Today was our most ridiculously long day of sightseeing of this entire trip, and should be the last such day as well. And if yesterday's theme was ancient Rome, today's theme was "HEY LET US PLEASE CLIMB SOME MORE STAIRS!" We got out the door a bit behind schedule, but made our way with the masses to see the Pope (get it! HA! Me so funny!). I was the first up by a while and figured out our public transportation route. As soon as I mentioned that we'd take the subway there, LJ yelled at me that it was impossible because, "THE SUBWAY DOESNT GO THERE! YOU DONT UNDERSTAND! THERE ARE ONLY TWO SUBWAY LINES!" Um, yeah, she was wrong, which is on my list of favorite things (along with calypso music and paisley): proving LJ wrong.
We were a tad concerned about crowds, but they weren't terrible by any means. LJ decided she was too good to see the Vatican for a second time (since the Pope is in Africa at present complaining about people using condoms, which made me really annoyed to be giving the Catholic church money to see their shit). Betty took up the role of tour guide (and a much more bossy one I have to say). We hopped in line to go up to the cupola of St. Peters, and when we got to the front there were two prices, 5 benjis for stairs, 7 for the lift. I assumed that everyone would be taking the lift so that stairs would be both faster and more fiscally responsible. However, the stairs tack on an additional 210 steps onto the 328 step climb into the cupola, and as we climbed it, we quickly realized that we were the only damn fools to take them up on this challenge. BUT, paying 5 euro for this was probably the best deal we've had this whole trip. Incredible view of St Peters square and all of Rome. Also, at the top of the cupola, E-Roc found Jesus. Both literally and otherwise.
When we climbed back down (bringing our total step tally to 1060), we checked out the basilica itself. And let me tell you...it's ridonk. Enormous, emaculate...another "e" word too. This is a good time to mention that Rick Steves really blew the big one today. Maybe he just doesn't like Catholics. I don't know. But he was way unhelpful and we are in the biggest fight ever.
After St Peters we went into the Vatican itself to see the Sistine Chapel. First, E-Roc and Fidelity sweet talked their ticket man into giving them the student discount. Let me just say, that neither of these bitches look like students...they are old and weathered and have bags under their eyes. Okay, not so much but I'm still pissed about that 6 benji savings. We were running behind schedule to meet up with LJ, so we decided to go straight to the Sistine Chapel and skip the other three miles of art that the brochure promises.
Well, turns out seeing the Sistine Chapel is like going to Ikea: you have to walk through a bunch of other shit in order to get to the good stuff. Rick Steves' unhelpfulness led us to believe at least three times that we were in the Sistine Chapel when in fact it was like 12 rooms away. We all took pics of ourselves in these rooms that have absolutely nothing remarkable in them, and were probably painted with Dutch Boy paint.
BUT we did finally make it there, and it didnt disappoint...except that you can no longer take any pictures of it, flash-free or otherwise. So after all that walking, about 200 more stairs, we dont have any photographic evidence of being there...or maybe we do. WINK.
So, after cleansing our dark black hearts, we met back up with "too cool for school" LJ and had late lunch near the Spanish Steps, which we then climbed (add 138) and had a wine picnic at the Borghese Gardens (Rome's Rock Creek Park, minus the dead interns). This also included a climb but it was on a ramp, and I'm currently being yelled at for suggesting that we include those as steps too. EXCUSE ME FOR LIVING.
After that we did the Trevi Fountain where it is a tradition to toss coins over your shoulder in order to find luck in love. If I don't make out with an Italian tonite, I'm officially going to write off all Roman mythology and will spend the rest of my days camped out at Trevi with a sign that says "THIS PLACE IS A FOUNTAIN OF LIES!!!!!!!!!"
Then we went back to the Pantheon (not the Parthenon which I called it here last night, and which I have been calling it all day) so we could go inside. A church service was happening so we couldn't go it. If I hadn't just been in the Vatican that morning I would have had some reeeeeal choice words for God at that moment. But we hung around for 15 minutes and got to go in. It's cool. It's big. It's cool.
We are now here back at the apt taking our early evening siesta and watching National Treasure II for the second time today, and preparing to hit Trastevere for some nightlife action. Last night the nightlife scene was just a total clusterflock of American's celebrating St. Pats day.
A few notes about today that I don't know where else to fit in.
-Never ask LJ to keep a secret because she will tell it, make you feel bad for asking her to keep it, and then tell it again just to make a point. "Since when do you have scrupples, LJ!?"
-As we tried to make our way to the Trevi Fountain, Fidelity and Betty stared at a map for a few minutes trying to figure out where we were. Fids came over to me and asked the question in the title, of which the answer is actually no. We don't have a rule about this (we have lots of other rules), and this is something she now flaunts...asking people all the time how to get to places, or what buses to take. It would be really helpful and efficient if it wasn't so infuriating.
-Erica rated today's gelato (from the top of the Spanish Steps) as the best of the trip. It was also the first gelato for Fids, so she also found it to be the best of the trip. Funny how that works.
-In addition to Italy being like Vegas and the Sistine Chapel being like Ikea, we also decided that Vatican City is like DC in that there are a ton of white people. Just kidding...Roman law decrees that no building can be taller that St. Peters, just like no building can be taller than the Capitol. And they're both extremely religious and have a high moral fiber.
We are debating the drink tally right now, but I've also been told I now have 10 minutes to get ready to go out (even though once again all these jerks have been yelling at me to update the blog). So that's to come. But I think the three DCers have crossed the 100 threshold. More to come.
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