Tours of the Vatican and Roman Food

The alarms went off early this morning as we were meeting the car service at 7:15 am. Keely’s instructions to the group were to be downstairs at 7:00 am so we felt like did a great job when we walked out the front door at 7:16.

Our tour guide met us outside the walls of the Vatican near the entrance to the museum. We needed our passports since the Vatican City is technically a different country and then we made our way inside. Early morning tours are the least busy and even then, there were so many people! Our tour started with a beautiful photo above the Vatican gardens with the Basilica of St Peter’s in the background. Even at 8 am it was hot!

The museum started with artifacts from Egypt - lots of pots, sculptures, and even a real, mummified body! After the Egyptian artifacts, we moved to sculptures and art from Greece. Here, the kids began to really show interest. Peter’s kids love Greek mythology and our guide was very impressed with all of their knowledge. Liam once again shined with the Roman numerals and Odin answered lots of questions about Mt Vesuvius. Mom, Keely and I hid in the back since we didn’t know the answer to anything!

As we worked our way to the Sistine Chapel, we passed through more sculptures, the hall of tapestries and the hall of maps. Everything was so impressive. Finally, we navigated our way to the Sistine Chapel. After a quick break for bathrooms, water, etc., it was time to go in. Our guide couldn’t join us in the chapel so we took it in on our own. It was stunning! We prepped the kids that they had to whisper and be on their best behavior so we were rather surprised at the volume inside. People mostly talked at a normal volume so the kids did just fine.

Our final stop with our guide was at St Peter’s Basilica. It’s incredibly large and beautiful. We learned about the various chapels, alter and the popes buried within its walls. The kids really enjoyed the tour and we all learned a lot. Our guide left us but we had some time before being picked up by our drivers so we got in line to go up to the dome of St Peter’s. The elevator line was very long so Mom and Dad took Whitaker and stayed back with Kayla’s family while the rest of us opted for the stairs. We reached the first level at the base of the dome. It was so neat to see everything up close and realize what we thought were paintings were actually mosaics. We then opted to climb even higher to the top of the dome. What was once a large circular staircase became a very tight, small circular stair case. At one point the staircase was on an angle following the curvature of the dome. At another point, the walls were so narrow that you nearly touched shoulders to both sides and a small rope hung in the middle to balance yourself.

Finally we reached the top and stood atop the basilica with views across the Vatican and St Peter’s Square. The top was completely enclosed by a metal cage but still provided great views. Then we had to descend the 551 stairs back to the rest of our crew. We were significantly faster going down but it was also a little scarier!

We regrouped and then walked through the square and Vatican City to find our drivers. After some confusion we finally were able to sit down and enjoy the air conditioning on our drive home! We had to push our next tour back a half hour as we were running late but it was all worth it!

The kids were relieved to change out of their pants (dress code at the Vatican required knees and shoulders covered) and into some lighter clothes. We were off again to meet our next guide for a walking food tour! The tour started in the Jewish Ghetto of Rome. We started at Taverna del Ghetto. The appetizer was fried cod, zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella, and deep fried artichokes - all traditional street foods from this area. Even Dad enjoyed the stuffed zucchini flowers and Keely loved the artichokes.

Next we headed to Alice Pizza for some traditional Roman style pizza. Different than the Naples pizzas, this crust is crunchy on the bottom and then the toppings are softer. We continued on to Da Reinzo Al Parthenon for some pasta in front of the Parthenon. Lastly, we ended right in front of our apartment at Gunther Gelato. We ate outside at all of the restaurants which thankfully had a decent breeze. Have we mentioned how hot it is? When Keely checked the temperature during the pasta stop, it said 97 degrees! Throughout the tour our guide, Brando, shared with us information on the food, the history, culture and various other topics. It was a very casual tour so we were able to ask a wide range of questions. One of the favorite shops we passed was a store dedicated to clothing for priests. Brando told us how they personalize the robes and we were all shocked at how expensive some of the items were! By the end of the tour, we were all hot, tired and very full!

Our planned activities were done for the day but a few people were interested in seeing the inside of the Parthenon. Mom, Dad, & Matt decided to go first. At Liam’s urging, Keely, Liam, Odin, Lillian and I also went back out to see the inside. We got there just before Mom and Dad were leaving so we walked around together for a bit. It’s amazing that over 2000 years later, they still don’t know how the ancient Romans poured the concrete to make the dome.

Everyone was still too full from the food tour for dinner so we opted for another round of gelato to wrap up this very full and very hot last day in Rome.

Tomorrow morning we leave for the port of Civitavecchia to board the cruise! It’s been a great few days in Rome and we are ready for a pool and hopefully some cooler weather out on the Mediterranean!