Day in Vatican City

St. Peter's Cathedral.
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The Canadian's train left at 11:00am, so we had to leave by 7:30am to try and be their when the Vatican Museum opened. I guess the time changes from day to day, but the line was huge and wrapped around several blocks. As we were heading for the end of the line, someone asked if we wanted an English tour for $20 Euro and it was up at the front of the line. I had no idea how much longer the line was, but what I could see was easily two hours or more. I decided to get the tour and jump in line again, when in Rome do as the Romans and jump in line whenever possible. The Canadian knew even with jumping in line their was no way he would make it back for his train, so he bailed and went back. I ended up waiting for another two hours before the gates opened. The tour was pretty good and I saw lots of cool stuff that the Vatican had aquired over the years, all kinds of statues, art, mosaic tapestries, and fountains. The tour ended at the Sisstine Chapel, but the tour guide explained all the murals before we entered it. It was pretty amazing and I didn't know that these were Michaelangelo's first mural paintings, since he was a scultor not a painter. I then went to Saint Peter's Catheral, which was huge and had these sculture scenes of the different popes. I think there was one for every pope or something. I then walked out to the plaza in front, which was packed with people and took some pictures of the cathedral from outside. I was back outside the Vatican, so I headed for the metro station. I had bought a day pass, so I could stop of at the different stops to see the different sights at each stop. I was pretty tired at this point and my feet hurt from all the walking I did yesterday, but I still made four stops at the Piazza del Popolo, the Trinta del Monti, the Fontana del Tritone, and the Republica. They were all pretty cool, but I had to grab my bags from the hostel and head to Florence. I had to wait in line to get my train ticket for almost twenty minutes because there was this one group of like eight people that bought three or four tickets each, but they did it all separately, kind of annoying. I had to pay $15 Euro for the Eurostar train, which is the high speed train. It had first class seating which was really nice with big seats, power outlets, free drinks and snacks like an airline, and lots of leg room. I got to Florence around 7:00pm and went to try and find the hostel I had booked online, the Dani House Floria. The directions were not that great as they forgot to mention a road that turned into the first street in the directions after about 5 minutes. I asked some locals and they pointed me in the right direction. I finally found the street the hostel's office was on. It was number 9 on this street, but what I didn't know is that in Florence there are different colored numbers, so one street can have three number 9s a black, blue, or red all on the same street, but on completely different parts. For example it could go blue 19, red 2, then black 9. Well, I came to red 9 and it was a women's clothing store. I asked inside and they explained that it was probably blue or black number 9 I was looking for. I walked another 100 feet and found the building with the name of the hostel on the buzzer. I rang the bell and knocked on the door, no answer. I tried a few more time and then realized I had not written down the phone number of the hostel. I had the numbers for all of the other one, just not this one, it figures. I then went to find an Internet cafe, which took about twenty minutes to find and cost $1 Euro every 10 minutes. I went online and got the phone number from my e-mail and tried calling it. An Italian guy that spoke no English answered said some Italian and hung up. I tried again and same guy answered and hung up. I thought maybe I wrote the number down wrong, so I paid another $1 Euro and double checked it. I had the number from the reservation, but it wasn't the right one for the hostel. I went back to the hostel office and waited twenty minutes. One of the residents of the building showed up and let me in the building, so I knocked on the office door and rang their door bell, but still no answer. It was getting pretty late, so I said screw this place and went to find another place to stay. There were lots of Hotels around, but they all looked pretty expensive. I tried the ones that looked cheaper at first, but they were all booked. I finally found one for $83 Euros for a single bed and I took it since I didn't have much of a choice. They did have wireless Internet in the lobby, so I was able to update my blog. I was pretty exhausted from all the walking with my bags, so I crashed pretty hard.

I decided to get the tour and jump in line again, when in Rome do as the Romans and jump in line whenever possible.