Until Next Time!
The last two days are being smashed into one. It's going to be a long post, but hang in there - it's worth it.
Our last day in Rome began with a 3-hour tour of the Vatican. Yes, I did sing the Gilligan's Island theme song all morning. We had a delightful tour guide named Marina, booked as a gift from my mom and Tony through Italy Privat Excursions. The lines were incredibly long, but Marina knew where to go to best avoid them. She was also great at explaining cool facts and a little bit of history. My favorite point (that I actually remember!!! Okay, I also had to look up part of it on Wikipedia) On the back wall of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo painted a giant Fresco. Every day, the pope's Master of Ceremonies would come in and critique his work, he took issue with all the original nudity. So, with the permission of the pope, Michelangelo worked in that man's face in the bottom right corner of the painting as a judge of the underworld, complete with donkey ears! The man complained to the pope, but the pope said he, unfortunately, had no jurisdiction over Hell - so the painting stayed as is! P.S. Check out those killer man boobs. P.P.S. Is that a snake on his peeper? I borrowed this close up from Wikipedia.
Another great thing about the tour was Marina told me where to look to get cool shots. Case and point: The secret parts of the Vatican where people can't go. I can't remember what those buildings were, but I know they were important!
After we went through the Vatican museums, we went into the Sistine Chapel. Lots of people. Lots of guards shouting (?) at people to be quiet and not take pictures. As you can imagine, neither of those commands worked.
After that we went outside and made our way to St. Peter's Basilica. St. Peter's is arguably much cooler than the Sistine Chapel. It's much larger and has caskets full of popes! Kind of creepy, if you think about it, but it is incredible on the inside. The dome is lined with windows so that no matter what time of day, the sun will always shoot through at different angles. How cool is that?!
After the tour, it was lunch time. I bet you guys can't guess where we went! We went back to the Osteria from two days before. Because I wanted that lasagna again before I left it. If anyone has a really good, legit Italian lasagna recipe (I'm not talking Stauffers) Please let me know! In case you were wondering, it was just as good the second time.
We bought gifts for people then went home and took a nap before dinner. Do you want to guess what we had for dinner? We got more trats!! They remembered us and gave Prash the big boy bowl. Every time they walked by, they were impressed (horrified?) at how quickly we devoured our food. It's just so good. Plus, check out our jug of wine.
After dinner, we walked back through the city to see the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and the Colosseum one last time. Oh, and of course, gelato. That also happened.
We had to catch a flight relatively early the following morning. So, we hopped on the metro. As we were getting off at our stop, Prash said, "Hey, look a wallet on the ground!". However, being the Murderino that I am, I noticed the sketchy dude standing a little bit away side-eyeing the wallet. We kept moving. Then, at the top of the escalator, I saw another wallet! Coincidence? I think not. Because that sketchy dude was, again, standing a little ways away. We googled how he was trying to scam people, and it's call the "Drop Swindle". What a clever name. Basically, they drop a wallet full of counterfeit money, then when someone picks it up, they rush over to pick it up at the same time pretending they've found it as well. The guy who dropped it (Person A) then pretends to be in a hurry and offers the wallet to the person who picked it up (Person B) in exchange for Person B giving Person A money on the promise that Person B can collect the reward money. This doesn't make sense to me. If Person A wants it that badly, Person A can have it. Ain't nobody got time to stand around a metro station debating over who picked up a wallet first. What was really curious is that he was doing it in front of police officers, who did nothing.
That was really the last super interesting (for you) thing that happened in Italy. Let's fast forward back to Ireland. Traffic in Dublin was a beast, and it took us ages to get home. When we finally got there, Prash's car was gone. We looked up and down the street and it wasn't there. A neighbor said that while we were gone, a car was clamped for several days and they might have towed it. Sure enough, that's what happened. There was a clerical error with his parking permit, transposed numbers or something, so the parking person typed in the permit number, didn't see it in the database, and clamped his car. He had to pay the fee to claim the car, but they eventually refunded him thankfully.
I was really hungry, but I knew better than to say much during this whole thing. That paid off, because after he got off the phone, he took me to get snacks. We went to get a sandwich, and I found the love of my life. No, I'm not talking about Prash. I'm talking about Shamrock and Sour Cream Crisps! I'm about 85% sure they are just Sour Cream and Onion. But they taste like real happiness, and Mačka wanted to show them off for you.
After I ate an entire bag of crisps, we went to the park to see my dead, gay boyfriend, Oscar Wilde. I had to tell him goodbye and rub his foot. I've gotten to the point where I do this in front of people. I no longer give any eff's about looking like a crazy person.
We walked around some more and, as the sun was setting, Prash got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. I thought he was playing a cruel joke on me so, while crying like a little girl, the first words out of my mouth were, "Are you being serious right now?!". Well, he was serious. Yes, you read that correctly. The Mancub and I are making it official! We are so thrilled and also a little overwhelmed because it's really difficult to plan an international wedding! But, we are so excited for the next steps and will figure it out. It will be our next adventure! I'm finally going to be Mrs. Mancub!
 |
Our last day in Rome began with a 3-hour tour of the Vatican. Yes, I did sing the Gilligan's Island theme song all morning. We had a delightful tour guide named Marina, booked as a gift from my mom and Tony through Italy Privat Excursions. The lines were incredibly long, but Marina knew where to go to best avoid them. She was also great at explaining cool facts and a little bit of history. My favorite point (that I actually remember!!! Okay, I also had to look up part of it on Wikipedia) On the back wall of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo painted a giant Fresco. Every day, the pope's Master of Ceremonies would come in and critique his work, he took issue with all the original nudity. So, with the permission of the pope, Michelangelo worked in that man's face in the bottom right corner of the painting as a judge of the underworld, complete with donkey ears! The man complained to the pope, but the pope said he, unfortunately, had no jurisdiction over Hell - so the painting stayed as is! P.S. Check out those killer man boobs. P.P.S. Is that a snake on his peeper? I borrowed this close up from Wikipedia.
Another great thing about the tour was Marina told me where to look to get cool shots. Case and point: The secret parts of the Vatican where people can't go. I can't remember what those buildings were, but I know they were important!
After we went through the Vatican museums, we went into the Sistine Chapel. Lots of people. Lots of guards shouting (?) at people to be quiet and not take pictures. As you can imagine, neither of those commands worked.
After that we went outside and made our way to St. Peter's Basilica. St. Peter's is arguably much cooler than the Sistine Chapel. It's much larger and has caskets full of popes! Kind of creepy, if you think about it, but it is incredible on the inside. The dome is lined with windows so that no matter what time of day, the sun will always shoot through at different angles. How cool is that?!
After the tour, it was lunch time. I bet you guys can't guess where we went! We went back to the Osteria from two days before. Because I wanted that lasagna again before I left it. If anyone has a really good, legit Italian lasagna recipe (I'm not talking Stauffers) Please let me know! In case you were wondering, it was just as good the second time.
We bought gifts for people then went home and took a nap before dinner. Do you want to guess what we had for dinner? We got more trats!! They remembered us and gave Prash the big boy bowl. Every time they walked by, they were impressed (horrified?) at how quickly we devoured our food. It's just so good. Plus, check out our jug of wine.After dinner, we walked back through the city to see the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and the Colosseum one last time. Oh, and of course, gelato. That also happened.
We had to catch a flight relatively early the following morning. So, we hopped on the metro. As we were getting off at our stop, Prash said, "Hey, look a wallet on the ground!". However, being the Murderino that I am, I noticed the sketchy dude standing a little bit away side-eyeing the wallet. We kept moving. Then, at the top of the escalator, I saw another wallet! Coincidence? I think not. Because that sketchy dude was, again, standing a little ways away. We googled how he was trying to scam people, and it's call the "Drop Swindle". What a clever name. Basically, they drop a wallet full of counterfeit money, then when someone picks it up, they rush over to pick it up at the same time pretending they've found it as well. The guy who dropped it (Person A) then pretends to be in a hurry and offers the wallet to the person who picked it up (Person B) in exchange for Person B giving Person A money on the promise that Person B can collect the reward money. This doesn't make sense to me. If Person A wants it that badly, Person A can have it. Ain't nobody got time to stand around a metro station debating over who picked up a wallet first. What was really curious is that he was doing it in front of police officers, who did nothing.
That was really the last super interesting (for you) thing that happened in Italy. Let's fast forward back to Ireland. Traffic in Dublin was a beast, and it took us ages to get home. When we finally got there, Prash's car was gone. We looked up and down the street and it wasn't there. A neighbor said that while we were gone, a car was clamped for several days and they might have towed it. Sure enough, that's what happened. There was a clerical error with his parking permit, transposed numbers or something, so the parking person typed in the permit number, didn't see it in the database, and clamped his car. He had to pay the fee to claim the car, but they eventually refunded him thankfully.
I was really hungry, but I knew better than to say much during this whole thing. That paid off, because after he got off the phone, he took me to get snacks. We went to get a sandwich, and I found the love of my life. No, I'm not talking about Prash. I'm talking about Shamrock and Sour Cream Crisps! I'm about 85% sure they are just Sour Cream and Onion. But they taste like real happiness, and Mačka wanted to show them off for you.After I ate an entire bag of crisps, we went to the park to see my dead, gay boyfriend, Oscar Wilde. I had to tell him goodbye and rub his foot. I've gotten to the point where I do this in front of people. I no longer give any eff's about looking like a crazy person.
We walked around some more and, as the sun was setting, Prash got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. I thought he was playing a cruel joke on me so, while crying like a little girl, the first words out of my mouth were, "Are you being serious right now?!". Well, he was serious. Yes, you read that correctly. The Mancub and I are making it official! We are so thrilled and also a little overwhelmed because it's really difficult to plan an international wedding! But, we are so excited for the next steps and will figure it out. It will be our next adventure! I'm finally going to be Mrs. Mancub!
Comments
Post a Comment