Rome

We had one final day in Rome before heading home.

Spanish Steps, Again

J. R. awoke early and headed to the Cavour Metro station to buy tickets. Actually, he did so twice, since the first time he walked down, he only took a credit card, and the Automated Ticket Machines only took Euros. So he made a second trip with cash to get our 24-hour passes and then had breakfast. By then the ladies had awakened and they went down for breakfast as well, so Rebecca could have a final hot chocolate. The morning plan was to go to Villa Borghese gardens and then onto the Vatican. We caught the train to Spagna station only to learn the gardens were not open yet. (We forgot to check the opening times). With no idea when they might open, we walked instead down to the Spanish Steps nearby to try to get a view without all of the crowds.

St. Peter's Basilica

After seeing the long lines at the Colosseum the day before, we decided to purchase 'skip-the-line' tickets for St. Peter's Basilica (despite the Basilica being free). We considered a tour, but we already had our tickets to the Vatican and figured the audiotour we had purchased would be good enough. We took the train to the Ottoviano Metro station and started the walk to St. Peter's Square. We quickly tired of all of the tour operations stopping us at every street corner to tell us the Vatican was in the opposite direction. We had to keep telling them we were not going to the Vatican but that did not stop them. One would think that after they saw people walk past the first few operators that it would be a waste of time to bother someone, but we guessed even getting one guest on their tour would pay off. Eventually we made it to St. Peter's and found our tour operator, who opened a gate so we could go right into the metal detectors. After a quick trip through security (cutting into the line because there was no other option), we were in St. Peter's Square.

Maderno's Nave

We had some trouble figuring out where we were supposed to pick up our audioguides, but got some help and eventually were able to download the app and use the guide on our phones. We found it to be just okay as it was hard to follow as there were no markings inside the Basilica to tell us which parts of the guide were for which areas of the Basilica. Janie also kept having issues with her iPhone bringing up Siri every time she tried to play a recording in the app, so we all gave up on it halfway through. We entered into Maderno's Nave, the atrium built in front of Michelangelo's Latin cross in the early 1600s.

Monuments to the Popes

We began our tour on the left side of the Basilica with the monuments to Popes such as Leo XII, Pius XI and XII, and several Gregories.

Baldacchino

That brought us next to the Baldacchino directly under the dome of the Basilica and the impressive Papal Altar beneath it.

Altars to the Saints

We continued down the right side of the Basilica with its numerous altars dedicated to St. Peter, St. Thomas and St. Joseph.

Cappella del Coro

The Cappella del Coro (Chapel of the Choir) was being set up for a wedding so we were ushered away from it without being able to spend to much time admiring it.

Baptistery

We ended our tour with the Baptistery, a small chapel near the exit.

Wedding

As we were leaving, the wedding party was entering the Basilica so we all stopped to watch the procession.

Lunch

It was now lunch time so we strolled up the Via de Porta Angelica and found the Ristorante lunch pizzeria near the Piazza del Risorgimento. J. R. had a Peroni and a panini, while Janie had a pizza and Rebecca some pasta. The food was just okay.

The Vatican

Vatican Museum Courtyard

We had 1PM tickets for the Vatican and planned to do a little souvenir shopping, but there weren't any interesting stores in the area. Since we still had time to kill, we stopped for another gelato near the Vatican, where we all got a small cup. It turned out to be American ice cream and not really gelato, so that was a disappointment. We decided to try to enter the Vatican early and they accepted our tickets at around 12:30 so we walked into the museums. It took awhile to get our pre-purchased passes and our audioguides but soon we were heading up the Bramante spiral staircase to the museums. The staircase is a double helix with a shallow incline that resembles a fibonacci spiral. The Musei Vaticani display works from the Popes' collection in 54 galleries. Our guide the previous day said it would take 70 years to see every item in the galleries. We didn't have that kind of time, so we tried to hit some of the highlights. First we walked through the Courtyard of the Pigna (or pinecone) and Fontana della Pigna, with its four-meter high bronze pinecone. Also in the courtyard is Pomodoro's Sphere Within Sphere, a copy of which we had seen at Trinity College in Dublin a few years ago.

Gregorian Egyptian Museum

We headed back inside to try to cool off in the Gregorian Egyptian Museum, with its nine rooms in what used to be apartment of Pope Pius IV. We couldn't help but think about how so much of this art had been pilfered throughout the years by the Roman emperors.

Pio Clementino Museum

Next we headed to the Pio Clementino museum, which features classical Greek and Roman sculptures. The Octagonal Courtyard features some of the most famous statues in the collection, including a second-century copy of the Belvedere Apollo.

Room of the Animals

The Room of the Animals was next, with a collection of Roman statues of, well, animals.

Room of Busts

We followed the path through the Room of Busts, the Cabinet of Masks and into the Room of Muses, with the famous Belvedere Torso, a first century B.C.E. statue by Athenian sculptor Apollonius.

Round Room

The Round Room awaited us, named for its shape. The dome is modeled after the Pantheon and is occupied by a five-meter wide basin set on a third-century mosaic floor.

Greek Cross Room

The Greek Cross room also had a third century mosaic floor along with a pair of sarcophagus dating back to Emporer Constantine.

Chiaramonti Museum

Leaving this museum, we ended up the Chiaramonti Museum, although they all were blending together at this point in time due to all of the crowds. Busts of Roman emporers and Gods were seen in this set of rooms.

Map Gallery

The gorgeous Map Gallery was next on our walk, with over 40 map frescos on the walls of the long hallway. This is one room where we would have liked to linger, but there were so many people it was difficult to stop and spend much time looking at the detailed maps.

Raphael Rooms

We made our way into Pope Julius' old apartments which are now the Raphael Rooms, painted by the famous master. We made the obiligatory comments about having seen works by two of the four ninja turtles on our trip. This area also featured the incredible Room of the Immaculate Conception with its fresco painted walls and ceiling and the large bookcase commissioned by the Pope in the 1800s.

Sistene Chapel

Eventually we made it to the Sistene Chapel. At first we were unsure we were in the Chapel because of the throng of people, but eventually we found a place to stand and stare at the magnificent works of art by Michelangelo. Rebecca was underwhelmed because she expected the famous "The Creation of Adam" fresco to consume much of the ceiling rather than just being a small portion of the overall artwork. J. R. could have spent hours in this room admiring the artwork, but it was hard to move around, and so we headed out.

The Rest of the Museum

After the Sistene Chapel, we walked rather quickly through the remaining rooms on our way to the exit. There were a lot fewer people in this area as guests lingered in the chapel.

Last Night in Rome

We could hear the thunderstorms on the roof as we exited the Sistene Chapel and so we stopped at the Vatican restaurant for some sodas to wait out the major rain. Finally we made our walk in a drizzle to the Metro station and took the train back to our hotel. We had magnificent luck with the Rome Metro trains as they arrived almost instantly every time we walked into a station. We dried off at the hotel and then Rebecca wanted her last gelato to be better than the one near the Vatican, so we went online to look for reviews of gelato shops. J. R. found a local chain called Fatamorgana that had a location near our hotel that received rave reviews. Rebecca opted for the Madagascar Chocolate while Janie had the chocolate and orange and they both agreed it was some of the best gelato of the trip. Another American couple saw her eating gelato and asked for directions as we walked back to our hotel

The drizzle was starting to fall again, so we walked to the Hotel Palatino near our hotel to sit at their bar and watch the World Cup. The bar served more American-like food, so we had calamari and chicken wings and meat and cheese and watched some football while drinking wine and beer and, for Rebecca, a virgin daiquiri. After dinner, we went back to our hotel to watch more football and get ready for our long flight home the next morning.

Going Home

Our car service was due at 7AM the next morning, based on the company's recommendation to be at the airport three hours in advance of our flight. We checked out early and the car was already waiting at 6:45, and it only took us 39 minutes to get to the airport, so we were incredibly early. We then learned Aer Lingus check-in did not open until 2-1/2 hours before the flight. We tried to get our Disney duty free refund but the Italian customs clerk showed no interest in doing his job and said he only dealt with checked luggage, not carry-ons. We didn't have our boarding passes yet and he would not accept a mobile pass. So we gave up and went and found a place to get some pastries. We came back to the Aer Lingus line and found it snaking through the airport and they opened 10 minutes late with one employee. Finally another was added, much to our discomfort as she checked us in and proceeded to tag our bag, then peel the sticker back off, then place a transfer tag on it and try to get it to stick again. This was the bag that never made it to Chicago.

Our flight to Dublin was uneventful, although they waited until after we were airborne and Rebecca had already had two Mars bars before informing us there was a person with a peanut allergy on board and we should refrain from eating snacks with peanuts. We understand allergies but if the airline wants to do this, they should say so before boarding and also provide peanut-free snacks for free on-board. (We usually do not bring any snacks with nuts on-board with us, but Becca loves Mars bars and they are hard to find in the USA so she just had to buy a bag at duty free while we were trying to spend some of our last Euros).

We only had about an hour layover in Dublin. We had thought about getting lunch before passing through U.S. security but chose not to, which was good because Janie got pulled aside for secondary screening, leaving us even less time at the gate. J. R. and Rebecca went and bought some sandwiches and muffins which we ate while we waited and soon we were on our way home to Chicago along with two of our three pieces of luggage.