Last night I didn't get to sleep until almost three in the morning, so waking up for mass this morning was no small feat. We met in the lobby around 8:45 and took the bus to the Vatican. The trip was optional, but we were still a fairly large group, so we really had to squish to fit on the bus. Some people from our group decided to wait for the next one, but it didn't seem to faze the Italians. The doors wouldn't even open until the people in front of them were able to squeeze forward slightly, but people were still getting on! I became fast friends with everyone smooshed up against me.

Walking into Piazza San Pietro was breathtaking. It was amazing to think that I had studied the architecture for so long in my art history class and now it was right in front of me. We walked around the piazza a little before getting in line to go to mass. The line was long because of the security checks, but we made it through fairly quickly and we were actually able to get seats. Mass was in Italian and English and the gospel was sung in Latin. It was such a cool experience, but it was hard to stay focused because of the amazing artwork around us and the people filing in around the chairs. It was more interesting to people watch than to listen to the service. There was a guy with the most ridiculous mullet next to us and the person in front of us brought his dog inside! How he got him through security, I will never know.

After the mass was over, we walked around St Peter's and looked at the tombs of the popes and the artwork. I was able to see the Pieta in person! (Although it is behind glass now.) We walked back into the square around noon and the pope was blessing the crowd. We thought he was on vacation already, so when we saw him in the window we were so excited!

We caught the bus to go back to the hotel and Ali and I stopped for more gelato (it really is worth the hype). This time I had fragole e limone (strawberry and lemon). After lunch we planned to go to the stationery store, but Antonio and Veronica wanted to go to the museum at the government building, so a group of us decided to join them. The line at the museum was really long and if we wanted to catch up to the tour at four, we were not going to have enough time to stop. We decided to go to the Fontana di Trevi instead. It was extremely crowded and so hot! I couldn't wait to put my hands in the water to cool down. I didn't get any pictures because we had planned to go back to the hotel after going to the stationery store and my camera was charging back in the room, but I did make a wish in the fountain, so hopefully it will come true.

After the fountain we walked to the Piazza Navona and the Pantheon, stopped for a cappucino, and walked through some of the local streets of Italy. Everything we saw looked exactly as I had pictured Italy in my head. It was almost straight out of the movies. We went to Campo di Fiori for dinner and the restaurant was able to seat all fifteen of us, which was really surprising. Shivani and I split a pizza, which was delicious, and we all had a glass of wine. It was a really nice dinner.

When dinner was over, we ventured to the waterfront, where there are hundreds of white tents set up along the bank. You can find all sorts of shops and restaurants, and even a hookah bar. We tried to get on a bus to go back, but we couldn't find any buses that went where we needed to go, so we kept walking, and walking, and walking. Three hours later we were tired and lost, but finally we made it to the Vatican and Ali and I were able to lead everyone to the bus station.

The only problem was that the bus we needed didn't seem to be getting any closer according to the sign, and then it disappeared from the list altogether. We had already waited so long and didn't think the next one would be there for another 40 minutes, so we decided to take a cab instead. There were a lot of us, so we had to take four separate cabs to get back, but it wasn't very expensive once we split the cost. We were so frustrated because as soon as we passed the bus station in the cab, we saw the bus that we needed to be on. In the end, we made it back safely and I was able to do some homework before going to bed at three.

Just a few observations about Italy as a side note:
The streets are so crazy! People aren't really afraid to hit you and will stop just short of your toes. And there are intersections, busy intersections for that matter, that don't have stop signs or streetlights.
There are fountains everywhere and you can fill up your water bottle at most of them. The water is really good.
And there are street performers all over the place. We see them on the subway a lot and they are in all of the piazzas. It's nothing like the cities in the states, not even New York. Some of the music is really cool, but you do have to watch your bags.