Day 4: A more relaxed day in Roma

After our crazy night, we decide it's okay to have an easy morning. We arrive in the line for the Vatican Museums around 12:30 pm. It is much longer than we anticipated. Even worse, the Canadian couple behind us says the last entry is at 1 pm on Saturday. We totally forgot that! Thankfully the operations folks at the Vatican come through and we make it into the museum with about 10 minutes to spare. The best word to describe the Vatican Museums is overwhelming. There's room after room covered with statues, paintings, and frescoes. Kenny and I sprung for one audio guide, which helps a little with our navigation. Like the Lonely Planet guidebook writers, my favorite sections are the first Raphael room and the hall of maps. When we finally get to the Sistine Chapel, I think we are in the room before the Sistine Chapel. When I realize where I am, I say to Kenny, "This is it?!?" It's nothing like I expected. The ceiling is covered with so many pictures that it's hard to know what to look at. Oh well. At least now I can say that I've seen it.

We leave the Vatican in search of a kebab, which Kenny has been talking about for two days. We locate a kebab shop and it's yummy and then we get some gelato before heading to the Colosseum. The Colosseum looks awesome from outside but is less exciting inside. We haven't left enough time to see Palatine Hill but we walk around the outside in our search for dinner. We find a restaurant with a good mix of tourists and locals inside and split a nice pasta dish followed by tasty calamari. We are exhausted and have no interest in repeating last night's trek home so we hire a cab and head to bed early.

Lesson of the day: Spring for a taxi when you are not sure how to get home!