Rome | Day 3

So this morning marked the first of my actual conference responsibilities. After breakfast I headed right over to the first of four seminars led by some of the doctors spearheading various research studies on xylitol. I was done a little after 1 and headed up to the room so we could strategize for the day.

While I was “seminaring,” Celeste had slept in, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and a soothing bath. Needless to say, she was ready to head out.

Since our Vatican adventures had been cut short the day before, we started off at the Vatican Museums. In addition to the traditional paintings you’d expect from the Vatican, there is a modern wing, an early Christian art wing, a “mission” wing and, of course, the Sistine Chapel.

[pics from the main sections, traditional and modern]






[couldn’t take pics of the Sistine Chapel, but here's a web pic for reference…]


[the early Christian art wing featured a lot of sarcophagi displaying scenes from the old and new testaments]





[the mission wing was a little strange, blending asian art and religious artifacts with information about how catholic missionaries interacted with the culture]


All in all, we spent approximately three hours wandering around. This worked out well since there was a rainstorm that lasted approximately two and half hours outside.

Fully museum-ed out we started our stroll over to the Piazza d’Spagna and the Spanish Steps. The rain had cleared out all the riff-raff, so it felt like we had this beautiful piece of Rome more to ourselves. There were still people, but not the masses of humanity you’d expect.









At the top of the steps we decided to actually go into the church and take some pictures. In addition to a few shots, we ended up sitting in on the tail end of a beautiful evening mass. In addition to the beauty of the building, it is built to have fantastic acoustics that make even the small group of worshippers sound like a heavenly choir.






Rather than risk missing the last bus of the night again, we decided to head back to our pick-up spot and caught some gorgeous views on the way.





We had dinner at a little restaurant and wine bar near the hotel — Moscati. The food was pretty good and the service wasn’t terrible until the time came to get the check. We waited almost 45 minutes for the check after asking for it, and when the waiter did finally come back to the table he asked (totally nonchalant), “Did you ask for the bill?” Uh, yes. It wouldn’t have mattered as much if we hadn’t been totally exhausted and needing to get our butts in bed in preparation for our 6:30 am departure (seriously!) to Pompeii/Sorrento the next morning.