{adventures abroad} roma: day five - the vatican

today's adventure took us to vatican city. along with every other tourist in rome we waited in the world's longest {but thankfully not the world's slowest} line to tour the vatican museum. our reward? raphael's angels, art from ancient egypt, greece, and rome, famous statues, and of course, michelangelo's sistine chapel {apologies for the fuzzy snapshot - you're not supposed to photograph the ceiling!}. after the museum we toured saint peter's basilica {unbelievably large and stunningly beautiful}.

after all of that intense churchy business, we really needed a beer. we found a sweet little restaurant that was open at the tail end of siesta and sat outside with our pizza and beer for a relaxing moment or two.

when we were full and relaxed, we headed for the church of san clemente, a fascinating 12th-century church built on top of a 4th-century basilica built on top of ancient roman dwellings and a temple{!}. for five euros we got to explore this incredible three-layer playground of roman history.

from san clemente we went back to via del corso for some pre-dinner shopping and people-watching. we ate outside at a romantic {and overpriced} restaurant along via delle carroze and then picked up some gelato on the way home.