Europe 2010
The challenges of traveling when you’re older
Part 3
Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel,
real Italian food and gelato
Tom is 70; his partner Greta is 68. They are in Rome on the first leg of a month-long trip.
 Two months ago, my partner Greta and I made reservations online to tour the Vatican Museums, with the final part of the tour being to
pass through the Sistine Chapel. We signed up for an English speaking guide, who led 31 of us through the mind-boggling collection of
art and statues. Our tour began at 10:30 a.m.
Everybody is issued a head set so they can hear their guide when she is out of voice range. This is necessary because there are a
multitude of other groups listening in other languages at the same time. The tour lasted two hours. There is so much to see that one
could spend days visiting the Vatican museums and not take in everything.
For most of the tour, the groups moved along nicely. Toward the end, the log jam begins as groups take more time in the Raphael rooms
and then at the end, the Sistine Chapel. If one suffers from claustrophobia, do not take this tour. Greta and I eventually moved ahead
of our group as it was too hard to appreciate the art in such a mass of people.
We spent 10 minutes in the Sistine Chapel. One could sit for hours and study this masterpiece. To think that Michelangelo painted the
ceiling over several years while lying on his back is hard to fathom. It is worth seeing, but very crowded. And, silence is demanded in
the Chapel. The guards shout "silencio" often to quiet the murmuring crowds. The guide's are also silenced there. Photos and videos are
not allowed in the Sistine Chapel.
After exiting, we headed for a gelato place. Our legs were tired and our lower backs needed a break. On the tour, one is on their
feet for two straight hours, although you may be able to grab a bench seat here and there along the way.
At night, we were scheduled to have dinner with the son of a DePauw University, Beta Theta Pi fraternity brother who lives in Rome.
Tim is 40 years old, an artist and teacher of art, and is fluent in Italian. So fluent in fact, he has an Italian girl friend named Stefania who is darling, a true Italian beauty.
Turns out, our rented apartment was about 50 yards from the building in which they live. They picked us up at 8:30 p.m. and drove to the historical part of Rome past the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Castle Saint Angelo, each beautifully lighted at night. Tim and Stefania wanted us to enjoy some “true Roman food.” They did not disappoint us.
The restaurant was called “Trattoria Pizzeria Veechia Roma.” The Bucantini with bacon and pecorino cheese had a flavor to fall in love over, and the spaghetti with vegetable parmesan cheese was equally flavorful. Both dishes were specialties of the house.
To finish the evening, we walked about a quarter mile from the restaurant to the Palazzo del Freddo for gelato at the oldest Italian gelato factory, Giovanni Fassi, founded in 1880. This place in 1944 became the official ice cream source for the American soldiers until 1946. It was hard to get out of there without three scoops of different flavors.
Check out Tim and Stefani’s websites:
www.americanartistinrome.com and
www.romereview.com, the latter is an online resource for English speaking people in Rome. Tim and Stefani showed us a part of Rome at night that we would never had seen on our own. It was the perfect ending for a true Roman day, the Vatican and dinner and gelato at places where the locals eat.
To access Tom's ebook, "Italy: 23 Days by Train" follow this link:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/9907
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