Vatican City

Day 19

We got up and went to the hotel balcony for breakfast then walked to the subway and took the subway to go to the Vatican. The subway was packed and I was pushed right beside people and felt very claustrophobic. We walked to the Vatican and got to bypass the line to get in because we had a tour. If you ever go to the Vatican I recommend this as the line was huge! We all had to go through security and a metal detector, since Vatican City is its own country. Once we got in we met our tour guide and were given a headset piece so we could hear her talk through it as she can’t talk loudly in the Vatican museum. She explained the paintings in the Sistine Chapel (which was at the end of the tour) and explained that the tour would be 2 hours long! I wasn't exactly feeling a 2 hour tour. She took us through the first section, which was tapestries and stopped to explain some, then there were sculptures and painted ceilings and walls.

After a while it all looked the same and it felt like it was never ending! Shannon and two other girls left early as they were bored and hot. Then a few of us decided to leave too because we were so bored and wanted out. We left and went through the Sistine Chapel where I snuck 2 pictures, then left to get some pizza in a little food court section where the gift shops were.

We met up with the rest of the group and walked to St. Peter’s square to take pictures at the Basilica. I wanted to do some more shopping so we stopped in a few stores on our walk, my favourite being the makeup store Kiko.

During this time I kept losing and finding friends on our walk. I was really wishing that I had a working cellphone so I could communicate with everyone at this point.  After, we walked to the Spanish Steps and around the nice part of Rome where all the fancy stores are. I watched the Lizzie McGuire Movie (yes, I know that's embarrassing) before I left and as I was walking around Rome, I kept imagining the movie.

Busy Spanish Steps

The Altare della Patria - monument built in honour of Victor Emmanuel, the first king of unified Italy

Trevi fountain in the day time

After our trek around Rome we walked back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. The walk to dinner was quite sketchy, we passed by China Town and Little Italy. I really felt unsafe and did not want to be there. We got to the restaurant after quite a long walk. The inside of the restaurant was very nice, there were fake vines on the ceiling. First course was pasta with meat sauce which was decent. While we were waiting for our second course there was an older man who worked at the restaurant and he sang a few songs to us in Italian and then in English. Second course was veal, which I didn’t eat. Then we had some of crème brule for dessert.

Rigatoni