Roman Holiday: Day Four: Vatican City

I am not religious. I know almost nothing about Christianity and even less about the Vatican. I heard the Pope hangs out there occasionally. Haha. All kidding aside, the Vatican was closer to our rental than the city center of Rome, so why not? 

Fountains everywhere

The Pope makes appearances at St Peter's Basilica every Wednesday and Sunday. Since our last day was a Wednesday, we had no other options to visit the Vatican. By choice, we went after the Pope spoke. 

Beautiful day

I don't like crowds. Something about the unorganized chaos of pushy strangers makes me anxious. Not to mention that my new husband is about a foot taller than me, so if we got separated, he would have a hard time finding me in a crown. This especially proved to be true when we visited Tokyo. So we opted to visit in the afternoon, after the Pope spoke, in hopes that the crowd would have died down.

Little did we know that the crowd at the Vatican does not die down until about 4pm. Since there is no entrance fee for St Peter's Basilica, flocks of tourist come to visit the monument and the line seemed about a mile long. 

St Peter's Square is quite remarkable. the tall columns and ten foot tall statues of saints form an oval surrounding an obelisk and with the church as it's main focal point. Everything is proportionate, so everything looks smaller than it actually is. According to our handy little guidebook, many of the optical illusions in and surrounding the church are made to seem grand, but not intimidating. After all this is a place of worship, you want people to feel welcome.

So, in an effort to avoid the long queue, we went to some local eateries to grab a bite. More food to go and gelato never hurt anyone. 

Fish suppli from FaFaMi Loboratoio Gastronomio

Misto frito, kinda like tempura

Now, Rome is beautiful, the Vatican is opulent, but nothing compares to this. If I had to recommend one place to eat in all of Rome, it would be a little gelato shop called Hedera. I ordered a small cone with hazelnut and dark (and I mean DARK) chocolate. Hubby got persimmon and ricotta. I won. It was so good, that I almost forgot to take a picture, hence the picture of the half-eaten gelato. So rich and creamy and yet light. So satisfying, so decadent, so worth coming to Rome.

On the wall surrounding the Vatican

After our little nom nom detour, we went back to the long queue, which was only half as long at this point. A brisk 30 minutes later, we were through security and on our way to St Peter's.

Swiss Guard (extra small)

Nuns, so legit

Giant columns

Michelangelo's Pieta

U of I represent, haha

Sunset

In front of Castel Sant Angelo, former castle and fortress, now museum

Our last restaurant meal in Rome was at La Scala Trastevere, just a few blocks from our apartment. I'm not going to lie, I was dead tired at this time, so my appetite was not what it normally is. So we decided to opt out of wine, and just share three dishes. And no dessert, because how could we possibly top Hedera?

Bruschetta with black truffles

Carbonara

Veal saltimbocca

Our little corner of Rome

The rest of our time in Rome was spent sleeping, in transit or at the airport. Even the airport food tastes better. 

My last cappuccino in Rome

Business class champagne

Salad and salmon pancakes

Herb crusted fish, risotto and veggies

Ice cream with berries and nuts

Bose headphone time

Up in the clouds

After a stop in JFK and O'Hare, we finally made it back to Champaign and enjoyed a nice quiet weekend at home. Rome was everything I hoped it would be a more. The history, the culture, the food, the beautiful weather. It was exactly what we needed after a year of wedding planning. 

Thank you to all of our friends and family. It was your generosity that made this trip possible. We love you all and look forward to many more adventures as Mr. and Mrs.

-Akemi-chan