Ben Murrell

I woke up at 8:30am and I had to check out of my hostel and back in by 10:30am because I had to change rooms (this is what happens when you book hostels one night at a time – you get shuffled around because they’ve already sold the bed you’re currently in). Got ready and decided to go to the Vatican with Lonnie, Oscar, and Daniel.

The line to get into the Vatican - started on the left!

We got to Vatican City at about 10:00am. The line looked long but we got in by 10:30am to St. Peter’s Basilica. It was an awesome place, very massive and striking.

Me in St. Peter's Basilica

Saw Michelangelo’s Pieta statue. After exploring the Basilica, we went to the Cupella (Dome). 500 circular stairs later, we were at the top of the Vatican and could see all of Rome – got some good pictures!

The view from the Cupella

After that, we went to the Vatican Museum (where the Sistene Chapel is). It was 12 euros to get in. It closed at 4:00pm and we got there at 3:30pm – it took about 10 minutes to get through the line to buy tickets (once in, we had till 6:00pm). There was a ton of cool art (sculptures, tapestries, maps, rooms). My favorite I think were the Rafael rooms. I saw Le Penseur (The Thinker) – I didn’t know this was there! And I had my MegaMinerAI shirt on (with the Zombie Thinker) – had Daniel take my picture with it. Finally around 6 we got to the end (the Sistene Chapel). Magnificent.

When we left the Vatican we were famished – hadn’t eaten since 9:00am and that was just a cappucino and a croissant. We went to McDonald’s because Oscar was craving it – I had a Big Mac (6.20 euro) & Oscar got everyone cheeseburgers. Afterwards, we went to the Pantheon.

The Pantheon

It was closed because of Liturgy or some service, so we went & got gelato (Italian icecream). When we retured, the Pantheon was open and we went in. It was very cool. After that, we went to the Fontana Trevi and threw in coins. Then the Spanish Steps. Finally went home at about 9 and showered, then hopped on the net, then went to Buffeto’s Pizza. Lonnie and I ate with a guy from Naples and a guy from NYC – it was interesting.

Eddie (from Naples) insisted that Roman Pizza sucked, but that Buffeto’s was the best in Rome.

The pizza at Baffetto's

We didn’t get done there till 12:45 or so. Tried to take the bus back, but it was packed so we walked about 25-30 minutes to the Vatican to catch the metro. Met 2 guys from Ohio while waiting. Got to bed at about 2:30am. My new roommates were Febian and Richard from Finland and Nichole from South Africa. They were all going to sleep before I left for pizza and weren’t up the next morning when I got up to leave.