Rome: Day 3 (8/15/19)
I picked up tickets to St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel/Vatican Museums late last night, but I couldn’t get in until the 19th, so guess I’m prolonging my stay by 2 days. Fortunately that’s all good with the hostel.
Slept in today, well I woke up at 7 but watched Netflix till 9:30. The plan was to hit the zoo in the morning and the Borghese museum in the afternoon but I found a shaded bench that was a section of the park that was practically deserted so I just chilled out watching Netflix and doing last night’s journal entry. It was 12:30 before you know it and my museum ticket was for 1 so no zoo for today.
Museum was hella packed, like full on shoulder to shoulder in the lobby. There were two floors and everyone went the the first one so I dodged the crowds and hit the 2nd floor first. Mostly classical paintings that I could appreciate but did not particularly care for. At least until around the 8th room at which point my right leg was starting to hurt and lost all appreciation for renaissance painting. Took a break to rest my knee, I think I just walked too much yesterday, and hit the 1st floor. Hot damn! All classical sculptures and holy crap some of that marble looked incredibly soft and realistic. The Ratto di Proserpina was particularly impressive. However they were very adamant about the no photos business so I don’t have any from inside.
After that I wandered eastward without any real destination for a while. The city was mega dead - I wouldn’t see people for a solid 5 minutes walking down fairly major streets. Gotta say it was a very enjoyable walk and I got to see part of residential Rome.
5pm nap time.
7:30pm food time. I mentioned pizza and one of my roommates said I had to have Neapolitan pizza so following their advice I found a restaurant that is run my a family from Naples: Il Cuore di Napoli. Fan-freaking-tastic yo! I paid 8 euro for a work of culinary art that will feed me tomorrow as well! Whole fresh basil leaves, a salty and puffy crust that is chewy while maintaining crispness, and a tasty combination of sausage, olives, tomatoes, and peppers. 10/10 would devour again.
