountain, and finally, the Coliseum. The entire day was such a whirlwind, especially the first 3 places due to the sheer amount of people inside and our tour guide never really stopping to let us look at each place except for the Sistine Chapel, but totally worth it. The art alone by Michelangelo and all the artists who contributed to the walls and ceiling of the Basilica is so worth visiting I want to take another trip back to Rome in general so I can view it  all at my own leisure over a couple of days instead of a couple of hours.

It's photo time.

Vatican Museum (we didn't go in here)

Vatican Museum building looks like a palace of sorts

Off-center shot of the foyer ceiling before you enter St. Peter's Basilica

Naked men are a common theme

Another ceiling shot

Pano of the Basilica

Entryway into another part of the Basilica

He is Risen!

The ceiling of the Basilica was legit AMAZING

I truly cannot stress to you all enough how important it is to look up whenever you go someplace. You would not imagine the amount of work and detail that goes into ceilings sometimes.

I love this so much

Pause for a moment. 

This next photo is of the infamous ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I only got one. This is due to the fact that you are actually banned from taking photos in the Sistine Chapel at all. It's not heavily enforced (I saw a man holding his phone up to his face pretending to look at something and taking pictures, he was as obvious as each and every one of you were texting during class in high school) but still, I for one was not trying to get stuck in Rome over something as trifling as a photo. And so, I only got one. It's of the beginning 5 scenes out of the 10 total.

Please continue.

Forbidden photo of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

You know how on television the Pope stands on a balcony and makes speeches or waves, etc. That's the balcony.

Pope Sixtus, who commissioned the Sistine Chapel to be built and Michelangelo to paint the ceiling

Classy pillars

Art on Art on Art

These guys wear full uniform at all times and rotate every hour so they don't die of a heart stroke

Statues statues everywhere

I wasn't kidding when I said it was all gold everything

I would like to own this and put it in my apartment. Some one come give me vaulted ceilings first please.

Babes with wings

Mary holding the dead body of Jesus

Post-walk through the Catholic Hall of Fame, we hopped in our taxis because all of us were starving. We figured out these taxi tours have deals worked out with specific restaurants so they bring the business and everyone gets paid. I don't have a problem with it though because everyone needs to eat, literally and figuratively, and the places they brought us to were always very good.

I didn't have time to take pictures of the food we got at this place because I was so hungry I forgot to be honest. They served us bread with oil and vinegar and 2 pizzas per table the moment we walked in. We thought this was lunch, because it was certainly enough food, so The Crew, all of us at one table, dug in. All of us accordingly felt ridiculous when the waiter walked up with 2 massive bowls of pasta. No, the pizza and bread were not lunch, they were the appetizer. The pasta was lunch. And oh was it some delicious pasta. One bowl with red sauce and one bowl with white sauce. The white sauce was better in my opinion but I would either one or both of them again in a heartbeat. After pasta, they served us a panna cotta cake and green, seeded grapes as a pallet cleanser to finish. Needless to say, we all were stuffed by the time we left.

We started calling this blond lady "Aunt Maria". She was one of the owners of the place and all the way LIT the entire time we were there. Couldn't tell if she was a little drunk or just really happy.

Post-pizza bliss and chit-chat

After the food, we stopped at the second Basilica I mentioned earlier that I never got the name of. It was cool inside, much darker, but honestly nothing will ever compare after having been in St. Peter's. ​Had to make a quick pit stop and grab some gelato too because my love for it is very real.

Pano of the dark less cool Basilica

Lots of Mary holding baby Jesus depictions

Gelato in every port, you already know

Next we headed over to the Trevi Fountain which was only a couple blocks away. I wished we'd been able to walk there and take in more of the streets of Rome, especially when I saw how close it was to where we'd just come from but hey, you can't win them all.

This was another issue I had with tours in general. When we arrived a couple blocks away from the Fontana di Trevi, our drivers told us we only had 10 minutes. That would have been fine but the walk there alone took at least 4, not to mention the million shops we passed on the way. Being that rushed to the point where one of The Crew and I saw some leather bags in a shop that we liked so we ran up to the fountain, snapped A photo, then ran back to the store and STILL got hassled and hurried out because the drivers were ready and waiting to go is not how I prefer to remember the trip. All the same, I got my photo of the fountain and I got my leather bag (even though I should have bought a second smaller one for myself but oh well) so I'm happy.

Throw a coin! Make a wish! Fall in love?

 After that hassle and everyone's gushing over the bags I managed to buy, we zoomed over to the Coliseum which leads me to another sad part of our trip. We didn't have time to go inside. At all. I visited the Coliseum in Rome and only got photos of the outside. I didn't get to go down and relive the Gladiator before my very eyes. For this reason, if nothing else, I will definitely be visiting Rome again. Some time soon hopefully. These are the things I live for.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!!??

We got back to the ship in more than enough time which only further agitated me. Dinner was again uneventful but nice to see everyone and The Crew ended up staying out at the Havana Bar then moved over to the Liquid Lounge for some weird and awkward-because-the-dance-floor-was-empty-and-the-DJ-sucked-dancing once it closed. My night didn't end until 2:45AM. And what a night of chuckles it was.

 xx