Day 27 Rome

Rome Day 2

We had to be up early this morning to be at the Vatican by 9 to start our guided tour. During tourist season the lines to get into the Vatican, St Peters Basilica and The Coliseum can be HOURS long, so it is best to book a group tour with a guide in advance so you can get there and go in without waiting in the lines. The Vatican is RIDICULOUS. The artwork in there is incredible. Anywhere you see the color gold in the building you can rest assured you are looking at pure 24 karat gold. Gold is everywhere. As is marble. Much of the marble used in the Vatican was recycled from The Coliseum and other monuments and things in Rome. Once the Roman empire fell many of the temples and political buildings were stripped of their bronze and marble and no one really cared. After the Vatican tour we walked around and did some more sightseeing. We found a large park to let Colin run around in. We fed pigeons and then he chased them around the grassy area for a while to burn off some energy. I have no idea what the fascination with birds is, but Rio has become his favorite movie and he’s in love with birds. Chasing birds is one of the best things ever apparently. After the park we headed back towards our hotel to find a place to eat. It was only 5:00 which is super, super early for dinner by Italian standards. Many restaurants don’t even open until 7 PM, Italians and a lot of other Europeans don’t eat until 8 or later. In touristy areas the restaurants open earlier because they know not everyone eats that late. We finally found a place that had just opened and it was excellent. Small little family place and you could tell they were proud of their restaurant. We had spinach ravioli for the first course and mussels for the second. For dessert we had homemade Italian lemon cake and tiramisu, yum!