05/01/2025 – Beautiful art and beautiful food
Different day, but same modus operandi as we again picked up some baked goods from across the street and instead of a relaxing breakfast, we hoofed it to Vatican City early in the morning. Eating breakfast along the way, we reached St. Peter’s Basilica along the, by now, familiar route around 8 am. The line into the Basilica was not too long and so we entered, knowing that we had a food tour starting at 10:45. Kathy was able to once again gaze over La Pieta as she had done 20 years ago when we were here last. After seeing her treasured site, we attempted to climb up to the cupola high up in the Basilica. Trying to find the way, we felt trapped in the movie, “Groundhog Day” as we made circles through the church and passed through the Holy Door three times. While failing to get to where one wants to get to can frustrate people, Kathy and Dave used this opportunity. We saw some magnificent artwork, including mosaic reproductions of such masterpieces as The Transfiguration (we had seen the original tapestry in the Vatican Museums yesterday), Mary’s Presentation in the Synagogue, and Jesus’s Baptism by St. John the Baptizer.
We also took the opportunity to go through the Sacrament of Penance, as they had a whole section of the Basilica with confessionals filled with priests speaking multiple languages. Imagine going to confession inside St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City!
We finally found the line for the ticket booth to ascend the cupola, but time was not on our side. Instead, we descended into the grottos where we saw the tomb of Pope Benedict XVI and the tomb of St. Peter the Apostle! When we came to Rome the first time on our honeymoon 20 years ago, we were in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Benedict’s very first outdoor mass as the newly installed Pope! We also saw the tomb of Pope John Paul II, so we saw the tomb every Pope since 2005, along with the tomb of the very first Pope ever.
We left Vatican City still in awe, yet we had to get moving so we didn’t miss our Roman Food Tour. We followed the GPS on the phone, yet could not find the actual meeting place once we arrived. We saw another couple who appeared to be just as puzzled as we were. Turns out, they were also looking for the tour. After circling the block, we finally found it. There were 15 of us on the tour, led by an outgoing and enthusiastic young woman named Irene. She took us to places and told us all about the history of coffee and how, though it was not invented in Italy, it certainly was perfected there (according to our Italian tour leader anyway.) We also went to what the NY Times claims is the best pizza place in the entire world. We got to taste 4 yummy, and very unique, pizzas including one with potatoes, one with sautéed onions, and one with eggplant and chickpeas! All were good. Next stop we went to a restaurant and learned about wine making in Italy, while also tasting different kinds of bruschetta with different kinds of pestos and cheeses. Our next stop was our opportunity to learn about the different thinly sliced meats like prosciutto and then enjoy some pasta. Finally, we arrived at Lemongrass, which served about a dozen kinds of gelato. Fortunately, “there’s always room for dessert”, because we were stuffed to the gills!
After the food tour, we waddled back to our Airbnb for some rest before finding an outdoor restaurant for (a small) dinner. A short walk around the area, then it was time to get back and pack up for tomorrow’s ride to the airport where we will pick up our rental convertible! Arrivederci until then, paisanos.
