Vatican City
Considering the heat we were dressed appropriately, however our first stop at the Vatican City required a wardrobe change for Whit. After working our way through the line we arrived to the entrance of St. Peter's Basilica only to be turned away due to "inappropriate clothing." Turns out shorts above the knees for women doesn't work for the Swiss Guard. So of course, a wise women opened a scarf stand in Vatican City for this reason. While the wrap/scarf for Whit was reasonably priced, the snack I bought for us to eat during our second 30 minutes in line was atrocious. Two cokes zeros and a miniature bag of peanuts for 10 euros ($15)......not bad for 9 innings of baseball at Turner field, but on the street in Rome I consider it a bit much.
Fortunately, Whit's new attire was permissable our second go-round so we were able to check out some of the highlights of St. Peter's Basilica.
On this ancient bronze statue, St. Peter has his right toes worn down by centuries of pilgrims who traditionally touch the foot.
After the Vatican City and a pizza each for lunch we headed to the Colosseum via a tourist trap gelato (italian ice cream) shop. We sat down inside (our first mistake) and both chose giant ice cream sunday's that should have had gold coins at the bottom. After eating the ice cream, fighting off the sleazy waiter and seeing the astronomical bill, I headed to the tiny bathroom to splash water on my face and recover. On the way out of the bathroom I accidentally struck our waiter in the groin with the bathroom door. He immediately fell to the floor screaming in pain. The entire shop was staring with curiosity at shreaking sound that was eminating from the rear of the ice cream shop. It was a a sight. As he lay wincing on the floor of the ice cream shop I whipped out exact euros and layed it on the table, grabbed Whit's hand and hurried out the door with a "sorry" in French and a "goodbye" in Italian. I dragged Whit running for a couple of blocks, looking over my shoulder for the Caribineiri. We probably looked like we robbed a bank. So two ice cream Sunday's in Rome...around $30 (no tip)....Injuring the creepy waiter with the bathroom door....well worth it. This pic is of Whit with our waiter pre-injury. He definitely wasn't smiling like this when we left.
We headed over to the Colosseum after visiting The Pantheon, The Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain:
As we toured the the Colosseum the sky opened up with a downpour that we could just not wait out. As we trekked back towards the hotel we noticed that every Sri Lankan immigrant within 5 miles had emerged to sell "top of the line" umbrellas. We ending up "bargaining" (with no help from the weather) with one vendor in order to buy two umbrellas. After I paid him, I opened my umbrella and the handle immediately fell off and the umbrella began to disintegrate in my hands. I held up the pieces of the umbrella in my hands and yelled sacarstically to him as he was walking away "This the nicest umbrella I have ever bought.." to which he responded in perfect broken english "I know, they are very good." The next pic is right before the sky opened.
When we finally made it home we were greeted again by the hotel dog. He was very eager to kiss Whitney goodnight. Seeing his friendly face was a welcome relief after our very wet walk home.
We are in the Vosges Mountains now and should be able to post something soon about the great hiking we are doing here.
Hilarious! I loved this one. I can't believe that about the waiter.
ReplyDeleteHey! it is so fun to see you guys... glad you are doing well, and that you got your furniture- still waiting for that ourselves :)
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