Roma di nuovo

After a relatively uneventful week, Rita and I headed to Rome again Saturday. We both had been already during the semester and wanted to hit it up again and check out the Vatican this time. Finding out that the Vatican museum closes at 1:45 on Saturdays, we resigned ourselves to our fate of taking the 6:44 train out of Florence (ugggghhh...just thinking about it makes me want to cry). Luckily, Marcello and Giuliana were headed out of the city for the day and gave me a life to the stazione...otherwise it would've been me and the bus driver on the 5:47 bus out of Antella. Yesss. The train ride was pretty boring. When we got to Rome, we found the bus that heads down to the Vatican City. After a few pictures in front of San Pietro (and several comments on how the road leading up to the piazza looks like Rodeo Drive or something) we got in line for the Vatican Museum. The wait actually wasn't long and we got in with plenty of time to check out the Raphael rooms, etc., before getting in to the Sistine Chapel. There were SOOO many tourists there it was extremely exhausting. By the time we got out, we were starving...grabbed some paninis and then started walking towards the piazza. It wasn't too long before we realized we were in a HUGE crowd. The piazza was closed for no apparent reason and people were just STANDING AROUND and the carabinieri were not letting anyone by. An hour later, they start to let people though and into the piazza. Apparently the pope was having a party...and we were invited! by a nice woman on the street who had too many invitations for her group. Sweet! We worked our way through the security line and we were in! Much to our dismay...the basilica was CLOSED. So we were just hanging out in the piazza with a bunch of pushy (literally, one pushed me in to a STROLLER. With a BABY in it) Catholic Italians...so we peaced out of there. An hour and a half of our time was enough.
We headed back across the Tiber to check out the Trevi Fountain (Rita hadn't seen it), fortifying ourselves with granitas along the way. Enjoyed the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps (well, basically...you can't see them because of all the people sitting on them. But we saw them! yessss) and then walked to the Piazza del Popolo, where there is a church that houses 2 Caravaggios. I LOVE Caravaggio so I was stoked. We found a good place for dinner (and it took some work, I can tell you) then headed back to Termini. The Piazza Repubblica was beeeeautiful at night. And the train ride home....felt....liiikeeee....forrrever. Well. Sunday was a relaxing day, Rita and I were going to go to Perugia with another friend but she couldn't go so we skipped it. It turned out to be good because there was a LOT of homework to do...I went to Santa Croce to observe a tomb for Art History then hung out in the city and did some work. Dinner was excellent as usual...Giuliana outdoes herself every night.