A WET end to Rome

Today was a quiet day to round out our trip to Rome.  We got up a little earlier than usual so we could check out sometime around when we were supposed to.  We settled our bill and took our laundry to a laundromat (clean socks and shirts feel absolutely divine when you haven't had any in a week) before heading back to Vatican City to see the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.

   

We had a quick lunch in St. Peter's Square before heading into the museum.  The admission price was 14 Euros, but we were finally able to use our Student ID cards to our advantage and get in for 8 Euros.  Thus we were able to afford the 7 Euro audio tour, which we've discovered is an invaluable asset to the museums we've visited.  We made our way through the acres of sculpture, frescoed walls, tapestries, and more until we made it to the Sistine Chapel.

 

It was an extremely impressive space simply because of the artwork on the walls and ceiling.  However, it was dimly lit, and surprisingly small.  I was intending to see a space more like St. Peter's Basilica, but covered in the artwork we've all seen in history books.  It was also a lot less inviting than St. Peter's.  There were people everywhere paid to (literally) clap twice and start shushing the crowd (which never actually got that loud), and to keep people from taking photos (nobody paid attention to them).  After that, we headed back to pick up our laundry and take care of business in the hostel... as the sky darkened.

We got our laundry and were maybe 5 minutes' walk away from the hostel when we felt raindrops, which turned into a dounpour, which turned into a monsoon, which turned into a monsoon with hail, which turned us into drowned rats.  Since we had officially checked out of the hostel that morning, we didn't have a room to clean up in, so we all took quick hot showers in the hallway bathroom and spread out our stuff in the common room to dry it.  We got plastic bags to hold our soaked clothes and shoes, and the lady at the desk gave us a hair dryer.  I dried my bag, my books, and my money belt, and spread my wet clothes out to dry.  They're still pretty wet.  So it goes.

In just a few minutes we'll be heading to the bus to catch our night train to Venice.  Yay!