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06/23/2004: "Rome - June 21, 2004"
So today we are in Rome. There are a lot of things to see and a lot of things to watch out for. Its no so much different from the US, but the people are just speaking another language...
The funny thing is, we got lost so many times walking around that people would just look at us and ask if we needed help finding something. It was nice. One thing I like about Italy, is all the sites and sounds. It was kind of like New York, but I don’t know, weird. It’s a whole different feeling that I have never experienced before and I am glad that Katie is here with me going through the same crap that I am. Its just the first day and yet, we have already gone through 150 bucks(Euro)……each, and all we have to show is…..well,…..well not anything right now. No I am wrong there are a lot of pictures of the Vatican and everything. It was crazy I must say. I would tell anyone who is reading this right now. If you go anywhere, go see the Vatican. If you are religious or not, you still have to go see it. The statues there are crazy. And the fact that you are walking through a place where so many famous people have walked before so many years ago, I swear, that’s a great experience. The funny part is when we were walking through the Vatican, its almost like the Pope wanted to kid around with the tourists with the way the tourist path was setup. All the pictures of the Vatican show that you can see the Sistine Chapel by going into the Church and turning right. Well the real truth is, you must walk all the way around the building and into the museum. The up a couple flights of stairs and then walk through the museum and see all the old artwork which ranged from tapestries to sculptures. Now I’m not saying that it wasn’t interesting, what I’m saying is that we had walked around the museum for 2 hours, and the signs that pointed the way to the Chapel…well, it felt like it was messing with you. At one point the signs pointed in two directions and both said you could get to the chapel. Then at one point we were walking in one direction and it told us to go back the other way. It was almost like the Vatican was moving walls and making new doors that went in circles. There were also so many ceiling paintings, that you were always saying, oh…this is it. And then walk out of the room and see a sign that says Sistine Chapel this way. Almost mocking us. But when we got there we knew it. You walk down stairs and over a loud speaker a recorded voice tells you that there is no picture taking and you much stay quiet. Well, when we got down into the room, I’ll tell you nobody was quiet. But it didn’t matter, it was beautiful. You know it took so long to walk around and see it, and we were so tired, but it was worth it. Sometimes I hate when Katie brings her tourist book with her, but this time I actually liked having it. We were reading what the art represented and it was very intriguing and it had a full story of each of the pictures. I really appreciated hearing what was in the book. The cool part is, when we were looking at the painting, some people took a picture and the security that was in there went berserk. They ran over to the guy grabbed his camera and told him to put it away, and didn’t leave the guy until the camera was back in his bag. I felt sorry for him. After that disturbance it got louder and then the head security guy clapped his hands and shushed the crowd. Everyone was instantly silent. It was cool; I would want a job like that. We didn’t get to see that pope but we did get to see a service. It was very cool. He did the whole Dane Cook singing, but not really singing sermon. To get into the Vatican you couldn’t wear shorts or a tank top and they were very strict on the policy…. well, not really. I saw them stop a couple of people at the door, but I saw a lot of people walking on the inside with tiny dresses. But hey, you can’t stop them all.
It’s been a great first day, I hope Katie gets better. Her legs swelled up pretty bad today from walking around. She thinks it’s from the plane and I think its just because we were walking around all day. But she seems better now, hopefully by tomorrow she will feel better and her legs will go back to normal. I will keep you posted. Hope some reads this crap!!