When In Rome... Recap: Day 3 The Vatican

After a quick stop at an internet cafe/souvenir store, where Waverly emailed homework to her professor, we decided to take the subway to the Vatican because of the rain. There are only two lines to the Rome metro, A and B; and they only intersect at one station: the main train station in Rome. So, you take 2.5 million people living in the city, give them 2 metro lines, have them intersect at one of the largest train stations in Europe, and you get this at 11:00 am on a Friday:



When we finally arrived (I think it would have been faster to walk), we found hordes of people gathered at St. Peter's Square in front of the cathedral. There was already a long queue forming to get in so we waited in line, passed through the metal detectors, and walked into the biggest, and possibly the finest church we've seen in all of Europe.

What was even more impressive then the inside:



was the top:



and the very very top of the dome -- even if it took 2 hours of waiting and walking up narrow, crowded, corridor steps to get there:



The sun was already setting when we were done with St. Peter's, so we decided to walk along the square to the river. On our way there, people lined the streets selling fake replica designer purses, belts and wallets, leading you to wonder, "If they can sell this stuff in the Vatican City, where can't they sell it?"



Later, we headed over to Trastevere, where we had dinner, visited a church, perused the street markets, and more importantly, where Waverly scored a pair of 36 Euro boots (if anyone asks, they were made in Italy okay?).

We capped off the day by ducking from the rain and heading over to the Colosseum again, which is just as awesome at night time.