Staffination Strikes Again: Day One

Day one - we decided on breakfast at 7:30 to get a jump start on the Vatican - only we were met with torrential rains. So, plan scrapped, we decided to regroup around 11 and see what we could do then. In the meantime, I made reservations at the Vatican museum - a must do if you plan to go there - for noon, and figured it couldn’t possibly take us an hour to get there, as it was clearly not that far from our map figures. We decided that ‘when in Rome’ do as the Romans do - and we planned to take the bus. Unfortunately, we didn’t know where to get tickets, where to catch the bus, or when they left - so we headed out. Little to our knowledge, the rains that we endured had flooded the subway system and therefore it was closed. As a result, everyone took off for the buses and taxis. We eventually found our tickets at a cigarette shop - duh - why didn’t we look there in the first place, right? We paid 4 Euro each and went on our way. Yes, 4 Euro for a bus ticket is a lot, and it’s wrong, we had some sort of other ticket that we didn’t end up using anyhow, but don’t think that your average ride should cost 4 Euro. Dumb tourists. Off we went to catch our bus which was right outside of where we were. Great, now all we had to do was find a 64 or a 40. No problem. Wait, let me restate that. All we had to do was find a 64 or a 40 that wasn’t leaning so far to the left because of added passengers resulting from the flood that it was unsafe to get on the bus. So, plan c, we decided to get a taxi. Again, factoring in the flooding, each taxi that passed us was full. So we headed off in the direction of the train station to try and find a place where we could easily catch a taxi. Keep in mind, that all the while that hour of cushion time we had to get to the Vatican is slowly ticking away, and I’ll be damned if I was going to lose 100 Euro and miss our entry time because we got caught in traffic. We dutifully stood in the taxi line, waiting our turn, after the 25 or so Italians in front of us. Didn’t they realize that we had a timed entry to the Vatican? How could they not let us into their line? After not one, but two Italians budged and trumped my family’s spot in line, I took matters into my own hands. I retreated about 30 yards to the back of the line, turned around and started calling taxis from the other way. Wouldn’t you know it, it was only 5 minutes before I got one to stop for me. With less than 10 minutes we were on our way to the Vatican. Our driver was a sweet Italian lady who had visited California and New York and had dreams of working in New York some day. She told us that she was sorry that it was raining and that it wasn’t usually like that in Italy. She dropped us off to right where we needed to be to pick up our tickets and at 12:01 we were in the door.

The process of getting our tickets was still a little dicy however. I received an e-mail confirmation of the purchase of my tickets, but I thought that a picture ID and a credit card would suffice for picking up the tickets. However, the guy (all too friendly) at the ticket window wanted the confirmation number. Really? The confirmation number? 12:04...12:05... at the window next to me, a lady rushed in and said that they had 11:30 tickets, but couldn’t get there in time, and she asked what was she to do? The ticket taker at her window shrugged his shoulders and started doing other work. Oh crap... now I’m in trouble. I took my iPhone 4S and turned on the Cellular data to retrieve the e-mail that hadn’t arrived in my inbox by the time we had left, and though it probably cost me an additional $10, I got the damn confirmation number off my phone. He typed it in, and then asked for my name and ID, which I produced, and he ended up looking up my reservation by name anyhow. Ugh.

We got in- they scanned our tickets at 12:10 and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We took our time going through the 4 miles of exhibits, though some of it was less than thrilling. It all eventually lead to the Sistine Chapel, which was well worth the wait. My mom had been to Italy (40 years ago) and she basically told us that it was this piddly little thing and that we would be overwhelmed by it’s non-size. As a result of this, I was overwhelmed when I found it to be exactly the opposite. It was huge, and though there were a bajilion and a half people in there, we were able to stand and admire for a few minutes at the magnitude and beauty that was the ceiling. I don’t get art, I don’t do art, I can’t say that I have an eye for art. BUT, that Michaelangelo dude really had some talent. He was a sculptor, a painter, a builder, everything - he DID art. And to think that where I was standing was the exact same place where he stood is something to be excited about. The significance as a history teacher should be even more significant, though I don’t get to spend much time with the Romans in my class.

The dome of St. Peter's from the Vatican Museum

A mummy in the Vatican Museum

Don't you think it's crazy that you can still see his hair?

Dad checking out the Piazza

The Sistene Chapel - yes I know pictures are forbidden

Vatican museum staircase

Staffas on the staircase

Dad going in for a smooch

All four of us in front of St. Peter's

We decided that even though the rain pushed us well into the afternoon that we would still try to get into the Basilica when we got out of the Sistine Chapel, though the line was seriously ridiculous. It came all the way down from the entrance to the church and then wound around the “square” that isn’t really square. We aborted mission see the Basilica and decided to try again the next day.

We found our way back home by way of the Pantheon and Piazza Navona and took in the beauty all the way home.