You may be wondering about this blog's title. Well, in case you didn't know, Eataly is a global chain of Italian food restaurants, including in the US...as we were going for real Italian food and wine...
Italy was very "picture"esque - got home and discovered 1600 shots. Needless to say, many, many were sorted out and now you get only the best of the remainder.
Getting to Rome and the Vatican
A long travel day—we left RDU at 7:50 pm on Monday April 25th. We finally arrived at our hotel in Rome at 6:30 pm local time on Tuesday April 26th. We had long layovers in both Dulles and Frankfort. Connecting at Dulles it felt like we walked from DC to Baltimore - the terminal seemed to be a mile long. Such is the price of using miles for tickets...
Despite being tired, dinner that night was amazing—La
Fata Infortuna.
It is a beautiful
neighborhood restaurant/wine bar. The
owner was charming, suggesting dishes and wines. We had several dishes that were just wonderful—fettuccine
with sheep ricotta and gnocchi with basil and toasted almonds. The textures and
flavors were just incredible. The main
was a melt in your mouth oxtail paired with grilled mushrooms and eggplant. The wines were even better—a pecorino followed
by a cab franc The total bill was just 81 Euros. To top off the evening, we drove
by the Coliseum at night—wow!
Wednesday April 27--Rome - The Vatican
Our first full day in Rome was to be with the most traditional
tourism spots—the Vatican and the Coliseum.
We had a car and guide for the day which let us go right in without lines—rank/pay
does have its privileges. It is amazing how big the crowds are. And this is not even prime season. I can’t imagine trying to see anything during
the summer.
We started our tour of the Vatican at the Vatican Museum. Just walking in you are stunned by the spectacle of the decorations combined with the collection.
The decorations can dazzle the eye...
As can the details of the ancient artwork, whether sculpture...
or tapestry.
The combination of decoration and artworks can seemingly create a still life picture.
While much of the collection were Roman sculptures, there were some unexpected "jewels", like these gold objects
and this porcelain swan.
The museum exit was pretty neat, too!
We next saw the Sistine Chapel which was much smaller, but very beautiful as expected. Our guide gave us some great background on the frescoes by Michelangelo, including the fact the Jonah is much larger than Jesus
and that his legs form the Hebrew letter Het—a jibe by Michelangelo to the Pope and there is a figure "mooning", another jibe. Unfortunately, no pics allowed there.
As it was a Wednesday, the square at St. Peter's was set up for the Pope's weekly message.
Because of this, we thought we would not get to see the Basilica. However, our guide had a friend in the Vatican police, who let us in an administrative entrance just after the Pope finished - great luck!
Boy, were we glad. St. Peter's is spectacular.
In all of this, along a side wall, the tourist star remains Michelangelo's famous Pieta.
As we were leaving, we saw couples who had come to be blessed by being in the Pope's presence.
And, of course, the ever present Swiss Guards.
We took a break for lunch nearby and were glad we had a sit-down meal. The Colosseum awaited us.
