When in Rome...

Rule number one for Roman travels, and probably any other big foreign city:  you probably shouldn't go running by yourself.  Unless you're particularly knowledgeable of the area.  And even then, now I'd hesitate.  Last night I'd stayed up an extra hour and a half planning out a route to run this morning.  I wanted to go by all the major touristy attractions, or at least as many of them as I could.  I even highlighted my map and hand-wrote step by step directions out to take with me.  I knew that there would be many turns, but because I'd take such careful precautions I thought I would be okay.

Yeah, no.

It took me less than ten minutes to not be sure which street I wanted, and another couple minutes after that to become inexplicably lost.  I can't remember the last time I'd been so terrified in my life.  Italian men made kissy noises after me and actually said, "Caio Bella," which otherwise would have been very exciting to me.  I followed a sign that said "Colosseo" thinking that it would lead me to the Colloseum and that everything would work out and be fine and dandy from there, but of course that didn't work.  I found out later that "Colosseo" while meaning Colloseum in Italian, also is a traffic term for a circle about or something like that.  Figures.  It was only thanks to the kindness of a fellow runner (an Asian dude who didn't speak English nonetheless) that I figured out I wasn't even on my map anymore.  He pointed me in the right direction and I ran aimlessly, trying to just find a landmark.  When Yvonne found out the direction where I'd been, she clutched her hand to heart and said, "You were THERE?!"  Yep, not only do I get lost, but apparently I find the bad neighborhoods too.

I can't believe I got back to the hotel in time to rinse off in the shower, get dressed, and grab breakfast before we headed off to the Vatican for the day.

Attempt at panorama at Vatican

We got all checked in through security at the border line (because the Vatican is another country...cool, right?!) and got to go in and see St. Peter's Basilica.  Let me just say Wow for a moment.  Because I thought St. Mark's had been cool in Venice, but this was the most regal, beautiful church I'd seen.  I mean, it makes sense I suppose, since it's The Vatican...but still.  We also got to attend mass in St. Peter's, although it didn't have music and it was in Italian, it was still a cool experience.



After mass we made the hike out of the Vatican again and all the way along its wall to get into the Museum and Sistine Chapel.  Again, Wow. I don't even have words, so I'll put some pictures up of what I saw.

Waiting to get into the Vatican again

The ceilings were my favorite part of the Museums

Also amazing art-filled rooms

 Unfortunately, we were not able to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel, but this is what I saw:

       

It was pretty incredible.

We got to the Vatican Radio after a nice lunch of pizza and gelato (I just may turn into pizza and gelato).  That was pretty cool--getting to see behind the scenes of a radio network.  I know we got to see a bit of that at the BBC, but this had a much different feel to it.  While the BBC had a history, this had a much different history because of its emphasis on Catholicism.  It was able to get behind the Iron Curtain and gave people hope during difficult times.  We also got the best view of Rome we've had yet from their balcony people use to smoke on.

We had dinner out at a restaurant and had--guess what--pizza. I'm not saying I don't love pizza (and I especially have been loving this Italian pizza) but I've eaten it in 3 of my 4 last meals.

Best Italian pizza thus far

Also, something else worthy noting.  Roman drivers are CRAZY.  Like, worse than in NYC.  Maybe it's a good thing we spent some time in the Vatican today...we may need some prayers to help us out on the roads.

 Until next time.