Ciao Roma!

We had a lot planned for our last full day in Rome, so we got up bright and early at 6:30. After grabbing a quick breakfast at the hotel, we met our tour bus outside at 7:45. We had a 3 hour walking tour of Vatican City planned for the morning. The tour kicked off with the Vatican City Museum. The Museum is actually what used to be the private residence of the Pope. The portion that we toured is a series of halls filled with amazing artwork. The first hall that we walked through was decorated with roman statues. Of course we had to take a picture of the statue of Atlanta! She was a famous runner. Her story is that she could never be beaten in any of her races, until her last. At the end of this race, she dropped a handful of golden coins. When she bent to retrieve the coins, she was passed, and she didn't manage to regain her lead.
The next hall we walked through had amazing tapestries lining the walls. A couple of the tapestries had optical illusions in them, so that as you walked past, the figures in the tapestries would turn, so that they were always facing you. It was incredible to see them, and know that they were handmade, hundreds of years ago. The ceiling in this room was also really incredible. The entire thing looked like it was sculpted of marble, but it was really one big fresco painting. The dimension of the ceiling was so realistic that it was hard to believe!
Next we walked through a hall decorated with incredibly intricate handmade maps. The pope ordered the maps to be made because at the time most people would not be able to travel, so the maps allowed people to see what the world looked like.
After this it was time to see the Sistine Chapel. You aren't allowed to take any pictures or video in the chapel, and frankly, I'm not sure that it would matter if we had. I'm pretty sure anything we took wouldn't even begin to do this place justice. I think you could stand in there for a week and not see all of the detail in all of the paintings.
For the last stop on our tour, we went back to St. Peters Basilica. Even though we had just been there the day before, it was just as wonderful the second time. This tour guide gave us some different and interesting facts that the first had left out, and she also took us around to some different areas of the church. The mosaics in St. Peters are just so beautiful, I feel like I could stare at them all day. I really can't wrap my mind around how they were created. Did you know that it took five years to create each one? And that's with an original painting to work from!
At the end of the tour, the guide took us to a souvenir shop where you could purchase vatican artifacts. We had been to the same shop the day before (Jake and I suspect that the tour company owns the shop!), so instead of going in, we took a seat on the ledge outside. We thought we were lucky to get a spot on this ledge, but it turns out we weren't as fortunate as we thought. After a few minutes of rest we both got pooped on by a pidgeon!! Ack! It was not pleasant. Someone was nice enough to donate a wet nap to help us clean ourselves up, and luckily at that point it was time for us to head back to the hotel anyway.
After a shower and a change of clothes, we headed back out for our afternoon adventures. We found a cute little pizza place where we stopped for lunch, and after that, we walked over to Piazza de Spania, and the Spanish Steps. The view from the top of the steps was really amazing. We spent some time just relaxing on the steps, and watching the crowds of people walk by. Then we walked around the Piazza for a bit, and did some window shopping. At around 6 we took the metro back to our hotel. We decided to make it a pretty early night, since we had to travel to Siena in the morning. So, after a nap and a shower, we just walked out to a little pasta place down the road from the hotel, grabbed a quick dinner, and turned in for the night.
I can't believe the first leg of our trip is over already. Rome was so wonderful. I would be really sad to leave, except I am so excited for all of the other places that we get to visit, and I know that we get to come back for a few days at the end of our trip. That made leaving a lot easier!