Greetings from Italy. Natalie and I made it to our hostel (the Colors Hostel) in Rome by navigating two flights, a train, and the Roman metro. Although this may sound complicated, descriptions can be deceiving. I am sure that given enough research, a decent map, and a sprinkle of patience, most English only monolinguists could achieve the same feat.
At this point I am going to resist the urge to talk about playing frogger with Roman scooters, the immense joys of Italian wine, or the delightful (read: rank) smell of the city. I am sure many people write about these well know facts. Instead, I want to talk about how the Sistine Chapel is not in St. Peter’s Basilica.
This morning, Natalie was determined to arrive at the Vatican museum by 7:30 am The museum holds the Sistine Chapel and she possessed a fierce determination to beat the crowds to get a solid look at Michelangelo’s master work. Fighting our way of a jet lag induced coma (at 7:30. I know I know but we were tired) we quickly got ourselves together and headed out to circumnavigate the relentless Roman tourist mob.
As we walked into St. Peter’s Basillica, we were rather excited. Sure there were other people, but it appeared as if there was plenty of room to stand quietly and look up at the ceiling (this is what one does in the Sistine Chapel). Best of all, today they were not charging admission. Our immediate euphoria quickly dissipated as we wandered around the Basillica and came to the stunning realization that the Sistine Chapel is not a part of St. Peter’s Basillica. In fact, the Sistine Chapel is about half a mile North of the Basillica inside the walls of the Vatican. We were early. We were happy. We were in the wrong place. The real sad part here is that we knew that St. Peter’s Basicallica and the Vatican were in different locations before we set out that morning. Problematically, something about the dangerous cocktail of jet lag, excitement and classical architecture caused us both to suffer from temporary amnesia.
We eventually arrived at the Sistine Chapel and, unsurprisingly, there were crowds and we did have to pay an entrance fee. On the up side, the tourists did not completely swamp the chapel and we were able to spend a neck wrenching 45 minutes staring and the ceiling in awe and wonder. Not bad way to start the day.
(telegraphy) or about jubilant emotion 
(joy). For those of you unfamiliar with Detroit, Michigan, these are popular roads just west of the city.
that she has drank both at Campus Kitchen in Kalamazoo, MI as well as in China. Yum! Amazingly delicious!
I think journaling will be my most effective form of recording our budget travel adventures. I enjoy both writing and drawing within my journal. I always put a date, and place to exact detail.
