Jetlagged...

Sorry for the lack of posting while in Rome.  I did keep myself pretty busy there so didn't spend a lot of time on the Internet.  I have to say that Rome is probably the city I have enjoyed most while out here in Europe.  On Friday I started off by getting a tour of the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel.  The Vatican really is one busy place.  If you don't book a tour then you end up having to wait in very long lines to get in and see the museum.  The tour seemed a little brief considering there are about 11,000 rooms in the Vatican Museum but our guide really wanted to just show us the important things and a lot of time was spent fighting with crowds.  Apparently the crowds were nothing compared to summer crowds so make a note of that if you ever plan on visiting the Vatican.  The main attractions at the Vatican Museum are the Raphael rooms, some Roman and Greek sculptures, some tapestries including one of the Last Supper, and of course the Sistine Chapel ceiling.  One thing interesting about the Last Supper tapestry is that this is probably a better depiction of the da Vinci painting than the painting itself due to the years of poor maintenance on it.  Apparently the original painting does has been ravaged by age so badly that you can't even make out anything under the table.  The tapestry on the other hand was made using "cartoons" or sketches of small pieces of the painting which the sewers based their work on so it looks like what the original did back when it was brand new.  There are countless other things in the Vatican Museum I could talk about but really I suggest you just check it out yourself someday.  At the end of the museum you are spit out into the Sistine Chapel which is fairly amazing.  It's not quite as big as I imagined though.  From the Sistine Chapel whose ceiling focuses on the Old Testament I went over to St. Peter's Basilica which focuses on the New Testament.  St. Peter's is HUGE!  I'd imagine you could fit several Sistine Chapels inside its walls.  Unfortunately I didn't get to climb the dome because of the long line but it was impressive nonetheless.  I highly suggest taking at least a few walking tours in Rome, I think I learned a lot from my guide at the Vatican as well as at the Colosseum and Palatine Hill.

After leaving the Vatican I spent the rest of my day wandering around Rome.  I saw the Castle d'Angelo where the Pope used to hide out when Rome/Vatican City was under attack.  I also went by the Pantheon but couldn't go in because they just had a mass and weren't opening it to the public yet.  That night i was able to see Angels & Demons at a theater near my hostel.  It was really cool to see that since it all takes place in Rome and I recognized many of the sites as places I had been that day.  The movie itself was OK but I think I did like the book better.  For some reason they changed a few things in the movie that I thought they really should have left in to make it more exciting.  When Saturday came around I slept in and stayed in bed for as long as I could.  I had been feeling a bit of a sore throat coming on Thursday and things got a bit worse Saturday.  Mostly it's just been a sore throat and headache and it's gotten a lot better now.  When I finally did get going I went and saw the Pantheon from the inside this time and a few other sites that I hadn't gotten to yet and then made my way to the airport to catch my flight back to Milan.  I decided to not spend the night in the airport this time and made my way to the hostel but when I got there they had cancelled my booking because I hadn't shown up at my check-in time (I was 52 minutes late).  I was really annoyed that they would do this.  How are travellers supposed to know exactly when they will arrive at a hostel in an unfamiliar city anyways.  Fortunately or unfortunately they were able to get me a spot at another hostel in town.  First off the directions they gave me to this hostel were not as obvious as the lady made them sound and if it hadn't been for a couple of Hungarian girls who noticed that I looked lost and happened to be staying at the same hostel I might not have found it.  That night at the hostel was probably the worst night of this trip.  My headache was getting bad again and I was feeling a little more sick than before and the hostel was very noisy so I couldn't get right to sleep.  The bunk I had was one of those cheap metal ones that squeaks every time you move.  It was also incredibly hot all night in there to the point that at 4:15 I got up and wandered around a bit because I just couldn't stand lying in bed sweating anymore.  I took a shower to cool off and then tried going back to sleep and was able to get in a few hours.  I spent the rest of the morning in Milan just walking around.  I'm glad that I didn't have more time there.  I really couldn't find much interesting in that city.  I know that I could have seen the actual Last Supper painting but I had heard that generally you need reservations month es in advance for that.  Finally I made I went back to the airport and made it back here to Bristol.  I think at one point Italy was really starting to wear on me or maybe it is just this trip in general but I think I'm ready to come home now.  The plan is to leave Wednesday morning so I'll be spending all day Wednesday flying and then make it to SF that night to see the Giants game with Dad.  Don't get me wrong though I have loved the trip but I think a month is about my limit for time traveling on the road.  Oh I'll post some pictures too it's just gonna take me some time to upload them and get it all together.