After breakfast we headed to Vaticani or the Vatican City. We thought that our first stop would be the Vatican museums to see the Sistene Chapel, however that line was LONG (more on how long later). So we continued walking and went to Piazza di St. Pietro....St. Peter's Square and into St. Peter's Basilica. Guess what...two lesbians can walk into the Basilica and it doesn't fall down! Also the warnings about what is ok and is not ok to wear, were true. They were turning people away who had on short shorts or were showing shoulders (men and women). We knew this so we both had on linen shirts over our tank tops, which was perfectly acceptable.
The Basilica was absolutely gorgeous. There were several different things to look at. At first, there was the Pieta, that we looked at and admired but because there were so many people, we couldn't get close enough to read what it was. After talking to Starr (Alison's mom) we figured out that we needed to go and take a picture of it now that we knew what it was.
We also called Gary (Danielle's Dad) to tell him where we were. When he relayed it to Cindy (Danielle's Mom) all he managed to tell her was that all of the TV's in Vatican city are Panasonics. (For those of you who don't know Danielle's parents own a television and appliance store and sell Panasonic electronics.) Anyway, after the Basilica we got in line for the Tombs of the Pope. This was interesting and a little strange. The strange part is not that you are walking through a museum of dead Pontifs Maxiumus'(the Pope's Latin Title) but really that it is essentially a museum to see a bunch of dead guys. There is minimal history on each of the Popes and there are so many people that even stopping to see them causes a bit of a ruckus. We also found it strange as to how the tombs are set up. Because you would think that it is set up in a chronological way....but no. John Paul II, who died in 2005, is buried about 1/2 way through. Where as St. Peter is right in the middle. There are these beautiful steps in the middle of the Basilica that we took pictures of and wondered where they went....they lead to his tomb. I understand putting him in the middle but how do they determine where others go. Also....was St. Peter cremated because his tomb is a tiny little box. There are some others who are little as well, but they are much older and we are guessing that they were just short people because for a long time the average height was only 4'6" like I wrote yesterday. We also wondered how they determined what kind of tomb the popes received. Some had beautiful crypts, others had whole rooms, like St. Peter and John Paul II, and then there were some that were tucked in a marble box in the corner. Anyway, after the Tombs we stood in a long hot line for the Cuppola, which at first we didn't know what it was, but after reading the sign that warns you that after the elevator there are 320 steps, we figured that it was the top of the Basilica. Since we are active young women, we decided to forgo the elevator and save ourselves about $6 and take the stairs. It only added 231 stairs to our journey. They also turned out to be long flat deep steps that didn't really feel like steps more like a long hill. It didn't save us any time either because there were many people we had been in line with that got to the rest of the stairs at the same time we did. Anyway, we began climbing steps and our first stop was inside the Basilica dome. Up close to the artwork...it was amazing. Worth the price of admission by far. We took a few photos and then continued to climb the stairs. These were the hardest ones. They were LONG and very small and also in some spots they spiraled for a VERY long time. 
It became dizzying at times to look up and walk. Also because we were in the dome some of the walls curved in toward us...kind of creepy. Finally however we made it to the top.....the very top of the dome, where we could go out and look at all of Rome from above. It was beautiful and we have some great pictures to show as well. We hiked down to where the wimpy people took the elevator and found some fountains as well as a souvenir shop and refreshment stand with ice cream and soda. We walked around and looked at the souvenirs and then began our journey back down. This too was the long hill only going down...a bit scary.We reached the bottom and went to take the picture of Pieta for Mom, now that we knew what it was.
We left St. Peter's square and headed to the Vatican Museums. Those Pontiff's are smart. They know that many people only want to see the Sistine Chapel....so they use the museum as a way to queue the guests. So earlier I told you that the line was LONG. It is so long that it covered two city blocks along the edge of Vatican city walls. When we got out there to go to the Museum we were ecstatic to see how short the line was and then we began walking toward the entrance. We were walking and walking and walking and walking and feeling very bad for the people who actually waited in that line, because we did not. We walked into the museum and got out tickets and began following the signs for the Sistine chapel. It is good and bad that they snake you through the museum to get there because you see tons of great art that is very cool.....but because the signs for them are in Italian and because again there are so many people, by the time you get to the Sistine Chapel you almost feel like once you have seen one painted ceiling....you've seen them all. Except that when you walk in there, it is amazing. There are no photos to show because you are not allowed to take photos. Although some people did, I felt that it was an honor to be able to be in the room never mind to break their rules. It is all that people say that it is and if you ever have the opportunity, I highly recommend it. Just go later in the day so as to avoid the lines. We walked right into the museum about an hour before they stopped letting people in and were able to see all of the Raphael rooms and the Sistine Chapel and the Modern Religious Art which was also very cool.
After the Museum we headed toward the Hard Rock Cafe. Yes it sounds like a crazy thing to do....but in Rome the restaurants close from 3-7pm after lunch and before dinner. Last night because of our long nap that we took, we ate a very late dinner. We knew that if we came back to the room before going to dinner, this would most likely happen again, so to avoid it, we ate some American food and headed to the hotel. We also got some souvenir glasses to add to our collection. We took the Metro back to the main station...Statzione Termini and walked the 4 or so blocks back to the hotel. Hopefully tonight we get a better nights sleep and get up at a more normal time.
Tomorrow: Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon.
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