Rome Day 13

Day 13
Another All-American Breakfast mmmmmmh!
We left with our American/Belgium friends to show them abit of Rome in fast pace... They only had 2 days and wanted to see as much as they could. Since this was our last day, we still had two places on our list as well: The Vatican museum and St Peter's Basilica. We started off walking the ruins of Rome again and into the Pantheon (we told them to see the Coliseum and Palatine tomorrow, as we didn't have the time). We then had a nice lunch at a small Pizzeria near the Pantheon. It was delicious! We then headed to the St. Peter's Basilica where we waited for 45 minutes in the scorching heat and then finally got denied access because of shorts and t-shirts................ thats what would have happened if it wasn't for our handy guide that told us we needed long pants. So we got in and started off by going down into the crypt, where all the previous Pope's were buried. There was a little section in which many were mourning / paying there respect to John Paul II. It was a simple grave and very elegant. We then got out and went into the Basilica which was stunning. Every corner was filled with details and perfection. In the basilica there was also the monument for every Pope, which seemed to be placed directly over there graves in the crypt. Not much we could say about its appearance, it is more something you must see. Not even the pictures were able to capture its true beauty. After wandering the Basilica for about 45 minutes we headed to the cupola "the peak" of the Basilica. We climbed up 500+ stairs (which ranged from steep to tight to narrow and much more). When we finally reach the top we got to witness rome 360 degrees. We also got to see the altar of the basilica from the top view. From here we could even see the coliseum which was at the other end of the city (thanks to having the other couple with us, we finally could take some photo's with both of us in them). Afterwards we headed to Trevi Fountain, where we sat and had an ice cream. The fountain was one of the nicest we saw all trip. We then headed back to the hotel, wehere our friends ate Mcdonalds (YUCK! Darrin has a pact not to eat McDonalds while on this trip!). We decided to go vegetarian and made ourselves a nice garden salad... Slowly missing protein...
need MMMM....EEEE....AAAA.....TTTT [ BTW this spells: Meat ]. Around 9pm the four of us headed to look for a local pub (note this is a Sunday). we walked 1 km south to find out the pubs were 2 km north of our hotel! so we walked back 3 km to reach the closest OPEN pub. We then sat, and drank cheap but good alchol! After the night was done 1am or so, we headed back to the hotel and crashed.