An Unbelievable Tuesday

I took the kids to school again today and had to get a capuchino from the cafe they have on campus because I was dragging from the previous long day. With it being their second day, the students weren't doing much to observe so Jesi and I were able to leave early. So we met the Swiss (Ralph and his roommate Daniel) in Saint Peter's square to get a tour of Vatican City. There are some definite perks of knowing Swiss Guards :) We were able to walk right through the gated entrance into Vatican City, that is after Jesi and I switched outfits because they are strict about dress code and no knees can be visible. The boys kindly bought an espresso at the cafe across the street so we could use the bathroom (nothing is free in Italy). Once we had the proper attire, we were able to see some parts of the city including the bank, barracks, and the Swiss Guard chapel. then they took through a door that we were unsure were it led to. All of the sudden we noticed that we were walking up the hallway to the Sistine chapel, which is completely off limits to the public. No big deal, my heart was racing. From there, we entered Saint Peter's church through an entrance that allowed us to skip the long line in the piazza. Inside the church, the Swiss gave us a tour that I am sure is way better than most guides. They knew the significance of every statue and every chapel. The are so knowledgeable of the history of Rome and Vatican City that it is like we have our own personal tour guides. Here are some interesting facts we learned that day:

• Saint Peter's church was built on the land on which he was crucified upside down and his body is now under the large altar in the middle of the church (which we got to see as we went down one level under Saint Peters, no not the scavi. That is booked until the end of June)
• There is no paint within the church. All of the images you see are frescos!
• Pope John Paul II's tomb was moved to the top floor of Saint Peter's after his canonization celebration that took place at the end of April/beginning of May (Ralph got to stand next to his casket during the ceremony)
• There are marks on the floor of the church that compares the size of Saint Peter's to other churches to demonstrate how it is the largest in the world

After an amazing afternoon of Catholic wonders, Jesi and I said goodbye to the Swiss and hello to Trastevre, an area that we didn't explore much our previous time in Rome. Maria from Marymount gave us a restruant suggestion in the area that we hunted down after much confusion on back streets. Oh man were we glad we stayed patient and found it. It was hands down one of the top 5 meals of my life. I ordered the following foods (ALL in Italian I can proudly say!) and Jesi and I demolished them and almost licked the plates:

First course: Fresh artichoke

Second course: Pasta fagiole (bean soup) and Pasta y chechie (chick pea soup)

Final course: Spaghetti with calms, shrimp, mussels, and squid and rigatoni caccio y peppe (cheese and pepper) which was served in a baked peccornino romano cheese bowl.

Oh, and of course a liter of the vino della casa bianco :)

We were beyond stuffed after our meal and wanted to nap immediately. However, we got movin and went to 2 museums: The Jewish History museum and Synagogue of Rome and the MARCO, Rome's Contemporary Art Museum. By 8pm when we got home we were exhausted. But, the Siwss had gotten off work so we met up with them for gellato. We went to della palma which is a gellateria with literally 100 flavors to choose from, all separated by categories of flavors. I got dark chocolate raspberry and black raspberry. The Swiss were impressed with how much I could eat for a girl which I thought the only proper response was to tell them that I ate every bite of a Florentine steak my last visit to Italy. What can I say, I love food and here is a Mecca for it.