Wrapping up Rome

Had to expand on that canoli day a little more. :) …

After munching down on sweets that last morning in Rome, Brent and I headed towards Campo d’Fiori which is a small outdoor market in one of the piazzas. Fruits, veggies, nuts, fresh fish, and homemade wine covered the square. We passed by a stand full of jars of local sauces, unique to Italy. The man in charge of the booth was handing out free samples so we tried a few of the spreads and that was the moment that I tasted the best pesto of my life. Now, I recently discovered the beauty of cooking with pesto back home, but this homemade jar blew me away. The flavor was absolutely exquisite. I happily handed the man five euros and neatly packed this souvenir from Rome into my bags.

We made it to Vatican City by early morning where we snuck around the back of the city to make our way towards the Sistine Chapel. What a maze that was! When you enter the doors next to the sign that says “Sistine Chapel this way”, it is a loooooooong time before you actually get to the chapel. We were first directed through countless rooms in the Vatican Museum, which, of course, were adorned with beautiful paintings and tapestries. The first few rooms, we spent time looking at the intricacies of each piece of artwork, but after we had been sent around yet another corner before reaching the Chapel, we grew weary of this maze, and looked ahead for the next sign. It was a tad frustrating. But the end result was worth it. The Sistine Chapel was gorgeous. It’s hard to believe the Da Vinci was able to paint this ceiling on his back! I can’t even fathom how difficult it must have been to create a magnificent work of art that is viewed on a macroscopic scale, when the artist must create each piece, microscopically.

Later that afternoon, we visited the Cappuccini Crypt, which is a “museum” of bones from people of the church who had passed away. Brent was really e-cited about this particular site, but I was kinda creeped out. The walls were adorned with femurs and humerus’ and jaw bones alike that were arranged in an artistic fashion to create shapes and images on the walls and ceilings. I can’t imagine how this could be seen as an honor, but the atmosphere of this crypt confirmed that due respect must be paid to the bones hanging from the ceiling. Interesting.

Our last stop was the not-so-exciting pyramid of Rome. Maybe because it was in a really grungy part of town, but it wasn’t as spectacular as we had hoped. Quite amazing that it had been constructed so many years back, but we quickly moved along towards home to relax for the rest of the day before our adventure towards Greece the following day.