Vatican Trip!

Hey y'all!

Another day, another trip to the Vatican.  Not too much to report today since I've been diligently going to those things called class.  This morning was pretty funny, though.  We went to the Vatican for my Roman Catholicism class.  Jenny and I were definitely bringing up the caboose of the walking tour; we like to meander and take pictures of ourselves.  Our professor is great, he knows a lot about the Vatican.  However, he told us that we were going on a pilgrimage this morning.  So instead of getting off at the Vatican, we got off what felt like ten miles away from the Vatican so we could "pilgrimage there." It ended up being fun and it was good to walk where I had walked yesterday in order to get to know the area.  I even found the bus again without a map.  Good day.

While we were in the Vatican, Jenny and I were pretty well behaved.  I wish I could say the same for when we were outside. Unfortunately, it seemed like half of the people going to the Vatican thought they were going to sleep or to Vegas.  I was appalled.  I saw bandage dresses, backless dresses, jean cutoffs that were cut wayyyy too short, tube crop tops, fishnets, platform lucite stripper heels, beer logo tee shirts, what were these people thinking?! I was dying.  This is the best place I have ever played fashion police.  I was this close to handing out citations.  Anyway, so we get to the front of the line and we see the guards who are turning people away for not being appropriately dressed (knees and shoulders).  We decided that our time would be well spent staying there and trying to get a job.  We would also turn away people who thought they were spending the morning at a nightclub, or other inappropriate locales.  We even saw a man wearing just a vest and shorts.  That was it.  Open vest.  Short shorts.  I was having a meltdown.  

Once we got inside, we toned it down to listen to the lecture.  We did have a moment when we both thought we were dying from lack of breakfast and wished quietly to ourselves that the Vatican had a snack bar.  No such luck.  Jenny also commented that one of the pope statues looked like a skinny Santa.  We tried to keep our laughter contained.  The best moment was probably when Jenny asked me when the Vatican was built.  I told her 1997.  She believed me.  It was pretty great.  Love her.  We also noticed how the Vatican guards are the most attractive Italians that we have seen.  One of them yelled at me because I was sitting on the art, but I know he was just trying to find an excuse to talk to me.  

After about an hour, we lost the rest of our class and then decided to go back to the bus a little early--after a foray into the giftshop.  We wanted to make sure we were using our time well.  As we waited on the bus we saw our professor walking toward us, gelato in hand.  Apparently everyone else had lost him too.  I went back to school, napped, and finished classes for the day.  Then I was going to take a second twenty minute nap and accidentally slept for three hours.  Oops.  So I missed dinner.  Luckily, the little cafe and tried to scrounge for dinner.  Lorenzo, who works in the cafe, offered to make me a sandwich and asked what I wanted.  Luckily, since the menu wasn't appealing, he made me something special--salami, cheese, and lettuce.  It was great.  

Now I'm about to head to bed.  I have to get up at 7:30 again for my on-site art class, but that is a small price to pay for getting wander around the Roman forum tomorrow.  

Ciao!