pope!

Well tody was the last - but certainly not least memora ble day of our trip. We managed to fit a LOT into just one day. We got up bright and early and went straight to the forum. I was perplexed because Rick Steves said his "forum walk" was free - but we couldn't figure out how to do it without the $12 entrance fee. But that aside we walked all around the ruins of ancient rome - the coliseum, forum, original caesars palace and all of that. A lot of walking on uneven ground, a lot of steps, etc. But cool stuff. Then we took a taxi - and when I asked the cabbie how much it would cost he looked at me like I was nuts and pointed to the meter... At least he was an honest cabbie- to the vatican museum - where they were closing the entrance at 1:00 - well it was 12:20 and there was a long line but we stayed optimistic and made it in with jus five minutes to spare. We did a full walk through in about an hour and a half - I of course loved the egyptian stuff amd the 2 real mummified remains! Found the sistene chapel pretty but somehow underwhelming after all the churches, frescas, paintings, etc that we had seen by this point and all the buildup to it. But it was very pretty. We debated the symbolism in the famous painting - asa, remind me to ask you about this when I get back, but I'm convinced that God inside the brain means that effectively Adam created the idea of God in his brain, that god is an invention of man and not the other way around. But cindy said that's not how it is generally interpreted.

Anyway after that we wanted to go to st peter's bascilica - but were told it wouldn't be open till 4:30. But what we weren't told was that the POPE was going to be giving a special mass to usher in the new year, at 6. But we were surprised to see the huge line (normally there is a huge line for the museum to buy tickets, but st peter's is free and usually not hard to get into. But the line moved fast and by the time we got in we definitely got the sense something was going on as people with some sort of tickets were allowed in to the seats. We soon figured out that the pope would be speaking. Now, Cindy hates this new pope, but here we were at the Vatican and the pope was going to lead mass. How could we NOT stick aound to see this?? So we did, standing right behind the seats, trying to get a glimpse, as for the first half of it he was hidden off to the side so you could really only hear him; then when he came out everyone was standing up and standing on the chairs even though cindy said that at that part of mass you're supposed to sit and they were all bad catholics. Anyway we got a few shots of the hard to see papal one, but the story came out of it anyway. We left when our feet just wouldn't let us take it anymore and took another honest cab back to our hotel, where we added a few layers (I think I could solve all my body temperature issues if I just used those toe-warmers every day!) And went out for CHINESE FOOD - which tasted so good since the bottom line is we really don't LIKE Italian food all that much. Happy tummies full, we headed back to our hotel to celebrate new years eve our favorite way - in our pj's. Here's hoping our flights go smoothly tomorrow. We've had a great trip but are ready to be back home with the cats, and back in our own bed. Personally I miss the rest of my wardrobe, and being able to go outside without 100 layers. Happy New Year everyone!