Angels and Demons

Our third full day in Italy is the day we chose to see the Vatican. We bought our tickets via the internets before we left home and had a 9:00am reservation. The Vatican doesn't open any sooner than that so we were hoping to beat at least some of the crowds. As our taxi pulled up to the entrance, we were SO happy that we had purchased tickets before hand. The line for those who didn't was really long already (even thought the taxi driver was actually surprised at how short it was compared to what he usually sees). Because we had our printed reservation in hand, we simply walked right up to the gates and went in. We then went through "security." I say that in quotations because our experience with Italian security is that there really isn't any. We passed through a detector but even though it beeped the guards, who didn't stop the conversation they were having, waved us on.

We made our way to the area where we were supposed to exchange our printed reservation for actual tickets. The lines were long here, but luckily I had written down instructions that you could also go to an upstairs area to get tickets. We made our way to the next level where there was no line at all. A little research had saved us about an hour in line, at least, already this morning. We ducked into the little souvenier shop as I had a very important task at hand. I wanted to bring my grandmother a rosery from the Vatican. She is very Catholic (Irish Catholic) and I knew this would be something she would cherish. We found the perfect set. Mission accomplished.

Next stop....the Vatican Museum. So much to see here. It is, to say the very least, overwhelming. I can't even begin to describe it.

 Paintings, sculpture, artifacts and the building itself was unbelievable....

The next stop was the Sistine Chapel. Hoards of people fit into this place all at once. It's everything you think it would be. Dan, being the renagade that he is, decided to snap a photo with his iPhone even though it is explicitly forbiden. Glad he did.

We found the "secret door" where you can exit the chapel without having to then walk all the way back through the museum before going to St. Peter's (saving about a 20 minute walk). Thanks to Rick Steves for that one.

We walked into the basilica and were totally stunned at the size and grandure of the whole thing. YOu really do have to see it to believe it.

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. It has been 45 years since my last confession.

When we walked out of the building, we heard a bit of the Pope's address (from Germany I think) and then they were so kind as to ring the church bells for us.

And there it is. The Vatican. Back to our room to nap during the storm that was blowing in. I must say, napping in Rome during a rain storm is absolutely decadent.

Starved for Information - Rick Steves to the Rescue

While out trip was still nearly 10 months away, both Kris and I were very eager to get the planning started.  Eager may be quite right...we actually couldn't think of much else the first few weeks.  Just about every conversation we had revolved around the vacation.  We were starved for information and to the internet we went.   We visited many blogs and websites, the most useful which are listed to the right.

While doing some Christmas shopping on Amazon in late November I ran across the Rick Steves Travel Guides.  The were pretty inexpensive and the name seemed to be everywhere with books about every far away place.  They had to be good....right?  I didn't really care, they were only $10 and I was starved for information.  I bought the 2012 Rome, Paris and Florence/Tuscany guides and eagerly awaited their arrival.  As an Amazon Prime member I get free 2 day shipping so the wait was not long. 

These books pretty much cover everything.  Chapters include:

• Sights
• Self-Guided Walks and Tours
• Sleeping
• Eating
• Sleeping
• Nightlife
• Connections
• Nightlife

As this was still the early stages of information gathering, I decided to read everything.  I think I read or skimmed almost 300 of the 470 pages of the Rome book the first night.  There is really a lot of valuable information in these books, especially if this is your first trip abroad like it is for us.  I found the initial chapters the most valuable while only skimming the eating and sleeping sections.  The maps were also very helpful, but I found better ones that I will talk about in a future post.  At this point what I valued was the basic general knowledge of traveling to and in Italy along with the recommended sights.  Picking specific restaurants, bars and neighborhoods would come a bit later as there is only so much information you can process at once. 

I am thinking that a more proper review of what we found really helpful should be a post all in itself.  So I say buy these books, and if you wanna know more about why...stay tuned for another post coming soon.