More Roma
At this point in the trip, I'd decided that Italy was my favorite country. I couldn't decide if I liked Venice or Rome more. Venice was much more quiet and serene, but Rome has so much history and so much to see. I'd have to explore more to decide.
We went to the Vatican, and, at least in my opinion, it was only worth the hour-and-a-half long wait to get in to say that I'd been there and seen the Sistine Chapel. It was full of really beautiful art, but as I've said, I'm not a huge art buff, and I really didn't know what most of it was depicting. Perhaps I would have felt differently if I was Catholic, but I can say I've been there, so I guess that's a plus. I will say, though, that the Sistine Chapel was pretty cool to look at.
St. Peter's Bascillica on the other hand was amazing. So huge, so beautiful, and so free to get into. The architecture was intricate and enormous... I don't know how it was all built. I also saw the tombs of the popes, and nearly cried at John Paul's. Not sure why, but something about it moved me. Probably because everyone else there was crying and I'm a sympathetic crier.
Later, I went to lunch with Rowan and Di. I had a great margharita pizza-- the sauce was perfect, and didn't have much cheese... just the way a real margharita pizza is supposed to be.
Dinner wasn't much to rave about. We had chicken, potatoes and a really salty salad. After dinner was a beach party, and sort of a farewell party for those tourmates who woudln't be traveling on to Greece. London to Athens is a longer version of London to Rome, so only about half of your tour goes all the way to Athens. Anyway, back to the beach party. The weird thing about the Rome campsite is that you had to get a pre-paid card in order to do anything there... internet, laundry, drinks. All on your pre-paid card. So when we went to the bar, we had to make sure we actually had enough cash on the cards to drink all night. Drinks there weren't cheap either, but we all managed (who's to waste a pre-paid card, ya know?) I had several bacardi breezers and a blue angel (one of the bar's specialty drinks). The bartenders there were a little odd- one wore a skeleton mask for half the night. In any event, there was a pole, and so all the girls (and several of the guys) had a grand time showing off their pole-dancing skills. They played our day song one last time, and we all shouted as loudly as we could, for tomorrow we'd have to say goodbye to a lot of our friends :(
