Rome day 3: basilica!!

And that's the CEILING!

We went to the Vatican today! All the way through the museum(think Sistine chapel). 'm more a fan of natural beauty, mountains and oceans, than human art, but the Vatican museum is breathtaking. Many of the rooms have every single inch of space covered.

After spending a few hours in the Vatican museum we visited the inside of Saint Peter's basilica. The center of the entire Catholic religion is quite amazing. Ornamental art and reliefs on top of art. The ceiling, columns, pillars, floor ... no stone is left untouched.

Everything has significance. How many cherubim on the arches, the names, words, the length. Although, I don't know what the significance might be.

Went to Saint Peter's basilica and climbed all ~435 feet to the top. Once you get near the top of the basilica over the cupola the stairs become.. interesting.. to navigate. Especially if you are taller than five feet.

From atop Saint Peter's basilica you can see all of Vatican city and a huge portion of Rome. We arrived at the top early in the morning when the crowds were thin and peered out over the city. Droves of people kept trying to pack into the balcony area but we didn't give up our prime spot. We almost stayed up there all day!













For lunch we ate at a {random} backalley restaurant, had a liter of house wine for 10€. I don't speak much Italian so I had no idea what I ordered. "Vorrei [point to menu]". Apparently I ordered something that required further choosing... so I said 'yes' several times in Italian. It was delicious.

The staff spoke about five words of English. Finished with a digestif of Limoncello! Yum! Screw the Roman metro! I want the Paris vomit-a-color back!