lundi 7 janvier 2008
(No pictures from this day because for some reason they don't want to transfer from the camera to the computer)

We had quite a late start on Sunday, our last day. We planned to spend the entire day at the Vatican Museum, which I read in the guidebook was free on the last day of the month. What I didn’t take into account was that every other tourist in Rome had the same guidebook. We got to the Vatican about 10 minutes before noon, at which time the pope appears for his weekly blessing of the masses. We thought we would be clever and go to the museum line while the hordes were piling into St. Peter’s square. As we made our way up the street to the Vatican Museum entrance, it was definetely like swimming against the stream.
We stopped to eat (again from another street vendor- not good). I read a little further in my book and came across the “last entrance is at 12:20 pm on Sundays” awww dangit. There was no we would make it through the line in 15 minutes. Sigh. I guess we will have to save that for our next trip to Rome, which will probably be in 15-20 years. We decided to go up to the Janiculum area, a large park/residential area.
We spent a quiet afternoon wandering around the park and calmer side streets. We stopped and had a cappucino in a small bar. When Alain went to pay, the woman said “Four Euros” he assumed, after our previous experiences, that she meant four euros each, but no, it was four euros total. Just goes to show you what the difference in location can do to food and drink prices. We then went to a small museum with many old pictures of Rome, as well as some beautiful watercolors of Rome from the late 1800’s.
Finally, we went to another pizzeria, very small and crowded with one poor waiter and way too many tables of hungry customers. The pizza was good, limoncello is totally not what I expected (I was thinking it was a lemon fizzy drink, not a strong alcohol apperitif), and the cheese platter that I had as an appetizer was very good as well. No wine for us as we had an early wake-up call.

1 commentaires:

The Late Bloomer a dit…

Hey Megan, Happy New Year! I just wanted to say that in my humble opinion, you didn't miss all that much with the Vatican Museum, although I'm sure many others wouldn't agree -- I actually visited it for the first time when I was a student in France in 1994, and I do remember having more time and space and enjoying most of it. But about 2 years ago I went back with my boyfriend and his parents, and it was a NIGHTMARE! What with all the crowds, the shoving and pushing and the total lack of being able to appreciate anything. It was a miserable experience, even if we were able to say afterwards that we saw a smidgeon of the Sistine Chapel when we were in the museum. I don't know -- I just don't think any particular "site" or museum is worth that much torture!

Otherwise, sounds like you guys had a good time. I really did love Rome, and we used the Guide du Routard when we went, which doesn't always get things right, but usually has good advice on restaurants and such. And some things off the beaten path. I love the visual beauty of Rome, but after the craziness of the crowds (and we went in MAY!) I have to admit my favorite day was when we escaped from the tourists, went above the city and rented bicycles in a small park (I don't remember the name of the park now or where it was exactly... but we could look down on the rest of the city). We then visited a MODERN art museum nearby, in the park, believe it or not, which was practically empty, had lunch in the museum café (where our waiter was really nice) and wandered around the quieter area. It was wonderful! And completely unexpected.

We also loved visiting some of the smaller, lesser-known churches. And all the gelati! I do miss that wonderful Italian ice cream...

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