Rome Day 3

So day three, when I woke this morning a number of thoughts went through my head. First, what the hell is that noise, second, I am going to vatican city today, third, I have to go dressed as a nun and finally, fourth, how much did I have to drink last night. So I went back to sleep!!!! Eventually I dragged my sorry little arse out of bed and started a day I was very much looking forward to. It is probably worth explaining that I am in no way a catholic but you've got to admit the pope is pretty cool. Like i said today is vatican city day, I decided to take the advice of my mother in law and walk most of the way. For anyone reading that hasn't met my mother in law and doesn't know me that well, I don't normally take advice because I am too pig headed and my mother in law normally gives shit advice, haha! But on this occasion it was good advice, I got the metro to termini and then walked to vatican city. I adopted a slightly different approach to navigation today and used a map, anybody reading that hasn't come across one of these map things before (most blokes) trust me they're not a bad bit of kit, even though you do like a bloody idiot tourist!!



On my walk I was thinking about the best word to describe Rome, this resulted in me getting lost as I am renowned for lacking the ability to do two things at once. The second problem with this is my appaling appreciation for the English language, so I came up with mental!! It is just mental, on my travels I visited an old basilica (church) which was outstanding but then 10 minutes later I was in a Hugo Boss shop considering parting with €300 for a pair of jeans. So yeah, mental!!!

I am now sat on the steps surrounding St Peters square, I am about 20m away from the fountain in angels and demons and it is easy to imagine the buzz that occurs in this square (that's not square shaped) when the pope addresses it. I am now going in to st peters basilica and might pop for a quick pint with the pope.

St Peters basilica done and new word, wow! It's huge and very eccentric, there is so much to see and I've just spent two hours in there and not seen half of it. Fortunately I had an audio guide for this as well, otherwise, I'm not going to lie I wouldn't have known what anything was. Entry was free, winner and like I said so much to see. The main alter is sealed off from the public which was a bit annoying as the audio guide I had assumed you could access it. The pope, unfortunately, declined my offer for a few sherbets and in hind sight perhaps I should have offered to share a few cheeky vin rouges instead, live and learn!

It's lunch time now, so I am off to find some extortionately priced food and then off to the vatican museum and more importantly the Sistine chapel.

So i am back at the trevi fountain, I'm not entirely sure why but i felt like this was a good place to write my next entry. I have just spent 3 hours in the Vatican museum, i am going to start with the museum as i don't want to do the Sistine chapel an injustice. If you like art visit the Vatican museum, I don't dislike art but have very little appreciation for it. The museum costs €15 to get in and as I only had an audio guide for the sistine chapel I decided to pay for the audio guide, another €7. I reckon if you listened to the whole guide it would take about 3 weeks. The audio guides I downloaded are by rick steves, so I am used to a cheesy american who thinks he is funny making light of the things I am seeing. The vatican audio is very different and I'll be honest pretty dam boring, I put up with it for about an hour and then proceeded to more or less run through all the art exhibits in search of the main attraction. So i arrived at the Sistine chapel and at first glance it is a lot smaller than the other chapels I had seen and not that impressive. And then you look up, shit the bed!!!! Which is what the pope said when he first saw it but he said it in latin so it sounded better. Fortunately good old rick was there to explain it all and it is a work of art, literally!! It is definitely something you should see if you get the opportunity, hats off Michelangelo. I recently set my facebook status to a quote by the man himself, "genius is eternal patience", that ceiling must have inspired that quote!

The bad thing about being back at the trevi fountain is that the Irish bar is just round the corner and that had nothing to do with me being back here. Irish bar aside the fountain is something else. I have pondered today on whether coming to Rome by yourself is a good idea or not. I came to the conclusion that you should be able to enjoy life by yourself in order to appreciate anyone else in it. The obvious advantages include, when I get lost the only person I piss off is me, I don't really have to have a plan and I very rarely stop at a shop of any description :-)

Thought i was done with the blog for the day but whilst on my random walk from the trevi fountain that somehow ended up in the bloody irish bar I saw some pretty amazing things. First up a street artist, this guy was using nothing but spray paint and a few tools and his work was awesome, I wish i could get my photos online, dam you apple!!! Second up a random building that was pretty impressive looking and was about 5 million years old, you could see the dinosaur influence. Then a toy shop that was like something from a fairy tale, all wooden hand made toys, the guy could make wooden guns, they had a peg on top to make the shooting sound, mint!! Like I have already said mental and I have not even started on the traffic!! Right time for a few pints, some food and then.......who knows, Rome probably does but its a mystery to me.