ROME Day 1: THE VATICAN and THE SISTINE CHAPEL

Heidi, Maylena, Yen, Anu, Jerald, Helen, Lenda , and I ate breakfast at the Hotel Patrizia (like the Ostello from Lucca) as a group. We were asked if we wanted coffee, chocolate, or tea. I chose to have a hot chocolate, which tasted so much like Swiss Miss. We were then given bread with a choice of Nutella or mixed berry jam. I chose the latter with their soft butter. The elderly man made us some red-orange, home-made juice. After breakfast, we called a taxi and headed straight into the train station, about a 5-minute ride away.

We waited yet again for an extra two hours for our train to Rome, as there was a group of others who struggled with their check-out procedures in their chosen American hotels and that the trains were 20-30 minutes delayed. We learned that having one person in charge of the whole group's ticket (as assigned seats were printed in that specific ticket) was not a very good decision... Nevertheless, our teamwork was shown as soon as it was time to board the train. The guys mainly did the lifting and organizing of our American, medium-large- sized luggages, while the rest of the crew took their seats.

The ride took us about an hour or so from Florence to Rome. We passed by Central Park, which was a beauty. The Marriott Courtyard Hotel was about a 15-minute ride from the airport. We all split into groups, rode two taxis,and headed to the hotel. We learned that as soon as the taxis stop, the meter starts running. For the smaller taxis, the maximum people that can ride are only 4, even if we could fit 5. Taxi drivers and Roman drivers in general are super aggressive! There is no such thing as following the right lanes nor following the speed limit, kind of like those in the Philippines.

As we arrived around 1pm and did not want to waste a good day in Rome, we decided to head to the Vatican before the doors closed to the public at 4pm. We saw the beautiful frescoes, Roman sculptures of Augustus and other important Roman figures and lastly, the Sistine Chapel, especially the famous painting by  Michelangelo Buonarroti. All the while, I thought the latter would be huge, but it was placed smack at the middle of his other paintings such as when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden and many others... As we passed from one hall to another, framed frescoes from different eras were placed side by side from the walls to the ceilings. It was simply amazing! We ended our day tour at the St. Peter's Basilica. Sadly though, there wasn't enough time to go inside.

[St. Peter's Basilica (Photo by Jerald)]

[Entrance to the Musei Vaticani with Anu and Yen]

[The Vatican Courtyard]

[Surrounded by Roman statues]

[Augustus Caesar]

[Heading to the Sistine Chapel]

We finally ate dinner around 6pm at a nearby cafe. However, to our dismay, the food wasn't as great as what we've had in the past few days in Lucca. They were catered for tourists and not the local Italians. Foods seemed like they were just pre-heated and not authentically made--not to mention very expensive! Instead of taking a taxi and paying more, we walked about 15 minutes to the metro station to the hotel.