Who knew Frank doesn't come out in the rain?

M&B,

You will be disappointed to learn I got a text from Frank early afternoon saying, "Sorry Stefano mi  amici but it's a-raining. But Guido Sarducci is always good for free cappuccino+"

I hear people come to Rome for the weather. WTF is with THAT!?!? At noon my app said 43 degrees and raining... Sightseeing weather. Fortunately I was wearing my Christmas present (known as my Gordon's fisherman look, which you can imagine from family photos here), so kept dry; I bought two collapsible umbrellas for "girls", which turned out clever.

Let me begin our visit to the Vatican with this: we are amazed at the stuff  collected in the British museum. Amateurs. Rank amateurs!! These guys have more s*** than Lord Elgin ever dreamt of! Greek s***. Egyptian s*** (we were reminded it was part of the empire after Agrippa & Octavia won in Antony& Cleopatra).  NS -- our guide actually said "that's a modern chapel" and when I asked when, she said "oh, the 17th century." Here it seems if you don't go back to Constantine ("the Great"), you are new!

But first, a picture of brunch.

Tortino caldo  di ciocolatta.  You will guess from the picture what it is. Frank has it for breakfast often, I hear.  Paese che vai usanze che trovi. (My Italian is getting better :))

We were told to show up to the guide office at 11 with cash. We showed up at ten till, took a card, & said "come back at 1130." Our guide (Fabriola) showed up at 1145 & had to go to the toilet (don't I know the feeling!)

& Then off we went through a light rain.

Rather than trying to pick pictures, here's a link to 20+ selected from the day (from 50 - I could still be there taking pictures). I've just included a couple good ones w captions. (Some food porn at the end for those of you who read for that)

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOEaYKZ8C4-mbOc45GnQon65RbMQaosVNWnixn9

After a short walk from the office, as you can see from photos, we went thru the east (north?) Gate of Vatican city into the public portion of St Peter's Square. It was pouring; we got our first long lecture standing in a large glass phone booth. NS!

Then out thru same gate, around the medieval city walls, past most of the 20,000 daily visitors (it gets 6 bleeping million a year!), And through security (long umbrellas not allowed! Concerns over a John Steed-like attack, I guess) &, after a toilet break (bless you Fabriola), we entered & wandered a maze of passages to the garden outside the Sistine chapel. Here we got our Michelangelo does the Sistine Chapel lecture. 4 years for ceiling. 350 days for altar wall (judgment day- there are no photographs allowed in there, so none in my album). 

Then Fabriola walked us back through. There are twenty-five some museums (we learned from the word "muse" -- tour guides are big on etymology, no matter how specious, here) in the Vatican. You can't prove to me we didn't walk thru them all. I took a photograph in each gallery. I also started counting stairs up. 37, 40, 22 ... You know, not like 6. 

After walking to Jerusalem & back, we got 15 minutes in the Sistine Chapel. The Michelangelo frescoes (plaster with paint in it) get a lot of press, but some other hacks did the walls.  It was wall to wall people. Outside, Fabriola showed us picture of the cardinals in conclave, which takes place in that room (you get distracted by the art?!), & where they put in the stove& the smokestack, only for papal elections, & where the new pope goes first to wave to the square. Blah blah

Then out to St Peter's. Your Sheldon fun facts (first of more): St Peter's was built by pope Julian (who Fabriola could not get, he was "Julia" throughout), by first razing the medieval church there, then erecting this little place to surround his tomb. To get the stone, he sent men to the forum and colosseum (see yesterday) were they took the travertine marble. Remember both were ruins buried in flood and earthquake then (a later pope made minimal restoration payment). So Julian's inTom is the center, right under the dome -- the largest in the world. 

But below him in the crypt are the remains of St Peter. Supposedly. We non-Catholics are skeptical - there were 250 years between his death on this site (then a circus) & Constantine's turning the place Christian & them worrying about what happened to Peter. But our Catholic guide said she believed it was there. 

It's huge. We compared to York, which is much earlier (tho by Roman standards not old), and it's bigger. By a bit. The dome seems just a little higher than St Paul's. 

Then out. We've figured out how to use Google maps and the bus system so got fairy quickly as darkness fell to the Trevi fountain (see pic). Then fifteen minutes on foot to the Spanish steps. Built in early 18th c to connect that church on top & square that housed the Spanish envoy by will of a benefactor and after a competition for the design. Seems those steep steps had been tried before and no one had gotten them to hold up. 

Dinner was pizza at the place, Remo, across the piaza from b&b. I had the house special & EH the "verdure " (veggie). I didn't photo K's, which, a la Sheldon, had "Frankfurters". 

And the third consecutive tiramisu dessert, determined second best behind Saturday night's. 

And, for those of you wanting more toilet humor (& I've been told you're out there) -- EH, in an Innocents Abroad moment said after the first two unisex toilets of the day had neither "thank god for America were they have both toilet seats AND paper towels."

And finally our room has a bidet. The question was verbalized  "have you used it [no]... And HOW would you?!" Innocents Abroad.