Pink and Undecided: vatican

Europe Trip Diary : Day 11 Part 1 (Vatican City)

Hi guys!!

I'm wondering if anyone noticed that i haven't finished my Europe trip diary? LOL. The last entry of my Europe trip was posted last month, so much things happened and so many places i went to ever since, i just got a bit lazy to continue it LOLOL. Even #Undecided who kept on complaining whenever i took too far in between the European trip's entries seems over it already LOL. But don't call me #Pink if i don't finish what i've started, so here i am, dragging my lazy ass to my lappie and continue blogging about my long-assed trip hahaha. Blaming myself for being such a detailed person and loves to tell every single thing that happened in the trip. Can't help it. It's in the DNA.

It's almost the end of the trip, bear with me. Day 11 was actually the last full day we had in Europe, we began the journey back home the next day. This entry is dedicated mostly to our visit to Vatican City.

Woke up at the horrible hotel to a horrible breakfast (what did you expect, #Pink?). Admittedly, we were late because i had a hard time waking hunny up (which is nothing new either, but it was extra hard that day lah WTF. I guess we're all too tired already) and then we quarreled a bit while finishing packing (we always do, told you he's useless in packing, and i am anything but patient, so the result from that combination is quite obvious right..)-which took longer than usual (and i still managed to lose my camera pouch there...) so the food was almost finished by the time we arrived at the dining room, but before we even entered the dining room, we stumbled into one of (the annoying) aunties and she told us "Breakfast's horrible!" LOL.

And yes, it was the worst breakfast in our entire trip (oh, the next day's not better but that's a story for another entry...), there was like.. a few boiled eggs, super hard and sad looking breads, a few slices of sausages left. LOL.

My sad looking breakfast

Also, no OOTD picture today because : one, we were already late so we were rushing, no time for OOTD lah. Two, because i was super tired and it showed, i looked pale (already applied tons of blusher, it didn't help) and messy, plus the combination of outfit i threw together that day was not my favorite, it made me look super bloated FML. But i did wear a very cute stocking *important fact*. LOL.

Anyway, we faced another long journey to Rome, we left at 8 AM and arrived around 3 PM. I was a bit confused because judging from the itinerary, it was a pretty packed day, and we were still in the middle of the journey after midday, will we even manage to visit one place then? Apparently we did *LOL*, so nothing to worry about. And what else can one do in such a long journey but snack? I snapped some pictures of some of the snacks we had along the journey..

Caramel Nougat

Look at how huge the caramel chunks are!

Yums-sorry for all blurry images, it was really hard taking pictures in a moving vehicle, and my camera's kinda broken already just a sight movement will make it blurry...

Yep, i know i ate a lot of nougats in Europe. I just can't resist them. Although i don't actually have a sweet tooth, mind you. I only crave sweet things before or during my period, any other time i won't even be tempted to touch them. But nougats... I guess it's my weakness *LOL*. Really can't stop eating them *thank goodness nougats in Asia are much smaller and less interesting so i am not loving them as much as those in Europe*, and the huge caramel chunks also enchanted me.

Salami mini sausage

Those salamis were hunny's. I had a few and they're so... salty. I'm not into salty things, and they had an... interesting texture. Not a huge fan of this, i think it tasted a bit funny :p.

We stopped by an olive products store (i am not sure if it's also a factory like the cheese and clogs ones, i lost my tattered old itinerary already so i couldn't check), they also sold wine, chocolate, cheese and other stuffs but the cheese was nowhere near as good as Netherland's and hunny said the chocolates are crazy expensive (besides, should shopped for chocolates in Belgium instead right...) so we focused on the olive products.

I am not a big fan of olive really, i hate olives in my food, and i hate olive oil's smell (sniffed The Body Shop's olive body oil once and my world was never the same again *drama*), but i know it's supposedly very good for you, so we went and hunt something to buy. Their prices are quite outrageous, and knowing me usually i'd reach for a lip balm *teehee*, but not this time. I mean, i probably would choke if i use any olive-smelling lip products *vomit*. In the end hunny and i settled for this (i dunno why we felt like we HAD to buy something there WTF).

Anti Wrinkle Eye Cream coz we're OLD!!!

No, seriously, i have no idea what possesed us to buy it. It was EUR 36, almost IDR 450.000 WTF. I know that high end eye creams probably cost as much (or a lot more for premium brands), but for people like me who's... err... a fan of affordable cosmetics, it was pretty cray cray. Probably the most expensive beauty related thing i ever bought. Yep, except for perfumes. Until today i still don't know what made us bought it, maybe because we're in Italy and we feel like we SHOULD get something there, and because we're old (yes, i have to repeat that) and need to prevent any wrinkles and because it's pretty massive hahaha. But still. Now i feel like we're cray cray for buying it. Never even heard of this brand WTF. I hope it works miracles. LOL.

But i kinda regret buying it THERE, because the cashier was RUDE as f***! Really! She kinda threw our stuffs (not just ours, but anyone who's paying) around and yelled "NEXT!!!" "NEXT!!!" *not with a nice tone, mind you*, and she'd shoo you once you made a payment! She went "Go over there. Please! Don't stand here! The exit's over there!". Yes, she kicked some Japanese tourists who were standing behind the cashier area, waiting for their friends off. WHY??? Rudest European we ever encounter, yes even compared to the dragon lady at the first hotel in Netherland WTF.

They had a cafe in another part of the store (didn't take any pic of the store because they all kinda looked the same, and i probably just woke up from a nap when we arrived so i was still kinda groggy and out of it), hunny bought some ice cream (or should i say, gelato... but that made me want to jump around and yap GELATOOO GELATO, gelato! In minion's voice WTF, those little guys drives me nuts, coz i love them so much!!!) there.

Super generous portion, i don't think it was expensive either, EUR 2 or 3

Hm... You notice lack of MY FACE in this entry so far? It will continue *LOL*. Looking messy and fugly made me lazy to take pictures hahaha. Plus, i didn't feel like taking to much pictures of myself in Vatican, it was just not the place for cam-whoring, alright?

Before we reached Rome, we had lunch at, where else but one of those Auto Grill type of places hahaha.

Split this steak with hunny, it was okay but a little tough and chewy, hey this is a fast food/diner kind of place, don't expect gourmet food here okay hahaha

Eek was hoping for the croquette he loved from Netherland but this is nothing like it obvi *LOL*, won't curse him too much because this time he was nice enough to let me have the cappucino that came with it :p

This pasta was on promotion, EUR 1.99 or something, very cheap even for Indonesian standard *LOL*, both hunny and L had those and add like half a bottle of parmesan cheese on top of it

We're going to Roma!

Like i said earlier, we finally arrived at Rome at 3 and we went straight to Vatican City, the only state within a state in the world. To be honest with you, as a Christian (as opposed to a Catholic, even though the two religion are so similar since it came from the same root) i am not at all that familiar with Vatican. All i know about Vatican came from Angels and Demons and Twilight *LOL*. But Eek said it's almost like a pilgrimage and for Christians and Catholics it's like Moslems who already went to Mekkah, so... it's good, isn't it?

Here are some pictures where we were still standing in Rome and not in Vatican yet *LOL*, they are literally just separated by walls.

Rome in one side

And walls of Vatican City in the other

We had another local guide here, i don't remember his name, but even though the others might like the French guide (who spoke Indonesian) better, i prefer this guy. He might be snotty, sleepy/lazy looking/sounding (i almost fell asleep listening to him in the bus), and not at all exciting, but he was never rude or scolded us, and he was kind enough to find me another toilet when he noticed how long the queue of the toilet in Vatican's area *LOL*.

Below are pictures of surroundings of Vatican city, snapped when we were lining up to enter the errr... errr... Chapel? (seriously #Pink! Where did those A in International Geographic came from???).

As you can see, it was massive! Scenes from Angels and Demons played on my head *LOL* while i was there haha... The guide was used to take Indonesian tourists there and all of a sudden he claimed "There are only TWO Indonesian here! Admit it! Where are the rest of you from?" Which really confused us, obvi. Turned out there were only two auties using umbrellas in the strong sunlight, the rest *including four of us, i don't think any of the four of us are scared of a little sunlight haha* just put on some sunnies and all. Apparently, most Indonesian (my sis!) are so scared of getting dark that they'd immediately whip out their umbrellas once they are in open spaces. Typical :p.

LOL

Looking extra pale and tired that day, i regret not putting on some lip color to save the day haha

Outdoor seats for masses

I was so awestruck by the architecture, even the pillars took my breath away. I snapped a lot of pictures of them, for architecture fans, you're welcome :p.

Amazing ceilings, this one was outside still

Then inside i also took lots and lots of pictures, i couldn't choose which one to upload, so i'm going to upload all of them! LOL. This is mainly for Rosemary, who once told me she dreams of going to Vatican one day (right, Rosemary? I am not remembering things i made up myself, right??? Sometimes i do mix people up! LOL), so this is a bit of a teaser for her before she goes there by herself. And in like all religious and sacred places, my mood became very sombre and i got very uncharacteristically quiet, even L asked me why i was so wooden and sullen all of a sudden *LOL*. Hey, i'm just being respectful!

Nothing much to tell, i was just walking around quietly (but rapidly, because the guide gave us very little time, and the place was MASSIVE, no time at all to stop), taking pictures and marveling at the wonderful architecture and decor (even though i am not much of an architecture kind of person, but being somewhere so magestic of course rubs its effect on me lah!) and of course the statues as well.

Can't stop taking pictures of the ceilings... too amazing!

The super famous Pieta :

Of course, hunny also snapped a few pictures, and since his are so much better than mine, as usual i stole some :p

Taken by hunny's Samsung

And those few more i took from hunny's :

Hm... i always say that he takes good pictures as long as the subject's not a living thing :p.

Okay, although i said we didn't cam-who TOO much, still must take some touristy pictures to prove that we've been there, RIGHT!

I take good picture of people, but it's not my fault that he pulled that kind of face!

There are lots of spots to pray *obviously*, but there's this particular room that's strictly for praying and L dragged me inside because she's curious of how it looks like. It was pretty fantastic, i think everything was made of gold or something. Didn't take pictures because it was prohibited, didn't want us to be banned from Vatican, did you?

More pictures of the amazing decor and architecture because, well... because it's amazing!

Am initially hesitant of showing dead people's pictures in this blog, because... well, isn't it obvious??? But these are preserved bodies of previous Popes, so i guess Catholic people would like to see? (i mean, those who haven't go there yet) Knowing me, you know i was really really curious to see them anyway, always heard about preserved bodies of saints or other sacred people, but not so sacred people if they are preserved i would be pretty interested (although, admittedly, quite scared as well) to see. Death always fascinates me.

A clearer picture from hunny's phone :

As i am not a Catholic, i do not actually know even the present Pope's name, so please do not ask me which Pope that was. Or the next one. But for the faint hearted (Pope or no Pope, they are still not alive people right...), i'll give you some time to take a breather.

First : same object, different camera :

Hunny's Samsung

My digi-cam. Which one's better? Okay, this time i actually don't see any difference in quality *amateur* LOL

Ready?

This one taken from Samsung again

I obviously do not know how many Popes are embalmed and put to rest there, i only snapped some pictures of the ones we passed by. There's another one.

Okay, we're done with Popes bodies, i promise hehe. More pictures of other stuffs :

I don't understand (or enjoy) art too much, by displaying them all here i hope those who does can have a little pleasure seeing them.

That's all the pictures i have from inside the, haish what was it, Sistine Chapel? I am seriously horrible. But outside, once the sombre aura's gone, we got a sudden injection of energy to snap more pictures of us haha.

I think those below are the living area for Vaticans (i am so confused on what to call them, obviously they are all nuns and OMG, i dunno what they're called... cardinals and clergymen (okay i just googled that...) and others..), the guide kept on saying that his apartment was over there, obviously joking but anything said with that tone he used always, can never be funny...

The exit was on the other side so, different picture taking angle haha

OMG why's that woman making that kind of face, should try to look cuter when photo-bombing people, might end up in somebody's blog like this...

Hunny also took a pic of... the Papal Swiss Guard?

Watched on the news (although we didn't understand a word they were saying but seeing the footage was explanatory enough) that the day before a Swiss Guard was shot and killed! No wonder security was even tighter that time!

I was in dire need to pee after the tour in Vatican, and like i said earlier, the queue was cray cray, and the guide took us to a souvenir shop to let me pee-pee. He was perfectly nice to me, except while i was standing in front of the door, suddenly a Caucasian lady stood beside me, and somehow the guide thought i didn't know how to queue or something, pulled me and placed me behind *the very large* lady! WTH! Too stunned and also couldn't be bothered to argue *what's the point*. LOL.

I did my business at the speed of light, the other members of the tour were busy shopping, and continue on after i finished, so i managed to squeeze in some shopping as well!

I saw these and i thought it was cute *is it a sin to describe something that's got to do with a religion as cute?*, was madly attracted to it but didn't know what those actually are. Bought one for myself as a souvenir, the other one i sent to Rosemary, who's a Catholic and i thought can explain to me what this thing really is, but then she BBM-ed me asking what it was? LOL. Our conclusion? it's probably a... ring?

Then we bought a rosary for hunny's mum (who's also a Catholic), i think we bought her a rosary whenever we see one *LOL*.

But this one's from Vatican leh! Must be more special, right? Last time we got her one was from a Cathedral in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam!

Then i also spotted this bracelet, don't think this one's got any religious connotation though.

Oh! There's a cross there...

I think i bought it just because it's quite cheap (1 EUR? 2?), something i like to wear, and so that i can have a token of Vatican that i can actually wear *without feeling guilty, like the ring, i'll always be worried if it's bad to use it as an accessory? Since i really do not know what it is actually!*.

Well, i'm gonna stop here, no day 11 is not finished yet, it's so photo heavy already though! Please do look forward to part 2, i promise i won't make you wait another month for it haha!

#Pink