Good Eating, and Climbing St. Peter's Basilica

Howdy.

So here's an update on the past few days...

Last night we went downtown to a sit down pizza shop that had been recommended to us.  It was awesome, I got pizza with onions on top.  However, one of my roommates hit a home run with his selection of pizza that had the works on it (mushrooms, sausage, etc... it even had a sunny side up egg).  After that we went to a gelato shop for dessert.  I got two flavors, strawberry and vanilla, which was very good (my first time having gelato!).

Today, I went with a group of AUR students to the Vatican.  A short walk to the train station was followed by a one stop ride to St Peter's Square, a much easier commute than I'd anticipated.  We walked around St. Peter's Square for awhile.

After waiting in line for about 20 minutes, we paid our 5 euros to climb the dome in St. Peter's Basilica.  We could have paid seven for the elevator, but we wanted the full experience.  We got to what I thought was the top, and we had a nice view of the city.  I was then told that we were only about halfway there.  I continued up the steps, and given that my physical fitness is nowhere near what it used to be, it was a somewhat of a struggle (and by that, I mean I was panting the whole way up).  I'd also be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous climbing up that high (as I'm not the best when it comes to heights).

We finally got the top and the view was stunning.  You could see everything.  I wish I'd taken a panorama shot of the whole city, but I got some awesome photos nonetheless.  We climbed down the stairs and got to view the church.  There's a lot of cool artwork and sculptures.  The church itself is about 400 or so years old.

Tomorrow, we depart early in the morning for our day trip to Venice.  It's about a 6 hour bus ride, so at least I'll have the opportunity to catch on my leisure reading (and napping!).  I'll be back early next week with more.

JC