Today was a good day to visit the Vatican since it was still on and off raining. Doug and I had purchased the Roma Pass and I highly encourage anyone visiting Rome to do so. The Roma Pass allows you to visit 2 of 30 participating museums and historical attractions in Rome for free and have unlimited rides on Roma Metro and buses. The pass pretty pays for itself considering that standard admission is 10-12 euro and the pass was only 25 euro. I was a little jealous of Doug today because at the Vatican, he had his student ID card and only had to pay 8 euro while I had left my Mcard in NYC thinking I wouldn't need it and had to pay the full price of 15 euro. So I learned my lesson, always bring your Mcard with you everywhere you go. For all my fellow travelers with student ID cards, keep them in your wallet!
The Vatican was pretty amazing albeit to see the Sistine Chapel, you have to wander through most of the interior of the Vatican City. The Sistine Chapel was breathtaking. I can't even imagine how much significance it would have had if I actually was an art major or studied the works of the great Baroque artists. Afterwards, Doug and I went and I had the best Valrhona chocolate gelato ever. Doug chose a caramel flavored one which was also very good. Wandering from the gelateria, Doug and I were a little underwhelmed by the Spanish steps but Doug absolutely loved the Trevi Fountain (okay, I admit, I did too).
But my favorite part of the day was the abundance of the word "Saldi" everywhere. Doug and I agreed that early February is not a bad time to visit Rome. Less tourist crowds and everything is on sale in the stores for the biannual sale. Almost every store we went in had 50% off of the winter items. I'm still on the quest for the perfect pair of Italian leather boots...
Dinner was amazing also. We went to a cantina and split an order of deep fried salted cod and deep fried zucchini. Yummy... Then we went to a pizzeria that was bustling with people and Doug had the Penne Arrabiata and I had a margharita pizza. Then my tiramisu came out and in less than 2 minutes, I had devoured the entire thing. Now I'm stuffed and approaching a food coma as I blog.
Doug and I talked about how we're not getting the same vibe from Rome as we did from Madrid or Barcelona and we can't pinpoint why. It just doesn't seem to have the same effect as Spain did but I do have to say, no matter what, the Italians are very kind to us and they're so good looking! The food is hands down better here than it was in Spain but who doesn't love pasta and pizza? :)
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