Thursday February 15th:

Today was the big one, today we are being taken to the Vatican Museum by our hostess Beatrice. She has arranged with a friend of hers who is an official guide at the Vatican for us to receive a private tour. She is the tour guide of choice for CEOs and ambassadors from all over the world so we feel very privileged that she has chosen to give us her time.

It is pouring rain as we jamb ourselves into Beatrice’s extremely compact car, small even by Roman standards but it fits great on the sidewalks when there are no spots on the street. Traffic is a complete mess and Beatrice calls her friend to explain that we are on our way but slowed by the congestion. She is already there at the Vatican waiting for us. We arrive at the walls of the Vatican, the line stretches off behind us and we climb out to get in line while Beatrice finds a parking space nearby. We aren’t even on the street that has the entrance to the museum but I suspect that the street can’t be too far off. The line isn’t moving but the tail has a life of its own and it grows another fifty feet longer in a few minutes. After that I didn’t look back because the crush of the crowd made the rear of the line invisible. Turns out that the colorful umbrella that the Indian guy sold us on that first day wasn’t actually designed to be waterproof. As I glanced around I saw water beading up and shedding off other umbrellas around us but on ours, not beading up, I was experiencing a drip, drip on my forehead but in spite of that, it was still dryer under the umbrella than outside of it. I should have raised my hood but since I hadn’t, it filled with water to the point that it sloshed out down my back when I started walking.

The line did eventually start moving and Beatrice’s friend came out in the rain and joined us for a while. She was very nice and also very short. I’m not sure, I’ll have to ask Donna but she must have been under five feet tall, wore glasses and was very much alive in her old age. She was sparkly and fun and she identified us as just like teenagers who were newly in love. Donna and I quietly agreed that she reminded us of Yoda from the Star Wars movies. She left us and bought the tickets, the line moved forward and bit by bit we found ourselves flowing with the crowd through an opening in the vast walls of the Vatican. Another security checkpoint, this one more serious but my camera bypassed inspection again. I talked to our hosts later about security in Rome and they said it was a pain in the butt and should be dispensed with entirely. I guess they are more philosophical about the occasional bombing now and again.

Beatrice’s friend met us and led us in. She took us to a board in the lobby explaining that they don’t let you talk in the Sistine Chapel and so the museum has provided this instrument that scrolls through all of the paintings in the chapel as a teaching aid for the tour guides. This lady really knew her stuff! I wasn’t watching my watch but I have no doubt that we spent over an hour learning about the chapel from that teaching aid. There were two more of these in the museum but as she continued to talk, from time to time a group with a guide would come up waiting to assume the machine. She would always tell them that she had a ton more to say, or she had hardly even gotten going. She sent them off to find another machine because there was no way she was going to give this one up. Tours came and went at the other machines but still she continued to explain. I have no doubt that upon our return to the states; Donna and I will qualify as two of the leading experts on the Sistine chapel. She described herself as a layperson, but had attended conferences on that ceiling. She explained about the politics of the time, gave us a complete history of the development of Michelangelo and his style. Explained how he was almost blind after completing the ceiling. Then she went on to the wall that he did and how upset everyone was by all of the nudity, etc. Well, no point rehashing it all but she had a bunch to say. Eventually she finished and took us into the museum. She was great fun and a great guide. She was so small that she could dart between the crowd and we had to rush to catch up on many occasions. She showed us the stuff that she loved and explained about the things she cared about. Mostly antiquity; stuff which was also right up my alley. We took lots of pictures. She showed us a bathtub carved out of a single chunk of black marble, pretty cool. Then she left us to our own and took off. The good stuff was done with and all that was left was room after room of Raphael stuff and much, much more. Through 50 rooms of modern religious art and finally into the Sistine chapel. It was a grueling trek, but it really was worth it. And I know that I was seeing it for the first time all over again because of the lecture and education that we had received by that sweet old lady.

Exiting the Sistine Chapel we were swept toward the exit and we still hadn’t seen the Laocoon. This would not do. I asked where it was and was told that it is right near the entrance, the old lady had passed it right up. We were forced out the exit and the museum was closed for the day but the special exhibit of the Laocoon was free and would be opening in a few minutes. Seems like everywhere we go, things close up right behind us. The Laocoon was beyond description, I have always appreciated that statue, there is just so must expression on that face. They also had a very detailed model of the museum and I wanted to lift the roof to see if they had done the inside too.

Exiting the Vatican, the rain had stopped. We wandered out and down toward Octaviano and the Metro. Donna was worn out and needed recharging and we stopped someplace for a Gelato. This time I got Nociola and Banana (same as last time) but it wasn’t memorable. What was fantastic was the ‘fondente’ or dark chocolate ice-cream that Donna had. That gelato qualifies as a gastronomical wonder and I don’t think that I could find the place again. Donna wanted to eat and we went into one of the millions of pizza by the slice places. Well, did they see us coming. We were too close to the Vatican. Two slices of pizza and a bottle of water cost us 15 Euro if you can believe that. OK, the slices were large but I just had pizza bianca which should have been 2 Euro so the really did rob us blind.

We took the Metro to Piazza Flaminio (right behind Piazza del Popolo). Everything converges there. Trams, buses subway and train. Seems like you could get to anywhere from there. Stopped at a bar for two Cappuccinos but after the Vatican, recharging those batteries was problematic. Both of us had walked what seemed like a hundred miles. Even though I only brought comfortable shoes and switched them off each day, my feet were sore. I wanted to see the Borghese Gardens but they were up hill from where we were. There was a bus stop so we waited and got on a bus, the park was nice but we didn’t get off until we hit the top of Via Veneto. I told Donna that she had to see it, but the enthusiasm just wasn’t there. I told her the American Embassy was there and the first Mc Donalds had opened there when I was a kid. It was all down hill which is really what sold it and as we walked, we both felt a little better. At the bottom was Piazza Barberini. I wanted pictures of the fountain. Funny thing about Donna, she actually perks up when in the presence of a fountain. Or else she is connected to me and when I go up, so does she. This is probably the case; we are extremely simpatico with each other.

Well that was it, I couldn’t stand the thought of having to walk a foot further so we went down the stairs and caught the metro home.