the wonders of the vatican

 Vatican City was almost like a safeguard from Rome to us as we spent four long days in that bustling metropolis. For some reason, it just felt safer, friendlier, and less hostile than Rome, even though they're side by side.

We spent our first evening in the Rome/Vatican City area in Vatican City. That wasn't the plan, but that's how it ended up. So much disaster happened in Rome it was unbelievable. I guess I should spill it all.

We had just come in from an exhausting train ride (you can't sleep on trains, especially ones leaving from Naples. Thieves are absolutely everywhere. Everywhere!), so stress was close to the top on list of emotions here. When we finally arrived in Rome, we got off, absolutely disoriented again (gotta learn a new city!), and terribly confused about the whole bus system. When we finally managed to land the right bus, no... actually! After we finally found a place to get bus tickets, then managed to land the right bus... we rode to our stop, then had to find a taxi to get us to our destination.

(Side note: I detest (I try not to use the word "hate" too much. :)) taxis. Somehow, I always feel as if the driver is going to ride you around in circles and rip you off completely. I don't trust them.)

Well, after we were dropped off, the taxi driver gave us the rest of the directions to the place where we were supposed to stay. Because from where he dropped us, it was foot traffic only.

The environment seemed, well, scary. Everyone seemed a bit... hostile (I guess I'm liking that word tonight...). With our directions in hand, and with the taxi driver's instructions in mind, we wandered the back streets with more than a little apprehension. The directions didn't seem to line up, and we couldn't find this address. To spare you from reading too long, I'll just say that after going about in circles about too many times, we found the door. Yes, the door.


The door. A graffiti-ed door with vines growing over it. Mom and I exchanged glances and kicked it open.

Next project? Walking up an extreme amount of steps with our luggage (thankfully we were light(-ish) packers). To the very top floor. Now that... was exhausting.

We used the key he'd left for us (also a ridiculous ordeal which I won't go into) and entered. Dismay, fear, and extreme disappointment was what that room held for us. It was not explained to us that the room we were going to stay in was just an extra room he had in his house. There was absolutely no way that we were going to stay in a single guy's spare room.

Now what? All we could do was plunk down on the couches, grab out the phone, and call Dad. He helped us find accommodations, which was no easy task. It wasn't cheap, but because it was the only thing that worked, we ended up getting a 4-star (cough, cough...) hotel in Rome.

Thankful, yet so tired, we got up and faced the daunting task of now finding this Cardinal St. Peter's hotel. Suffice it to say, we did find the hotel with minimal blood, much sweat, and a few inward tears (oh, make that a few outward for me. It was hard.).

So now, I have to tell you about some of the deeper emotions going on here. If you know me, I'm not a fashionable gal. I don't pretend to be, and I never will be one. Do I belong in a 4-star hotel? Almost the best lodging that Italy can offer? Especially after all the stress of that day? (I must've looked a fright!) The answer, a deafening and resounding NO.

I believe the words of my journal will best sum up some of the feelings I struggled with...
"We finally made it to our 4-star hotel (something Mom has never stayed in before!) with my backpack, and us looking like we'd been cleanly drug through the mud. So, yes. We [are] strangers in a strange land. And I can't say the [staff is] particularly welcoming, either. I felt/feel rather looked down on for our status. No, we ain't rich, we didn't come up in a hoity-toity taxi (or limo), and we don't wear makeup or clothes like 4-star stayers, but you don't have to give us the eyes or the superior stinkin' attitude."

Obviously, we were a bit self-conscious about the whole thing.

We were anxious to leave after we got settled (details about the room will come later), and eke out the goodness the rest of the day held.

 Vatican City was quaint, with its very own miniature post office greeting us when we entered. I regret not snapping a picture of it right then and there... just one of those things that didn't happen.

 I loved this fountain. :)

Our walk around the Vatican was refreshing, and we decided to stop in at a Chinese restaurant on the way back. I enjoyed a dish of roasted duck, and Mom (didn't) enjoy her sweet and sour prawns.

The evening was spent in our four-star hotel room, which, I will remind you, was not very four-star-ish. At all. Nothing about it was much more magnificent than a Best Western in the US, to be brutally honest. OK, the light switches were a little fancier (albeit much more complex/annoying), and the bathroom counter was black marble, but other than that...?

I can say that the grand disappointment of the hotel for me was their breakfast. Initially, I was so excited to have the opportunity to eat breakfast again (food is scarce down there for cheapos like us...), but I cannot begin to tell you how horrid everything tasted. The coffee, especially.

And the other downside of the Cardinal St. Peter's 4-star hotel? Say... the bloody telephone? Yes - a little over the top for me.
(Side note: I did go downstairs to complain about that one - I couldn't stand their snootiness, and they needed to realize they weren't the perfect, upper-class hotel they claimed to be)

Well, sleep tends to put your mind at ease, and by the time we woke up, we were ready to go explore the Vatican Museum. We spent all day walking down the long halls of the museum, getting hopelessly lost, and exploring everything.

What I disliked (extremely) about the whole museum experience was the way we were treated. To all the guards/employees, we were cattle. I guess I can't blame them, but it sure didn't feel good to be herded and denied certain privileges (like going back on a one-way - apparently there is no turning around in this place! If you miss something, you can't go back and see it unless you did what we did... read on...)

The School of Athens... a painting I love. And couldn't believe I would get to see with my very own eyes! But guess what? We realized, after a careful search of our brochure, that we had already gone through the room that it was in and hadn't seen it! And there was no turning around, not even to go back to see the painting I came to see! I couldn't believe it. My disappointment was, well, very great. But after discussing it, Mom and I made the decision that we would walk through all 4 miles of museum again to go see the painting. And we did! I couldn't have been more delighted (or tired) after it was all said and done.

Aside from the museum, we did a bit more exploring of the various churches in the Vatican, encountered too many nuns and priests to count, and enjoyed relaxing before heading into the wilds of Rome...