A side note- we ate lunch at this place nearby that was so terrible! I mean the food was fine but th

I am amazed by Rome . There are soooooooo many people here (many of whom are not Roman at all) and the traffic is insane, but there is still this tranquility present because of the history that is all around you. One moment I was fighting my way through a see of tourists, then I was in front of a huge piece of human history- crazy.
One great thing that happened tour buses in alaska in Rome- I got to eat dinner with one of my favorite people! Diane is here with an architecture program and we got together near the Spanish Steps, which was pretty central tour buses in alaska to the two of us. It was so nice to see a familiar face in that huge mass of people!
I had no idea what to expect here- I only know what I've seen on TV of these places. The Vatican museum was amazing, but we moved through it at warp speed with our Italian guide who was wasting no time getting out of there. It was a sea of humanity. By the time we got to the Sistine Chapel, we were so overwhelmed that it was hard to concentrate. I sat down for a while though and just took it all in and really enjoyed it in the end. Both here and in St. Peter's I was surprised at the dichotomy that existed- there were devout Catholics who were clearly there for religious purposes and there were tourists who could give a crap about Catholicism and were loud and disrespectful. Everyone is supposed to be quiet in the Chapel tour buses in alaska and in St. Peter's, but very few people actually were. It really bothered me a lot and could have easily ruined it for me if I hadn't caught myself.
Peter's was difficult to describe and I'm sure I didn't even begin to do it justice in the pictures either. It is absolutely huge and so ornate that you can't imagine. The Pieta was absolutely beautiful, as was all of the art and sculpture tour buses in alaska in there. I really enjoyed my time there. Then I went down to the Tombs of the Popes with some students. There are many tombs down there, all beautiful, but Pope John Paul II's tomb was the most memorable, probably because he was the only one I've actually known as Pope. There were many people at his tomb praying and being silent, and I'm sure they were greatly disturbed by the loud tourists too.
A side note- we ate lunch at this place nearby that was so terrible! I mean the food was fine but the waitress was so horrific! She screamed at Prof. Lewcock tour buses in alaska because he couldn't make up his mind on what to order, and continued to scream at us every chance she got.
We headed back to the hotel afterwards, ate dinner, and hit the sack. I don't know if I mentioned the hotel yet- I love it!! It's the Hotel Albani and the décor is fabulous- lime green carpet, white furniture, blond wood, loud print curtains- just great all around. And the staff couldn't be more friendly.
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