Vatican City

Buonasera!

Today was our first full day in Rome and it was definitely packed. As Matt said, we had breakfast by 8:00, then spent about half an hour rehearsing for the first time since last Wednesday. We then drove into Rome (we're staying about half an hour to 40 minutes away without traffic). It took about an hour to get to the Vatican City.

We started off by touring the Vatican Museums. There is no way you can possibly see everything in one day. The tour guide said you would need three full days, but I've heard other people say at least a week. We were able to see a number of ancient statues and tapestries hanging on the walls. We also got to see the famous Sistine Chapel, definitely the highlight of the tour of the museum. While we were touring the museum, the Pope was saying Mass right next door at St. Peter's Basilica.

Our tour ended right around the same time as the Mass, and there was a long line to get into St. Peter's, so we went for lunch. Many of us tried some Italian pizza for the first time which was completely different than most stuff at home. Toppings included all sorts of cheeses, ham, full slices of bacon, and tomato sauce. Following lunch, everyone had some free time to walk around, or tour St. Peter's Basilica which was breathtaking and huge! Unfortunately by the time we waited in line, we only had 10 minutes to tour the basilica which isn't anywhere near enough time.

At 3:30 we got on our bus and changed onboard on the way to the Pantheon. It was around this time that we discovered on of the negative things about Rome: no public bathrooms. Its extremely difficult to find a place to use the bathroom without paying for things and before our concert we needed to run to a cafe with the travel guide while she ordered a drink for us to go to the bathroom. The concert was amazing - the reverb was unlike any place we've sung in the USA and chords would echo for at least 8 seconds after we stopped singing, and the crowds loved us.

Following this concert we walked to the Baptist Church of Rome for a concert. We started out singing on the plaza outside to attract listeners, then moved indoors for the actual concert. It went well and by the end everyone was ready to return to bed at the hotel. I think everyone's looking forward to seeing more of Rome tomorrow!