Day 9 – Sunday, December 27, 2009 – Day 3 in Rome

March 13, 2010

We began the day well. Katie and I were both up at 5:30 am. We got the kids ready, and we made it down to breakfast early. We left in a tax headed for the Vatican to see the Sistine Chapel. We arrived around 8:45 am… 15 minutes before they were scheduled to open at 9:00 am. The line was incredible. I remarked that I wasn’t sure if it was worth waiting in a line this long if we got to sit in the pope’s lap. This warranted a few looks from our fellow line-waiters. We made the best of our 1:30 wait in line, and we finally made it in to walk through the museum and finally see the Sistine Chapel. There was an incredible amount of walking involved in this process, and we emerged from the Museum / Chapel around 12:00 pm. We had a quick snack, and then walked around the wall to St. Peter’s Square, where we caught the yellow tour bus and rode around for about an hour and a half, resting our legs, soaking in the “overview of the city”. Kallie fell asleep for a short time (we were on the top of the bus in the front) and Gabriel was directing traffic. We got off the bus at stop three – a short walk from the Pantheon. We stopped in St. Mary’s church / St. Catherine’s church, and then we stopped by the church that also contains the house where Paul was under house arrest while he wrote several letters to the churches. Unfortunately, the church was closed (they must be on Italian time), and we could just see in the front gates. So, we continued to the Pantheon and saw that. There is an impressive view of the Pantheon from the front at the fountain in the square. Then, we got gelato. Katie remarked, “why don’t they make this in the States”? Good question, dear, good question. We walked past the Piazza Venezia and the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II and found the location where our shuttle picks us up. Back to the hotel for another good dinner. We all passed out almost immediately after getting to the room.