November 20
Charlotte:
This morning, we took the metro to go to the Vatican. The Vatican is a whole city/country inside of Rome where the Pope lives. It has two big churches and a huge museum.
In the Vatican museum, there were rooms of ancient Egyptian mummies and carvings. Most of the carvings had hieroglyphics on them (I learned to write my name in hieroglyphics). We took some pictures that I can try to translate them. The mummies were cool because they weren’t all wrapped up so you could see what they looked like. You could see their head, hands and feet which was really creepy. They were all dried up and very dark.
There were also rooms with tapestries that showed Bible stories, art, and more.
The map room was really interesting. We liked looking at all the maps of the different areas in Italy, especially the ones we’ve been to. One of the best things was that the maps weren’t all made with north at the top. You had to really look at the compass rose to see which way it was turned.
At the end of the museum is the Sistine Chapel. The ceiling and walls were painted by Michaelangelo. I think they were really pretty and unusual because the people looked like they could just walk out of the paintings. They looked 3D. We don’t have pictures from there because you weren’t allowed to take pictures. If you really liked something, you could buy a picture of it from the gift shop.
After the museum, we went to St. Peter’s Basilica. It was gigantic. The biggest church ever (it is actually the biggest cathedral in the world)! There were really big pillars, lots of marble and gold and paintings. There was a gift shop, too. There was a beautiful dome on top. It is very tall (over 100m)!
Outside in the big square, there were guards and hundreds of chairs set up for when the Pope makes speeches.
Then we walked to place with lots of benches and three fountains, called Piazza Navona. While we were walking there, we found a yummy place for dinner that served fresh pasta. It was like a fast food place but extra tasty.
Next we found a nice gelato place with “a lot o” gelato choices. I had crema and Nutella flavours. When the server handed it to me he did a trick with it where he flipped it upside down! I thought it would fall out! There was a toy store right across from it. I bought myself a Hermione wand – the one I’ve wanted for a long time. I’m so happy!
We took a bus back from the square right to our hostel. We got free drinks at the hostel bar with the coupons they gave us and some free popcorn and went back to our room.
Sam and Charlotte take on the world! 