Someone woke up in a good mood!
For Veena's breakfast, I had brought her oatmeal cereal and yogurt. She was happy with that!
We bought 4 metro/bus tickets for the day from the front desk. I love, love, loved that they had this option! We took the metro Line A to St Peter's since we didn't have to transfer at all and it was only a few stops from the hotel.
We walked to St Peter's from the metro stop. It wasn't far at all, but there were dozens of tour guides trying to sell you tickets. They asked if we were going to the Vatican and we said no, we are going to St Peters. A few told us that it was closed today but that they could get us into the vatican with no wait. We already had pre-purchased tickets for the Vatican on another day. I was bummed that St. Peter's was closed because it was the only day we could go based on our itinerary. We walked there anyways and low and behold it was open! Sure it closed early today due to Holy Saturday, but I think those people were just trying to get us to buy a Vatican Tour. The travel forums warned me about deceitful tour people.
The line to get into St Peter's Basilica was long... well it was the line to go through security. It started off single-file, but as we progressed, the line became a chaotic mess. There were literally old Italian men and women pushing their way through. They didn't care that we had kids with us. No one cared or gave way for the two strollers with two sleeping kids that we had. It was pretty annoying. We finally got through security though and did a little happy dance. I didn't check my watch, but I would guesstimate we waited 1-1.5 hours, maybe less.
Once we got through security, we could breathe. It wasn't really all that crowded inside, just to get through security.
St. Peter's square was pretty impressive. St Peter's basilica is apparently the world's largest church and the center of Christianity.
Look at all those statues!
If you look closely at the writing below, doesn't it appear to say "BVARGHESE" (my first initial and maiden last name). I thought that was pretty cool.
Daniel really enjoyed the pushing and shoving.
It was beautiful inside. And it was pretty surreal to see the original Michelangelo Pieta. I've prayed to the Pieta many times at St Dominics church in San Francisco and it was really cool to see the original piece.
The ceilings were all beautiful...
Pri wanted to take a photo inside the church...
Amazing statues everywhere....
After the basilica, we went in search of Castel Sant'Angelo. It didn't take us too long to find it and the girls were so excited to see a castle!
We felt this was a perfect spot to eat our lunch so we did!
We didn't take a tour of the inside of Castel San'Angelo, just admired it from the outside. We went in search of the Piazza Navona afterwards. I wasn't really sure what to expect from these so called "Piazzas' until we found it! Beautiful, quaint, charming!
I don't think Daniel realized how much of a dork he looked like with his "day pack." Apparently it was "SOOOOO comfortable." Even still, he's not the dorky backpack type, so its a pretty funny sight.
After braving the St Peter's line while her sisters slept, Priyana definitely earned her turn in the stroller.
From here we went to the Pantheon. Talk about cool! Right in the middle of a little courtyard, there stood the great Pantheon. I loved it! The inside was turned into a church. We walked in and took some snaps.
Such a cool monument!
Our next stop was Campo Di Fiori. Before we made it there, we decided to stop for some Gelato and some coffee. By "some coffee" I literally mean a sip. I never realized that coffee in Italy means a shot of expresso. It was the smallest coffee I had ever had!
Campo Di Fiori was a cool place, but was mainly an outdoor market. They seemed to be closing up for the day and there was a lot of trash around. We didn't stay here long, and went in search of the Jewish Ghetto after stopping at Piazza Farnese (Small but cool, but we didn't take any pictures there).
We asked a few people for directions to the Jewish Ghetto, but the few people we asked didn't appear to know what we were talking about. Maybe they call it something else? Somehow we found it, but it seemed to be closed. Maybe because it was a Saturday? We had wanted to get Fried Artichokes because it came very highly recommended from the girls' pediatrician, who happens to be Jewish. But alas, all the stores were closed.
Lambie the world traveler near the Ponte Sisto!
We wandered around from there and to my surprise stumbled upon Trastevere. I had planned to go there on another day, but this worked out perfectly because we were done with our itinerary for the day and we needed to find a place to eat. We walked around Trastevere, checked out the street vendors and enjoyed the music that was being played on the streets. It was a lively place and very charming. We found a cute little restaurant to eat at and the people were so sweet. Oh and guess what they had on their menu? Fried Artichokes! Daniel loved them; me not so much.
One of the ladies, I am not sure if she was the owner or manager, brought out free ice cream for the girls. How lucky are they!
We took the bus back towards our hotel. We had to ask a few people for directions, but finally got there. Luckily there was someone who spoke English on the bus and she overheard Daniel and I talking about not being sure which was the stop for Cornelia. She was able to tell us where to get off. Thankfully! As I mentioned before, it is hard to figure out which bus stop to get off at and when that stop is nearing. We got back to the hotel and we were all pretty tired. After some shenanigans by the girls, we all went to sleep.
Veena was asleep before we even got back to the hotel...
What a trooper!!!
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