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A View From a Bridge - Sunset on the Vatican
St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City
Italy trip - Day 4 (Sept 16th 2017)
A.K.A “Rik’s Birthday”. A.K.A. “Still in Rome”. A.K.A. “Drankin’ at the Vatican”.
We decided to head back to the Vatican but with attire more fit for the pope....and GREAT SUCCESS! We managed to get in this time!
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(The selfie I sent my sister to notify her that I had gained entrance to potentially see the “pope-ah” after she told me not to dress like a whore this time)
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As it turns out, it wasn’t actually as strict as they led on. That being said, it was likely a good idea that I packed my rain parka as it’s likely I would’ve been told off for exposed shoulders (as I was wearing a sleeveless sun dress). My rookie mistake was that it was humid as hell and I chose to wear the wind-breaker the whole time inside just in case and ended up sweltering. It seemed as though we only needed to adhere to the dress code when inside the Sistine Chapel itself, so I baked a LOT longer than required.
Before getting inside, we had to queue for what the tour-terrorists claimed would be “2 hours mimimum, easily” (which actually translates to just over an hour). Thankfully, this was mainly in the shade and there were railings that we could sit/lean on. There were choirs in the queue as well harmonising and that made it move quite quickly. Before we knew it, we were at the door heading in. I would definitely say that saving the extra money to not “skip the line” paid off.
Even though I’m not religious, the buildings we walked through in the Vatican were truly a sight to behold as they were just filled to the brim with gorgeous works of art. Every room was nearly covered from floor to ceiling with paintings. The canvases and tapestries could get as big as the full height of the wall in some locations.
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(Tell me that’s not huge!)
(I’m not sure I could tell you anywhere else in the world with such intricate ceilings throughout...)
(These banged up angels from a banged up angle were one of my favourites.)
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The Sistine Chapel itself was incredible and it was a totally surreal moment to see The Creation of Adam right there above my head. I can’t even tell you the amount of times I have laughed while re-creating some version of this iconic painting. I literally just did it last night with my dog, no joke. Something I almost never thought I’d get to see in person (and very nearly didn’t as we were debating if it was something we should do) so, yet again, another thing I can excitedly tick off my bucket list. There were designated guards in some of the room - especially in the Sistine Chapel itself - who’s job was to keep the peace and quiet and stop anybody trying to snap pictures. There was constant “shoosh”-ing (where it got so irritating I just joined in for the hell of it because it’s slightly less annoying when you participate) by the guards and visitors. You just had to laugh. Rik managed to take a stealth photo (which I won’t share here as I’m sure there is some way I could get in trouble and I’m not going down for his crimes LOL).
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(I won’t share the quick snap of The Creation of Adam, but I will share this iconic Michelangelo)
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I think we made it through, start to finish - just in time as when we were leaving, the entrance was shut and it seemed like they were prepping the exit for closure as well. We paid an extortionate amount for Peronis sold by some street vendor just so we could enjoy drinking it on the steps of the Vatican exit just because. You know what they say: When in Rome! Literally! (As you can imagine, I made sure to run this saying right into the ground on our 4 days in Rome, because well, WHEN IN ROME!). My mother would have probably killed me (and you can be sure as shit I didn’t actively send any photos to my mom of that one!) but it seemed necessary and felt right.
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(Pics or GTFO - as they say)
(Group shot - sorry mom! No regrets.)
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We headed back to the flat to freshen up but swung by a market/bakery first. This is worth noting only because the cannoli mentioned in the last post was actually outdone by the one I got here. It was smaller but cheaper (1€) and had mini chocolate chips in it instead of pistacchios.
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(If that doesn’t make you drool, I’m questioning who you are as a human being. Just sayin’.)
(The Cannoli in question.)
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Picking a restaurant for Rik’s birthday dinner proved to be a challenge as all the places we looked at that appealed to us were either really expensive or were booked solid with no space at all to fit all 5 of us in. We didn’t want to have too late of a night because we were due a 3 hour bus trip to Florence tomorrow (with the bus leaving just after 10).
We did end up back at The Hole for pre-drinks and ate at the trattoria literally right across from it. The food was so good, Rik still talks about it to this day....although that might also be because we engorged ourselves so much (all of us) that we felt physically ill from how stuffed we were. It was totally worth it though. Our amazing and hilarious waiter selected starters for us and I ended up getting rigatoni with a cream red pepper sauce for my main. The portions were HUGE. They weren’t allowed to sing Happy Birthday to Rik because of the manager’s rule but he snuck us a cheeky candle out with some tiramisu (that was clearly fresh because you could taste the fresh, warm espresso at the bottom).
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(This picture doesn’t even remotely convey how huge that plate of pasta was. I literally shamed everybody else into finishing theirs as well. If we ate any more, we might have exploded for real...)
(Birthday-misu!)
(Group shot with our waiter. Not a clue what his name was as we never really had a chance to ask, but he was honestly the coolest and funniest waiter I may have ever had. It was an absolute pleasure dining with him and I would certainly go back again if I ever found myself back in Rome.)
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While the boys paid up, I snuck back over to the Hole for one last “farewell Roma” cocktail and limoncello shot and then went back to find them. They wanted to go seek out a rock bar for a few more drinks but I knew we’d be up early so headed home as I didn’t want to stay out and feel terrible (also, I definitely needed the bathroom so Rik, being the absolute legend I’ve already told you he is, covered for me so I could sneak away while the rest went on without me as they didn’t initially want to leave me behind). They didn’t stay out very long, but Rik did stall them as long as he could. This is why I married this man (or at least one reason). No shame.
It was nice as I got a chance to speak to my parents quickly and then put the Road to El Dorado on on Netflix via our tablet and nodded off at some point.
To End this post, here are some slightly tipsy selfies with myself and the birthday boy. He doesn’t usually put on a smile when I force him into taking selfies....Enjoy LOL:
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TBC...(with a trek to Florence)
-'Wake up.' -'No thank you.'
Roman Vacation, Audrey Hepburn
STYLE&DIRT on We Heart It. http://weheartit.com/entry/33350826/via/scharush_sweetstraw