Peachy Keen

A frappucino in Italy. Can't get any better than that.

The tour we went on wasn't really a tour. It pretty much got us into the city without the long wait. The first thing we did after entering was head straight to the post office to send postcards to friends and family from the smallest country in the world! Unfortunately I didn't prepare and only had my parents' address on hand. I ended up buying postcards for friends to send from Japan >_> Not one of my best moments...

The Vatican museums were interesting. What really fascinated me was how much art the Vatican commissioned. What amazed me even more was that the sections we were able to see is just a tiny portion of what the Vatican holds. And even *then* this is just a small portion of Vatican City itself. The walkthrough of the museums was just a maze of various paintings/sculptures that eventually led us to the main  attraction: The Sistine Chapel.

I was born and raised Catholic (like pretty much all Filipinos out there), but I don't really practice it so I wasn't moved as I should have been when walking around the Vatican museums. That being said, it was when I entered and saw St. Peter's Basilica where I really felt the presence of the divine. I think it would even touch the hardcore non-believers. It's so majestic, so grand that it was unbelievable that I was even standing there and taking this all in with my own eyes. The Pieta, the Basilica are things you see in textbooks and documentaries; to actually BE there was...yeah, unbelievable. I still have a hard time thinking I was actually there. It just made me think how grateful I was for having an opportunity to be able to do this. So I went to one of the altars (this section was actually open to people who wanted to pray, so you couldn't take pictures or be loud or anything), and for the first time in a long time, I prayed and gave thanks.

The Vatican plus the Basilica took up half of our day. With no other set plans my cousin and I decided to head on over to the Pantheon. Afterwards we took a well deserved break near the fountain, then ate dinner at one of the many restaurants in the courtyard facing the Pantheon. As if our feet weren't screaming in pain, we walked some more and took a night stroll through the Monument of Victor Emmanuel, the Forums and the Colosseum.

Random thought: I'm not sure if it was this night or another night, but while walking through a street with small restaurants waiters would be calling out to try and get us to come in. I was greeted in Japanese, Chinese (really?!)...only ONE waiter got it right and called us 'beautiful' in Tagalog. HA.

Non-tasty of the day: Ciambella (Italian donut). I'm thinking maybe I just got one from the wrong place. :/

Next: Day 12, Beaches and Volcanoes...