When in Rome

11/5/11

Eat a bowl of pasta as big as your head! That is exactly what we did today. We woke up and decided to go to St. Peter's Basilica (aka. huge church). The line wrapped around the entire square out front but moved very quickly. Once we were in, we were absolutely blown away at the size and opulence of the basilica. It would be difficult to even fathom without seeing it. The church takes up 6 acres and under Michaelangelo's duomo, you could fit a football field on end. There were at least 50 statues 15 foot high throughout the church. The floors, walls, and pillars were marble. The ceilings were painted with beautiful frescos and the scripture carved in the walls were backed with gold. The main alter used only by the pope was white marble sitting just above an ornate staircase that led down to Peter's grave...THE Peter! Several popes were buried in the church and some with glass tombs that you could look into, their faces and hands covered in bronze. We saw Michaelangelo's Pieta, probably my favorite sculpture. It was behind glass because some crazy guy took a hammer to it in the '70s.

After the church, we ate lunch at a tourist trap outside the Vatican. We hated to do it but we were in serious need of nourishment. We've learned that if we don't snack every 3-4 hours, we get incredibly cranky. I had pizza and Justin got a yummy salad. Unfortunately, the didn't take credit cards, which we are being told a good bit here. The more we travel, the better we get at it. We can zoom across town on a metro like nobody's business and I have never ridden on one before! It's travel by fire but the first time you do it, you've learned forever.

We got back to the hotel in time to go to our wine tasting, that is now a champagne tasting since we got lost last night. On our way, we passed the Colosseum. The champagne tasting was a lot of fun. The sommelier was a bit snotty but I expect that's in the job description. He kept fussing at this one girl to hold her glass by the stem. She was a british girl whose family owned a farm so she was able to nail all the smells of the champagne. I shouldn't call it champagne since that only comes from Champagne, France. It's really sparkling wine, we tried several and Justin really liked prosecco, a popular Italian sparkling wine. It was a bit too acidic for me, I liked the brut.

The best part of the tasting was that we were sitting next to a new sommelier what was an expert on Italian pastas! She even wrote an app! She made a recommendation to a rustic Italian restaurant and told us what to order. We almost didn't get in because we didn't have a reservation...well, they asked us if we could be out by 2115 and it was only 1930...Italians take a long time to eat. It was a perfect time for us. 

The pasta was so delicious! It was enough to feed a family. They brought the house wine that was also very good and bread. We learned in our wine tasting that if a restaurant doesn't bring bread to eat with your wine, then they aren't a "real" Italian restaurant. we ordered the best bruschetta I've ever had and some yummy fried mozzarella. We've seen a lot of fried olives here to, hopefully we can try them later. The waitress spoke no English and seemed a little grouchy but Justin was determined to win her over. He pulled out our travel book and figured out how to say a few phrases. By the end of the night, she was laughing and waving her hands in the air with excitement. It was a lot of fun. So far, the best meal we've had.

After cappuccino, we decided to call it a night. Tomorrow, we're going to the Colosseum, the Forum, and Palatine hill. Arrivederci!