Our second day in Italy was packed with plans. It was a Monday so we were able to go to shops, and museums and places that are usually closed Sundays. We started it out with the best dang continental breakfast I've ever had. Freshest fruit, eggs, bacon, and juice I've ever tasted. Those Italians know how to eat!
We had Vatican City passes so we decided to head there first. We got on the bus the hotel worker told us to take, and ended up driving all the way across Rome in the wrong direction. I got to practice my Italian with a nice lady standing by us. I asked her "dove siamo?" (This means where are we), and I pointed to my map. She eventually got us going in the right direction and an hour later we were at the Vatican. Thank heavens our hotel came with 2 passes to the Vatican because the line wrapped all the way around the courtyard. It was ridiculous! I feel bad for those who were waiting in line.
Il Museo Vaticani is an interesting museum, it winds through ancient history with Egyptians, then the ancient Roman beliefs and starts to take you through the Catholic history sections with paintings of Christ and his followers. It also takes you through a previous Pope's apartment and ends with the Sistine Chapel. All the ceilings in the museum are extremely ornate. I have too many pictures to share on this blog post, but if you want to see them all I have a Photobucket album you can always checkout. Just message me and I'll send you the link!
Vatican Courtyard, the Vatican is behind me.
Ornate doorway in Museum.
Can you spot the American in this picture?
Since the Sistine Chapel is a chapel, they were very strict about photos, noise and such. A ton of people were taking flash photos, so Alia and I decided to be disrespectful too (just this once, in all the other chapels we didn't take photos!). We just pointed the camera at the ceiling and took a picture with no flash. Somehow we ended up catching the most recognizable part of the Sistine Chapel ceiling on zoom... recognize it? Lucky us huh?
After we caught lunch and bought some rosaries for our friends, we decided to go find Il Fontana di Trevi... one of the most popular fountains in Rome. The statue's central figure is the god Neptune, and this fountain is gorgeous. It just appears out of the backside of a building, and is extremely large and very crowded with tourists. Legend has it you will return to Rome if you throw a coin into the water (also they use the revenue from the fountain wishes to finance the maintenance for the fountain!). Since Alia and I were in love with Rome, we decided to make our wish! You should toss it over your shoulder with your back to the fountain. The pictures below show the fountain behind us, and there is also one of me making my wish. I can't wait to return to Rome. Only time will tell how long it will be before I come back... 
We walked around the neighborhood by Il Fontana di Trevi and found some really cute shops. I bought a bag that I use as a purse and I love it. It's a one of a kind. We also got gelato, and fell in love with Italian shoes we ended up not buying... shame on us! In this piazza there was also a really neat church that we walked through. All the piazzas have amazing hidden churches that allow you to walk in and sit in the chapel and revel in their magnificent architecture and peacefulness.
More Christmas lights... I love these cobblestone backstreets.
Apparently they make things out of me in Italy... what can I say, I'm awesome. (Lana means wool in Italian.)
We finished the night with a pasta dinner in the Trastevere neighborhood again. We love Italian food!
Canneloni at a Trastevere shop
Here is my postcard journal entry for the day:
12/6/10 - Rome
Today was Vatican City day. Vatican city is cool in that it is separate from Rome while being in the middle of Rome. The buildings are magnificent as well as the grounds. The museum was full of Ancient Roman sculpture/artifacts and the ceiling in the Museo Vaticani are breathtaking. We also saw the Sistine Chapel. (Also cool and we snuck pics.) Despite all this the museum is crowded and gets annoying. On the way there Alia and I took the wrong bus and got a little lost. It was fun. Later we went to the Fontana di Trevi. (Also over-crowded BUT amazing!) We got gelato, shopped and reveled in yet another awesome cobblestone neighborhood. Then we went back to Trastevere ate pasta and came home exhausted. One of the funnest parts of this is being immersed in their culture... alone! Awesome!
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