Vatican-tastic!

I was planning on putting together this post last night but I slipped into a food and wine induced coma! More on that later...

Yesterday we watched the hockey game at 2am our time (great success!!) and then woke up early to make it to our Vatican Museum tour! We booked a tour with Through Eternity and our guide was Filipo! It was AMAZING!! I picked this tour because it was the longest one I could find - 5 hours PLUS a lunch break!! The tours are so worth it just to pass the huge lines! 

In the morning we were in the paintings gallery where they had lots of paintings including some from Raphael and Michelangelo. The was also a special collection of Faberge Eggs from the Russian Royal family! Alex do you want me to claim them for you ;)

After the giant paintings gallery it was time for lunch! And we are geniuses!! We finally found a supermarket and we had a picnic lunch at the Vatican cafeteria (and snacks later) for less than 4 Euro each!! We were getting some looks as we assembled our sandwiches but they were fabulous!! We also refilled our water bottle from one of the many fountains throughout Rome! SO budget!!!

The Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St Peter's Basilica are so amazing that pictures and words can't capture it. So just go if you can. It's definitely worth any money!!

Then after the museums we went out for dinner with my Uncle Chris! One of his colleagues from the University of Rome suggested a true authentic Italian place - not one of the touristy places. It was amazing!! We got there a little early - 7:30pm ... it was pretty empty. But by the time we left at about 10pm it was absolutely full! The owner was very nice and helped us pick food out - we ended up having a pasta course, a main course, and dessert as well as 1.5L of the house red wine! Everything was AMAZING!! Much wine and food later we were a happy bunch!

We walked back towards our hotel along the old wall of Rome where Uncle Chris discovered not only that there are (potable) drinking fountains throughout Rome (no... there is no cholera in the water... it's actually pretty tasty!!) but also the special way to make it easier to drink!

Overall a great day in Rome!! By the time we got back to the hotel we had been out and about for 14 hours and full of delicious food and wine!! Hence the immediate coma ;)