Woke up a bit later today and took the train back to St. Peter's. The train trip was easy since it was a weekend, but there was a MASSIVE crowd of people making their way from the direction of the train station into the Basilica. It was crazy. We also had about 85 people ask us if we wanted a Vatican tour. After about the 67th, I ignored the guy who said "Do you speak English?" and Brenda proceeded to tell him that we didn't want a tour. He called me out and said "You do speak English!" Thanks for blowing my cover, B! lol
On the Metro! This picture was taken before the young kid with the accordion came up. He was playing music on the train for money, and Nikki gave him a couple of coins. I didn't have any change, but he proceeded to stand in front of me and play for a good 5 minutes, while staring at me intently and holding his hand out. The smallest denominations of bills I had was a 10. Sorry kiddo, you're not that good! It did make for an awkward train ride as he continued to stare me down. At least I didn't have the couple trying to make a baby in the seat next to Brenda.
And, we made fun of the signs on the metro doors that frowned upon putting your butt or your crotch in the doors. Brenda was very adamant about making sure Nikki didn't get anything inappropriate caught in the door. She was so anti-butt fun! (Sorry, lots of our jokes make no sense to anyone but the three of us!)
Forgot to add this video to yesterday's blog, so here's the inside of St. Peter's!
Let's get ready to CLIIIIIIIIIMB!
You can do eet!
Forgot to get this photo op yesterday.
We eventually made it to the front of the line and opted to take the stairs the whole way. There is a lift that takes you up 200 or so, but then you still have to climb the remaining 300+. We were contemplating the lift yesterday since we were running low on time, but since we had all the time in the world today, we went for all stairs. And a good time to see just how out of shape I am. 551 to the top, baby!
We eventually made it to the front of the line and opted to take the stairs the whole way. There is a lift that takes you up 200 or so, but then you still have to climb the remaining 300+. We were contemplating the lift yesterday since we were running low on time, but since we had all the time in the world today, we went for all stairs. And a good time to see just how out of shape I am. 551 to the top, baby!
Yeah, I get more winded the higher we go.
More steps.
The first steps sucked horribly. They were really wide super short stairs, and they effed up my stride. Damn long legs! Fortunately, they didn't last long and we had normal type steps for a little while. We quickly made it up to the first level when we realized we hadn't even been in the cupola yet. We had to go outside on the roof to get up into the cupola. Then came the shitty stairs. Narrow, windy, steep and Willy-Wonka tilted stairs.
The first steps sucked horribly. They were really wide super short stairs, and they effed up my stride. Damn long legs! Fortunately, they didn't last long and we had normal type steps for a little while. We quickly made it up to the first level when we realized we hadn't even been in the cupola yet. We had to go outside on the roof to get up into the cupola. Then came the shitty stairs. Narrow, windy, steep and Willy-Wonka tilted stairs.
The view inside from the bottom part of the cupola.
Going up there!
Another view on the way up.
Crazy narrow windy stairs.
I guess the slanted walls make sense since we're going up in a dome.
Inception-esque walls.
No idea what I'm doing.
There was an unfortunate inscription on one of the walls. Pope Rocks were the first two words. I won't repeat the last word because it's filthy. However, we really liked "Pope Rocks" and continued to say it quite a bit. Especially on our breathless journey to the top.
WTF...Are we there yet? I was breathing pretty heavily at this point, and thought I was going to pass out. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't pretty. If you are the teensiest bit claustrophobic, I don't recommend this at all. It's not for the timid!
More effing stairs!
I do realize that I sound like a dork in these videos, just so you know.
But, oh was it worth it. The view was incredible. We couldn't have asked for a better day. Blue skies, sun, no rain! It was breathtaking! It was also incredibly crowded, so trying to get a photo shoot without random strangers in the photo was impossible. I took the time though to get all of my fancy schmany photos out of the way, and I hope they all turn out! We didn't spend too much time at the top, because there were only so many photos you could take. And I guarantee you I took every single one of them.
Yay! We made it!!
Photo op!
The square
Effect on my camera that makes it look like a miniature model.
Silly/pensive photo shoot.
Soooo, back down we go. Going back down was a bit easier, especially once we got past the first tight-squeeze stairs. I'm glad we did this in March and not July. I was sweating with 60 degree temps. I would have left a trail of sweat behind me if we came in July. Not to mention the stench of all those sweaty stinky bodies. *shudder*
Soooo, back down we go. Going back down was a bit easier, especially once we got past the first tight-squeeze stairs. I'm glad we did this in March and not July. I was sweating with 60 degree temps. I would have left a trail of sweat behind me if we came in July. Not to mention the stench of all those sweaty stinky bodies. *shudder*
Staged? Yes. Accurate? Yes. We all felt this way.
I forgot to bring my list of addresses with me, so I was only able to send two postcards from the Vatican. We've heard that their postal system is much quicker and organized than Rome, so it would be beneficial to mail things from here. The only addresses I had memorized were my parent's and mine, so yeah, I only sent two.
And yes, I sent one to myself. Don't judge me.
I forgot to bring my list of addresses with me, so I was only able to send two postcards from the Vatican. We've heard that their postal system is much quicker and organized than Rome, so it would be beneficial to mail things from here. The only addresses I had memorized were my parent's and mine, so yeah, I only sent two.
And yes, I sent one to myself. Don't judge me.
Tastes kinda holy. ;-)
We headed back to the train station to head over to the Pantheon. I was also really looking forward to this, but before we could go there, we were deciding where to go for lunch. Cranky pants were coming out again since we were so hungry.
And this is when we met Margie. At first, she seemed like a nice American trying to help us find a place to eat. She tried to get us to go to a place close to the Vatican, but I really wanted to get out of this touristy area and go somewhere else that could be cheaper. She spent the next 10 minutes talking about anything and everything under the sun including how she left the States, had been living in Italy for years, but refused to learn the language, how she had worked for every tour agency in Rome, how she was a very trustworthy person, and basically how we should stock up on supplies when we got home because the world was going to end or something. I kept trying to get us away, but I don't think any of us wanted to be rude. Eventually we were able to break away and she continued to follow us, spouting off random crap down the street. I tuned her out and just tried to keep us moving to the train station.
She eventually left and I made sure everyone still had their purses intact. I was afraid she was the "decoy" used to grab people's attention, while her cohorts stole people's money. Fortunately, she wasn't that, she was just bat-shit crazy.
We headed to the Pantheon and were about ready to eat our faces off at this point. We found a cute little restaurant called Pizza Ciro and settled in for lunch. One of the good things about restaurants in Italy is that they post their menu outside. We were able to gauge menu options and prices before we ever stepped foot inside a restaurant. This was great for eliminating pricier options.
Pizza Ciro
At Pizza Ciro, I ordered the Boscaiola Pizza, basically tomato, mozzarella, parmesan, oil, ham and mushrooms. Pretty much the same thing I ordered at Recaffe, but this one wasn't nearly as good. I think the flavor of it was fine, but they cooked it a bit long and the whole bottom of my pizza was burnt. I'm not a fan of eating charcoal, but I ate almost all of it just because I was so hungry. Again they tried to get us water, but I had brought my bottle with me and didn't want to pay for water. Brenda ordered some and they brought her a giant bottle of water with "NO GAS" that would haunt her in less than an hour.
At Pizza Ciro, I ordered the Boscaiola Pizza, basically tomato, mozzarella, parmesan, oil, ham and mushrooms. Pretty much the same thing I ordered at Recaffe, but this one wasn't nearly as good. I think the flavor of it was fine, but they cooked it a bit long and the whole bottom of my pizza was burnt. I'm not a fan of eating charcoal, but I ate almost all of it just because I was so hungry. Again they tried to get us water, but I had brought my bottle with me and didn't want to pay for water. Brenda ordered some and they brought her a giant bottle of water with "NO GAS" that would haunt her in less than an hour.
Brenda and her soon-to-be nemesis.
Brenda tried to get us to drink some of her water, saying she couldn't possibly drink all of it. But in fact, she could drink all of it, and nearly immediately regretted her decision. After lunch we went to the Pantheon, and you just turn a corner and BAM, it's right there. This ancient structure just sat right in the middle of a little piazza humming with life and activity. While it sat there looking austere and humble at the same time.
Like most things I've seen here, I can't explain what it's like. It's just so beautiful in it's simpleness. It's not adorned with anything, no fancy mosaics or carvings. But, it kind of brings a tear to your eye. We went inside and it's not what I expected. Lots of marble and mosaics and fancier than I anticipated. I mean, I know it's a church, but I was expecting something a bit simpler inside than what I saw. The oculus in the center is enormous and quite impressive to see. It's quite the engineering feat and also the only source of light. While walking across the floor, we noticed little holes in the floor. It's a drainage system for when the rain comes in the oculus. Ahh, yeah, that makes sense. I was wondering where all the water went. I bet the floor is slippery as shit though!
Nikki's pizza had something called aubergines on it. That was the English word that was in the menu and we couldn't figure out what the heck they were until the waiter cleared up our confusion. Aubergine = eggplant. Good to know!
Brenda tried to get us to drink some of her water, saying she couldn't possibly drink all of it. But in fact, she could drink all of it, and nearly immediately regretted her decision. After lunch we went to the Pantheon, and you just turn a corner and BAM, it's right there. This ancient structure just sat right in the middle of a little piazza humming with life and activity. While it sat there looking austere and humble at the same time.
Like most things I've seen here, I can't explain what it's like. It's just so beautiful in it's simpleness. It's not adorned with anything, no fancy mosaics or carvings. But, it kind of brings a tear to your eye. We went inside and it's not what I expected. Lots of marble and mosaics and fancier than I anticipated. I mean, I know it's a church, but I was expecting something a bit simpler inside than what I saw. The oculus in the center is enormous and quite impressive to see. It's quite the engineering feat and also the only source of light. While walking across the floor, we noticed little holes in the floor. It's a drainage system for when the rain comes in the oculus. Ahh, yeah, that makes sense. I was wondering where all the water went. I bet the floor is slippery as shit though!
Drain holes.
Fountain across from the Pantheon.
This gem was in a store right behind the Pantheon. So, if you're looking for a painting of a fancy cat in a suit in a library, I can show you right where it is.
At this point, I thought Brenda's bladder might explode, so she went in search of a bathroom. No public ones to be found, so she ended up having to buy a pastry at a shop in exchange for getting to use the bathroom. Totally ridiculous, but totally worth it. Gotta love Italian bathroom situations! Since she got a pastry, Nikki and I went to get gelato and sit outside the Pantheon at the fountain. I tried a mix of pineapple and coconut and the pineapple left me underwhelmed. It didn't really taste like pineapple and was actually kind of bland. The coconut was scrumptious though and I eat that stuff like it's crack.
It had been a long day of standing in lines, so we headed back to our hotel to get some rest before dinner. I wanted a break from reading the map so I could enjoy the sites, and gave Nikki and Brenda the job. Nikki tried, but we ended up going the wrong direction. I'm a control freak and I'm surprised I let them get as far as they did before I said anything. Eventually I told them we were going the wrong way and tried not to sound like a prick while doing it. Brenda took the map from there and eventually got us home just fine. She had to get "inside the map". That's a Friends reference. I was proud of her, since she had previously said she sucked at map reading!
It had been a long day of standing in lines, so we headed back to our hotel to get some rest before dinner. I wanted a break from reading the map so I could enjoy the sites, and gave Nikki and Brenda the job. Nikki tried, but we ended up going the wrong direction. I'm a control freak and I'm surprised I let them get as far as they did before I said anything. Eventually I told them we were going the wrong way and tried not to sound like a prick while doing it. Brenda took the map from there and eventually got us home just fine. She had to get "inside the map". That's a Friends reference. I was proud of her, since she had previously said she sucked at map reading!
Brenda "getting inside the map".
Good to know.
For dinner, we requested a suggestion from Anna at our hotel and she said Targetta or Target or something. She gave us directions to it, but we wandered aimlessly for a half an hour trying different streets. We thought it was supposed to be close to our hotel, but we couldn't find it anywhere. (In our defense, she hadn't given us any street names to go by.) We even tried asking a street cop and that did us no good. We tried to find another place and even walked into one ristorante. But, we ended up walking out shortly thereafter, because it wasn't really what we were looking for! We saw a place called Alessio's and pondered over the menu for a few minutes. I really wanted risotto, since Nikki's from the night before looked so damn good. But, their options for that were slim. A few Americans came out while we were looking at the menu and said it was wonderful and a lot of fun. Eventually we caved and went in. But not before I tried to pull the door handle and couldn't open the bloody door again. Damn Italian doors! I never know to push or pull.
We were determined to have a real dinner and sit for longer than the 45 minutes it usually took us to eat. I ordered pasta alla vodka which was penne with a vodka/tomato/cream sauce. The waiter said, in broken English, "and bacon too, okay?" Uh, hell yeah bacon is okay! Sign me up! (I've realized since then that this was the first Friday of Lent and he was probably asking for Catholic reasons rather than making sure I was okay with bacon. Oops....slipped a bit on this one. :S) We ordered a liter of wine and it came out in a cute little jug.
Wine!!!!
The pasta was incredible. I grew up with fully cooked pasta that wasn't firm at all. Hell, my grandma would cook her macaroni so long it nearly tripled in size. I never thought I would like "al dente" pasta, but this stuff was phenomenal. I devoured the entire thing in record time. By far, my favorite pasta dish so far (and it would definitely be my favorite in all of Rome). We were feeling sassy and wanted to get a dessert as well, so I opted for the chocolate souffle that came with a dollop of vanilla gelato. Oh. My. God. Talk about a sweet piece of heaven. Delicious. Definitely one of my favorites. Sweet mercy, I wanted more of this meal!
Delicioso!!!
Yummmmm!!!
The waiter had been truly adorable this whole time with his broken English. He kept apologizing for it, but we kept saying that his English was way better than our Italian! The two Americans had been right, it really was a fun meal. At the end, the server brought us out 3 limoncello shots. Great, liquid Lysol. I didn't want to be rude and not drink it, especially since they were free, so I pounded it like a champ. At least I know my insides are disinfected now.
Ahhhh, now that was a good meal!! Now, what to do on a Saturday night. We had planned on doing the bar crawl thing on Thursday or Friday, but since we were pooped on Thursday and Brenda had been battling her allergies all day on Friday, we had skipped. We checked the website and it said they did the bar crawl on Saturdays too, we just wouldn't get the free hour of booze beforehand. No big deal. We were still buzzin' pretty good on our wine and limoncello.
Now, here's where the evening got interesting. I will be honest, I was a little hesitant about doing a bar crawl in a foreign city where I didn't know what to expect. It's just the practical person in me. But, I didn't want to be a fuddy duddy and knew that it would be a good time, no matter what. We would at least get to meet new people.
We met at the Colosseum Metro stop and took some time for everyone to show up before we left. It was a great time to meet people, including Julie, a gypsy from Hollywood. I say gypsy because she had been backpacking through Europe for quite awhile and never really knew where her next bed would be. We met some guys from Texas, some guys from Austria and some guys from Macedonia. Ahhh, Macedonia. I'm not sure if you knew, but Macedonia is indeed a real country (next to Greece), and they pretty much despise Greeks. Good to know.
This guy was trying to be artsy and take our photo from the ground up.
A young Macedonian, I don't remember his name so I shall call him Skippy, was talking to us for awhile and he asked us our ages. I didn't believe for a second that this kid was over 21. Turns out he just turned 21, or so he says. Brenda said her age and he called her the mom. Wrong thing to say buddy. Wrong! I'm very up front about my age, so I flat out told him I was 31 and he looked at me in shock and disbelief. Up until this point, nearly everyone we had met in the last 4 days assumed we were either there on spring break or were studying in Italy. I love this young face of mine, but dammit, I am NOT 22 people!!
Skippy introduced us to some of the other guys with him. And this is where I met Costa. Costa was a weird dude, but I believe his heart was in the right place. We all talked and joked around, all while waiting for the bar crawl to actually get under way. At some point, Costa decided to stake his claim for me. At first, it was innocent winks and gestures. Then, he bought me some flowers from the annoying dudes with the effing flowers. Dammit, I don't want them! I even told Costa, thank you, but he didn't need to buy me any flowers. He seemed pretty offended, so I said, okay, I'll take them.
I got two red roses and one yellow. Yellow is for jealousy, apparently. Um. Okay? What the hell am I supposed to do with 3 long-stem roses while at a dance club? Great. Eventually it was time to get on the bus to the first bar and the three of us girls were very clear that we were not to lose each other for anything. Nikki joked around to Costa not to lose me, and he very seriously replied "I will never lose Heather."
Yellow is for JEALOUSY!! :)
Costa wanted a photo with me and 3 seconds before Nikki took it, he decided to pick me up! :o
Shango
We made it to the first bar called Shango, and our group got to move past the crowd and got first dibs inside. And inside looked a lot like American clubs. And hey, they were playing American music, sweeeeet!!! We went first to the bar to get a couple of beers and Nikki offered to get the first round. But at these bars, you have to buy your alcohol tickets from a girl at the end of the bar and then take those tickets to the bartender. Weird. Nikki ordered 3 rounds and the girl told her it was 30 Euros. Wait. What? Nikki repeated that she just wanted 3 drinks and the girl said "Yeah, 30 Euros." Apparently drinks were 10 Euro apiece, no matter what you got. Beer, booze, didn't matter. W. T. F. For those of you who don't know, 10 Euro equals out to about $14-15 depending on the current exchange rate. Yeah, I said the same thing. Sonuva. I paid Nikki back and didn't plan on drinking again anytime soon. I'd rather save my precious money for other things.
Expensive drinks!
We spent the next hour or so dancing the night away on the dance floor to great music and trying to avoid Costa's probing gazes. At one point, I almost ended up in the men's bathroom because we couldn't tell which was which. Fortunately, the bouncer helped us rectify that situation rather quickly. We ended up meeting a girl in the bathroom who's parents live about 5 minutes from me and Brenda. Small world!
It was about time to head to the next bar and while we waited to head outside, I started talking to Jeff, one of our guides who was part Nigerian/part Ghana-ese (?). He was absolutely adorable and super sweet. We danced for a few minutes before heading off to the next bar and trying to stay out of Costa's radar loop. The three of us were pretty silly at this point, spouting off random sayings that made no sense to anyone. Not even a lot of sense to us either, but we didn't care.
Gettin' silly.
Pro-butt fun!
It took us a little bit to get to the next bar, and I realized that we were off the map, or "out of bounds" as I liked to call it. We were south of the touristy section of Rome that was on our map. We were still in civilized territory, but we'd have to walk a bit to get back in bounds. :) This next bar was enormous! Multiple levels crammed with people everywhere. And they were playing house music...aka crappy techno crap. Ugh. I hate this type of music. I danced with Jeff for a few minutes, but opted to sit next to the bar with the girls instead. In the process, we met a couple of Swedish soldiers named Johannes and Peter. John, as he told me, and I had a pretty good conversation about American television, sports and music. He told me how much he liked "How I Met Your Mother", which is one of my favorite shows and Friends. He's a fan of Journey, CCR and Phil Collins, along with the "normal rap music". Ha! We talked a bit about soccer and hockey, but my knowledge is limited to the St. Louis Blues. I told him I liked baseball and rugby, but his knowledge was limited on the baseball subject.
Peter! He was adorable and probably not much over 22.
Peter and Johannes.
At one point during the evening, Costa had somehow found me out of the entire bar area. He was staring at me disapprovingly while I continued to chat with my new friends. He got the hint when I told him I wasn't interested and I didn't have to worry about him anymore. Oh, yeah, and the two red roses fell off the stems while in dance mode. I managed to save the yellow one though! lol
Eventually it was time to call it quits and we headed for the door. But, we had to meet our bar crawl captains to get our souvenir t-shirts. After that, they pointed us down the street to the bus stop that would take us to the main bus terminal a few blocks from our hotel. It was a quick walk and we made it just in time for the bus. Whew! We got on the #10 and we were pretty sure they said either the #9 or the #10 would get us there. As we're riding, I start to see familiar sights again and I was relieved. I tried to make out street names, but it was impossible in the dark.
Eventually I realized we're cruising along the River. Um, the river isn't close to our hotel or the bus station. We drove past the Vatican and I realized we got on the wrong bus. Crap!!! We asked a local on the bus, but he didn't speak a lick of English. He said something about San Giovanni, but that made no sense to me. I figured if we just stayed on the bus, we'd eventually make it back around to the terminal, but it was already around 4:30 in the morning. Who knew how long that would take?!
An American had overheard our conversation and as he was getting off at his stop he told us we needed to get off at the next one, cross the street and get on the bus going the opposite direction. It would take us back to the Metro station near the Vatican and we'd be able to hail a new bus over there. I was a bit skeptical, but he assured us we were going to be on the bus all night if we stayed on this one. I opted to take his advice and we got off at the next stop.
It was a bit creepy hanging out at a Rome bus stop at 4 in the morning, but we didn't have very long to wait before the other bus came to pick us up. We asked the driver if he was going to the Ottaviano stop and he said "Si". We made it to the stop, but didn't see any bus any time soon. It was getting late, or early if you think about it, and I just wanted to go to sleep. Brenda was a bit tipsy and Nikki was starving. A cab came along not long after and we took that back to our hotel. It was cheaper than our cab ride from the morning before and I believe it was well worth the money.
Home at last!!
Up the elevator we went and Nikki and I had to convince Brenda it was a bad idea to steal one of the pastries inside. It looked like the bakery had left fresh pastries for the morning's breakfast, and I did not want them to get in trouble.
Finally, we made it to bed, around 5 in the morning. I don't regret one second, as we had a great time enjoying the Roman night life!!!
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