Beth and Bonnie Roma Party: Part 2

--Written November 19th--

I didn't think Beth's time here in Rome could get much better than yesterday, but it DID. We got up early this morning to go get the customary cappuccino before my 9 am class. Beth (wisely) decided to opt out of going to class with me and instead sit on the 4th floor patio reading her book and looking out over Rome. Needless to say I was jealous. But oh well, who am I to complain? I'm still in Rome.

After class, we headed to the Vatican City for the day. Luck was on our side as we encountered little to no lines everywhere we went today. And we all know that when you're doing touristy stuff, that really is lucky. First we whisked into the Vatican Museum after not waiting in the non-existent line. (just wanted to emphasize that for ya). We made our way through it all to see the big things like the Belvedere Torso, the Laocoon, the Raphael Rooms, and the Sistine Chapel. After we finished with the museum, we grabbed some wonderful pizza at a pizzeria a little ways into the Vatican City. To top off lunch, we got some delectable gelato at the little Old Bridge Gelato shop, reputed to be the best gelato in Rome. I can't say with certainty that it was life-changing-great gelato, but it was certainly good! Maybe that's a testament to how good the gelato quality is all across this eternal city.

leaving the Vatican Museum

Old Bridge Gelato

Once our bellies were full and happy, we went in to see St. Peter's Basilica. While we were in there, we actually saw priests come in singing and conducting worship or something. It was very interesting to watch. Once we had seen the inside of the Basilica, we went up on top of the dome! I'd been wanting to go up there for a while and Beth wanted to go for it too! So we took an elevator up to the bottom of the dome where we got to walk around the inside of the dome and look down into the interior of St. Peters. After that, we continued up to the top of the dome by climbing 300 steps. From the top of the dome we had a 360° view of Rome. So beautiful. After we came down from the dome, we headed back to my neighborhood where we warmed up with some lovely hot chocolate. Then we took some time to rest in the apartment before going to dinner with Abbie, Lindsey, and some of Abbie's friends who were in town. All in all a wonderful day.

in St. Peter's

the service we saw

looking down into St. Peter's from the dome

looking down into St. Peter's

the view of the Piazza from the top of the dome

having a lot of fun on top of the dome

throwing up her quatrefoil on the way down from the dome

warming up with hot chocolate

--Written November 20th--

This morning we decided to sleep in just a tad and ended up hanging out in the apartment until about 11. Before we embarked for the day, we grabbed coffee and pastries at the local bar. Then we took the tram over to Argentina where we retraced much of what we had done two days before in order to re-visit some shops and get some gifts for friends and family. We grabbed a cheap pasta lunch by the Pantheon and then shopped a bit more for the afternoon. Something so wonderfully monumental of the day is that we were walking along and we passed a bakery and it had cookies in the window. Cookies. Y'all. I haven't had a cookie since I got here. So of course I had to get one. And oh heaven it was good. Once we were done shopping in that part of town, we went to Trastevere to go to some book shops. Then we came back to my apartment, grabbed another hot chocolate (it was cold and rainy) and then went back to my apartment so  I could submit a paper and Beth could start packing. We decided to finish off Beth's time in Italy with a lovely dinner at a restaurant near Piazza Navona. One thing's for certain, I'm sending Beth back to the States with a full belly of Italian food. And as I've said to her at least a dozen times while she's been here, it was just so great that she came to visit.

Ciao!