Vatican City

First, I would like to start by saying backpacking through Europe is NOT a vacation. A vacation is sitting around on a beach drinking fruity drinks all day. This trip is more hard work than my job at home. Granted, many things are as I basically sit on my ass all day, but this trip is legitimate manual labor. My back and feet hurt, I am sunburned, tired, and dirty. If you were to subtract all of the travel, searching, planning, walking, and broken English out of this trip, I'm convinced all of the sights in Europe can be seen in 24 hours or less. It would still cost an arm an a leg though. Despite all that, it has been a GREAT experience so far and I have no regrets (except whatever I ate in Germany that did you know what to me. Probably was the sauerkraut Maggie).

Anyway, today we got up and had to wait forever to shower. Eight people all waiting for one shower doesn't work. We finally made it out of the hostel and picked up breakfast. Our hostel gave us vouchers for a free croissant and cappuccino at a little cafe up the street. The croissant was good, but I hate coffee so the cappuccino sucked. I drank it to be polite. After breakfast we got on the bus and headed for Vatican City.

What a place. We walked through St. Peter's church and it was incredible. We waited over an hour in line (not as bad as I expected) to see the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. As you walk through the museum there are signs that keep saying "this way to the Sistine Chapel." Yeah, it takes over an hour to finally get there. Of course on the way you see a ton of other exhibits. When you finally arrive at the famous Sistine Chapel, it sadly is just another painted ceiling among the miles (seemingly) of painted ceilings you just walked through.

Ok, I'm being harsh. It was amazing to see the famous image of Adam reaching his finger towards God's finger, but that's the only part I recognized. Ok, I admit it I don't know shi* about art. The bottom line us that it was an amazing site to see, and a can't miss in Rome. BTW, there is a dress code so all you dudes and \m's (sorry, inside joke) need to leave the tank tops and short shorts at the hostel. They will turn you away.

After the Vatican we went back to the Colosseum to actually go inside this time. It was cool. I personally think you get an awesome view from the outside, and am not sure if the line and €11 is worth an inside look. But that is probably just me now that I'm nearing the end of my trip and am almost bankrupt.

After that we went back to the hostel to do laundry and relax before dinner. Should be good on laundry for the rest of the trip. For dinner we went to a small place right by the hostel. The lady who ran it was so nice. The food was cheap and really good. For €10 we each got bread, veggies, a huge plate of pasta, a drink, and desert. We left a big tip and the lady goes "no no, it'sa too mucha." I insisted, and she asked if we liked wine. I was like sure why not thinking she would give us each a glass. No. She comes out with a bottle and gives it to us. "My gift to you," she said. What a sweetheart.

We came back to the hostel and finished the entire bottle of welcome wine the hostel guy gave us, and half of the free bottle from dinner. We just hung out here while drinking the wine. The hostel has free wifi so I had a good long chat with Laurie. Now Mark is passed out and snoring while I finish my blog.

Tomorrow we have to check out the hostel, then visit the Pantheon and drink a "street Peroni" (per Laurie's suggestion). We leave for Paris at 6:00pm tomorrow via a 14 hour train ride. Last long train ride of the trip!

Ciao,
Kevin

Posted with LifeCast