Disembarkation this morning was pretty painless. After twelve days of cruising, we are ready to be on our own again. We ate a good breakfast, and left well rested, clean and happy.

The weather today was a high of 81 with some rain showers . We were pleased again to see some cloudy skies and feel some raindrops. We rode the train from Civitivechia into Rome. The Italian train system does not seem to be as good as the Swiss or Austrian trains we've been on. Bryan seems to have expected this from his last trip to Europe. The clocks on the platform weren't even functional. And the train wasn't marked. But we made it aboard the right train anyway.

On the way to Rome, a little Italian boy sat across from me. He was playing with some little flags, one of them being the American flag. I pointed and told him with a smile, "You have my flag." Later, his grandmother was egging him on to practice speaking English with us. He finally asked, "What is your name?" So I met Antonio. :)

When we got to town we hopped on the metro (carefully guarding our bags in case of pick pockets) and went to our hostel to drop off our bags. While we were there, I used the free WiFi to upload our blog posts. I am so excited to have Internet again! :)

Then we went to the Vatican Museum. I was amazed at how many people were there. But the artwork was worth the crowds. We saw tapestries, paintings, sculptures, and Greek and Egyptian artifacts. Then we walked into the Sistine Chapel. What an amazing piece of artwork! We spent 30 minutes sitting on a bench along the wall listening to our audio guide describe the different scenes taking place all across the ceiling and far wall . From creation to judgement, Michaelangelo depicted it all.

From there we went to St. Peter's Basilica. It is said to have been built on the very site that the apostle Peter was martyred, and contain his remains. It was huge! We also saw the sculpture of Mary holding her dead son, called the Pieta. It was quite moving, actually.

From there we crossed St Peter's Square and looked for some dinner. But the pasta places were closed, so we visited a recommended gelateria instead. We waited in a line a block long for these cones, and I teased Bryan that we were waiting as long for dessert as we had to enter the Vatican. But these cones were amazing! 5€ for the pair of cones, and each of them had three scoops of gelato on them. Yum!

Just as well we hadn't spent the money on the pasta, because when we checked in at the hostel they reminded us about the free pizza and wine and inexpensive pasta that comes as a perk. We went across the street and cashed in on this, and then back to the room to enjoy some more FaceTime and catching up.

If you are still reading these posts, leave me a quick comment to let me know. Thanks to those of you who have been commenting recently. :) It takes a good deal of time to put these posts up, and it means a lot to know that you are reading and enjoying them. :)

It was nice to be in Rome. This was our last time we would stay in a hostel. What's funny is that I had stayed at this same hostel before, but it wasn't what I remembered at all. We knew that we would be fighting crowds at the Vatican, but it is totally worth it. It has a fantastic collection of art and the Sistine Chapel does not disappoint. It had actually been fully restored since I was last there and the art was much more alive than I had recalled.