Rome - 2

Vatican museum - many interesting artworks by Michelangelo and Raphael. Sistine chapel was so interesting - so many paintings that we've seen so often in our lives and used in so many contexts. I felt that a lot of those paintings were actually less impressive once there - they were used so often that we'd imagine that they are huge and somehow illuminated or something to be obvious. The whole chapel was restored recently I think because they all look sharp and so colorful. The museum is huge but there aren't that many popular pieces, except if somehow I missed a huge chunk! The Saint-Peter square is huge and is very impressive no matter how often we've seen in on tv. There's a big Christmas tree and they are preparing something else near the obelisk. The interior of the basilica is grand and even though there are tons of visitors it's very calming. I'm not a church specialist but I was surprised to see how many chapels there were inside. We went in the crypt where all the popes are buried. Of course we can't see the whole thing as most is blocked from entry but no matter it's interesting. Of course John Paul II is popular (!) and apparently there's the resting place of Saint-Peter, but I think it's debatable if he's really buried there. There's also a possibility to go up the dome but we had to pay and we don't think it was worth it. Interesting how the Vatican is considered a state but there's no border or anything, only a big wall around the city-state. We attended a mass also - after all these things to see we almost forget that it's a church after all! One thing we found unpleasant there is not the place but the amount of people that want to sell us tours and crap and they are quite annoying and pushy and of course full of crap. Rome city officials should ban this stuff.
We changed money finally and the rate is terrible - we should've exchanged money in Montreal but didn't. Anyways exchange offices are terrible - we were lucky to find a travel agency that exchanged money with a decent rate (but still bad).
After a full day of walking we were quite hungry. We found a couple of restaurant but I was reluctant to go in because the staff was Indian or something and honestly I'm in Rome so what the hell. We finally found a nice family run Italian restaurant and very typical. Found was awesome and we were quite pleased. We then came near the hotel for coffee and the best tiramisu ever at Primi. By the way I don't know if it's the case everywhere but if you order cafè in Rome it means you really want an espresso - wow that really wakes you up!

Note to self: Cafè d'orzo = barley coffee... hehehe