another day at the Vatican

Today was another day invading...oops, I mean visiting the Vatican. Chris and I wanted to climb up the dome to St. Peter's, but the line...OMG. We didn't know where the thing ended, so we started following it, only to find out that it wrapped around somewhere. What the hey?! Blah...ah well, we're near the Vatican anyway, so we just wandered around Rome again. Took the metro and visited San Giovanni in Laterano.

See that chair in the middle? Only the Pope can sit there.

It was suuuper nice in there; according to Rick Steves (our best friend for the rest of this trip), it was the first Christian church in Rome, opened in about A.D. 318. Inside had statues of Jesus' 12 apostles, who looked like they were stepping out of their niches, to symbolize Christianity coming into the modern world. Walked around some more; we attempted to find the Holy Stairs but wasn't successful...or at least I don't think we were. We saw a set, but it was gated, so yeah.


Lunch was at that Korean place (the sign we saw yesterday). It was pretty good; I even started talking to the owner in Korean. HAHAHA...oh man. Mark, I need to talk to you more. Thank God he knew English! =P Afterwards, we went back to the Vatican to finally climb the top of St. Peter's. We started talking to this group in line about airport transfers and other random stuff, all while waiting in a 30-minute line (definitely shorter than the one we saw this morning) to take the elevator and stairs up. After the elevator ride to the roof, we climbed the 323 steps to the top of the dome. The view was...WOW.

See those letters on the gold banner near the top? They're about 7 feet tall.

View of St. Peter's Square from the top of the dome

The lady we met in line took a picture of Chris and me at the top, but we're hella shiny so I'm not posting that one. =P

Much like the climb up the Duomo in Florence, my knees were shaking when we got down. Narrow, spiral staircases are not my friend, man. Chris did better this time! He wasn't freaking out at much, probably because the wind at the top wasn't as strong as the wind at the top of the Duomo.

After climbing down, we chilled on the roof for a few minutes, taking in the view and getting our 7 Euros worth. Took the elevator back down and went inside the church just because. Mass was going on in one part of the church, but since it was in Italian and we're going to Palm Sunday mass tomorrow, we didn't sit in. We saw what I think was a baptism. That's coooool, being baptized at the Vatican! How about getting married at the Vatican? =P

Chris knows I like sun rays and shiny stuff, haha

Stopped by the information office to buy more rosaries (the same lady who sold me about 25 yesterday wasn't a bit surprised to see me...I think she thinks I'm crazy) and find out more information about tomorrow's mass. In a nutshell, we're leaving at 5am to line up, because the gates open at 7:30am for the 9:30am mass. (O_O)

After all that, we just sat in St. Peter's Square to take everything in and people watch. Looked through the Rick Steves guide to find a restaurant for dinner, but since it wouldn't open until 7pm, we just sat there for a while, talking about life and other random stuff. "When life hands you lemons, make limoncello and get drunk and pass out!" says the travel buddy. HAHA what the heck?! We saw a dog try to eat a Coca Cola can...and then we saw firetrucks watering plants...because apparently there's nothing else for them to do.

Palm Sunday mass is tomorrow............and so is our last day in Italy. =( I think I'm ready to go back home, but at the same time, I'm not. Italy's definitely been a fun country, and I can honestly say that this has been one of the best vacations I've been on (tied in first with Hawaii with my parents in 7th grade). I'm surprised Chris and I didn't kill each other [yet], since we've been together for 2 weeks straight. But then again, we still have a day left. Haha, I kid I kid. =P

K, gotta sleep now since we're leaving at 5am tomorrow! Ciao!

P.S. Hate me...I really don't care. =P