Our butts and legs hurt. I think we walked too much the first day in Rome.

Breakfast rocked….we got a bag of food…yogurt, an apple, juice, a croissant, a dessert thingy, coffee and water. If I ever come back to Rome ….I’m staying here.
I saw Kevin the priest at breakfast and he apologized for being preachy the night before, but then launched into another tirade. Not sure if his conversations are practice for his church one day, but man he’s exhausting.

Enough about that…the day was going to be dedicated to getting into the Vatican museum….even if we have to cut into line.

The museum opened at10am and we were in line at 9:30 (the metro took forever to drop us off….It was rush hour combined with everyone going to the Vatican….a ten minute ride turned into 30 minutes and the Metro was completely packed….lets just say I’m glad I put deodorant on….arms pits were everywhere).

The line was around the block at the Vatican museum and when I say around the block….these are really long blocks….from beginning to end it took about ten minutes to walk….or more. So Peter and I waited, but then got impatient It would have probably took about three hours to get in. Peter went for a walk and about 20 minutes later I joined him at the beginning of the line and we went into the museum…I know we suck, but we had to do it….hahhaha no one noticed…well except one lady who wasn’t too happy.

The museum was sweet…I’ve been before but I couldn’t remember everything. We saw the Sistine chapel, statues, and lots of modern paintings from artists like Dali, Moore and Lawrence to name a few. We saw frescos from Raphael and Michelangelo, a painting from Leonardo (that wasn’t finished) and a painting from my favorite painter Caravaggio. I was most surprised with the modern art collection that existed in the museum. No one else paid much attention, but I couldn’t believe some of the stuff the Vatican has collected. I think we spent about 4 hours in the museum.

We stopped at the hostel to “go to the bathroom” and Peter and I feel asleep for a few hours…..not sure how that happened, but I guess we needed it.

We decided to check out one more museum before the pasta party…..we headed to the National museum which houses the greatest collection of ancient Roman art…..so it consisted of lots of statues, frescos and mosaics. One cool thing about this museum is they recreated some artwork that would have existed in homes or in temples and you can walk into this setting. Also, there’s a mummy and a coin and jewelry collection. The best part about this museum was a private party with a symphony ran though a sound check….so we got to hear music while we strolled around, and since it was almost closing time, we basically had the museum to ourselves.

Ok…we made it to the pasta party where we met a bunch of Canadians that have been traveling around for a year helping out missions across the world (they attend a bible college in Canada), so of course my friend the priest took a liking to them instantly and in an hour he was talking to them about the church etc. and kept talking all night. Peter, myself and a woman from Denmark decided to create our own conversation. Apparently they were discussing the church and bible until 1am. Our Russian friends had had enough bible talk so they stayed away.

By the way one of the Russian friends named Dennis (his real name is Denise…apparently that’s common with Russian names) speaks 5 languages fluently and he’s learning Arabic. He can converse with us fine in English, I witnessed him speak flawless Italian, German and Russian to others. Shish…..we exchanged e-mail addresses and invited him to visit Seattle. He’s attending school in a PHD program in Minnesota and is out here doing a presentation.

Peter and Dennis…

The view from our hostel

We made it a short night and headed off to dreamland. The pasta and drinks were yummy.

I’m not sure what’s happening but my klutziness has increased. Maybe vacation does it to you, but literally I have had near death experiences through tripping over my own feet. One trip I flew in the air a few feet….it was pretty impressive. I’m not sure which parent I get this from….but whoever it is…blarg.

Eli