Ok, so this is the Rome so many people fuss about. I’m starting to understand why millions flock here each year.
We started our day early… at 8:30 our taxi dropped us off for our Vatican tour. (we were 15 minutes early. I have never been early anywhere. Ever.) The taxi driver pointed out the line of people waiting to get in. An hour and a half before it opened to the general public and the line already stretched for blocks. And this is the off season! Bill found our tour guide at the front of the line for the 9am groups. Since we were so early, he got us in with the 8:30 bunch. I splurged on a private tour guide I found online that promised a Vatican for Kids tour. Now, I realize that a Vatican for Kids tour is a pretty tall order. Salvidore was a very nice and knowledgeable guide. But not one minute of the tour seemed to be directed toward Kaitlyn. I’m glad we had a guide, but I could have saved a bundle on a group tour.
I’d go back to the Vatican only for one thing: the Sistine Chapel. I was stunned. I simply cannot believe how taken I was with it. I could have stayed for an hour just staring at the ceiling. Pictures of it or descriptions just don’t do it justice. You have to see it to believe it. Salvidore told us all about how Michelangelo put up the scaffolding and did the fresco… how it tells the story of creation… the restoration process… the size of the people’s heads to make it look right to someone standing on the ground. Oh, and maybe the most useful piece of information he had: how to find the bathroom down the hall. There we are standing in the Sistine Chapel looking at this marvel and Kaitlyn announces I have to pee pee. Naturally, there was a line in the women’s room. But it was very clean. (If a nun uses it, would that be a case of holy shit?)
Outside in St Peter’s Square, Kaitlyn had a great time. She chased birds. It kept her busy and helped her release some energy while we learned a little more about the Vatican. It was fascinating to see it after watching on tv last year when the new Pope was elected. As I stood there looking around, it seemed impossible to imagine the tens of thousands of people crammed into the square.
The last stop on our tour was supposed to be of Rome’s weapons museum. Bill suspects that is the part of the tour the organizers thought would appeal to a kid. They may want to start to check their calendars. It is closed on Mondays. So we stood around and tried to figure out what to do next and settled on walking over to Piazza Navona. I think it is part of our Tuesday tour.. but I couldn’t be sure so I just went along with it. It isn’t like I had another suggestion. Bill had to carry Kaitlyn from there the rest of the way to the hotel. She was so worn out (I guess from her personal free Rome of pigeons campaign) that she fell asleep on Bill’s shoulder. I don’t think she’s managed to do that since she was a baby.
After her nap we followed my itinerary and headed out for the Colosseum. Unfortunately, Kaitlyn was cranky and the weather was drizzly. She again insisted on being carried. We finally found a place to go in for lunch. At first, it looked like all it had was coffee and pastries, but by that point I’d have eaten the napkins. And I knew Bill couldn’t carry Kaitlyn much farther.
My next concern popped up when the waitress came to our table. She only spoke Italian. I didn’t bother to learn even a few polite phrases before coming; my head is swimming with French I can’t remember when I need to so I figured there was no way Italian stood a chance anyway. But unlike some French who get snippy if you can’t speak their language, she didn’t seem to care. It was as if she made it her mission to take care of us. The pizza was great. The crust was so thin and crispy! I ordered a pizza with hot peppers and it was perfect. After downing her pizza, Kaitlyn indulged in some gelato. I think it’s already her third one since we got to Rome. While she and Bill enjoyed their frozen treats (Kaitlyn got strawberry. Bill had pistachio. Yuck.) I got a cup of the hot chocolate I’d heard is not to be missed. It was like a cup of melted chocolate. It was superb.
On the way out, the waitress made a big deal of getting a bottle so Kaitlyn could take her leftover milk with her. I heard her in the back telling someone she needed it for the bambina. She came out with a juice bottle that had been washed out. She filled it with Kaitlyn’s milk, put on the lid and sent us on our way. She really took care of us.
We felt much better after eating and walked the rest of the way to the Colosseum. Unfortunately, we got there too late in the afternoon and it was already closed. We figured that out after walking all the way around it trying to figure out how to get in. When there was no way in, we assumed it was closed.
Salvidore told us that we just had to go to the Travestere district. He said it wasn’t a long walk from our hotel. So we figured we’d walk there for dinner to try to find a restaurant I’d read about. I had the address but the street isn’t on our map. Even with our map we got a little turned around and it took quite a while to get there. Poor Bill ended up carrying Kaitlyn part of the way. Once we found the neighborhood it did seem charming. Less touristy, although I’m sure it was filled with them. We walked around and around, managing to keep Kaitlyn from seeing the McDonald’s.
Somehow, we managed to find the restaurant we were looking for. La Cisterna. It was pretty good. There were only a few people in there eating and we were all tourists. I ordered the shrimp, because I’d read a review that said they had great shrimp. They came with their heads on. (So did the shrimp I got yesterday. No more shrimp for me, thank you very much) It was a lot of work and Kaitlyn kept eating off my plate, so I didn’t even get much. But the first course of antipasti the waiter brought was good. The pasta course he recommended was very good. After dinner, the waiter takes you into the basement of the restaurant which they call a museum. There is an old well down there on what used to be the street. Then he poured us each a glass of champagne and we toasted to a return to the restaurant.
We ignored Kaitlyn’s plea to take a car back to the hotel, because Salvidore had been so insistent that Travestere is not a long walk. It was 8:45 when we left the restaurant I happened to look at my watch because we passed a church that was ringing its bells and we noted what a strange time it was for bell ringing. On the way to the hotel we took a wrong turn somewhere. Then the drizzle turned to pouring rain. It took an hour to get to our room. All the while, Bill had Kaitlyn on his shoulders. We should have listened to her when she begged for a taxi.