We have a Vatican tour right out the gates on day one. I tried to book the better rated tours and this one was worth the money. It was us 3 and two others from California. Our tour guide Debora was a gangster. She was employed by the Vatican itself and she was quick to point out that the other guides were simply Italian state workers. This lady knew her shit! our VIP tour had us going through Vatican elevators and skipping all the plebeian lines. Debora was very passionate and shared a lot of Vatican tea with us. She did not hold back on her opinions of the historical events.
The entire place was opulence on top of opulence. The Vatican is its own independent city-state inside of Rome (not sure exactly how all that works but I got the feeling they kinda do whatever they want behind their walls). Swiss guards everywhere who maybe dressed like court jesters but they're gripping heckler and Koch G-36s! And the entire place is gold, marble and lapis lazuli. The ceilings are all at least 50ft high and St. Peter's basilica is simply overwhelming!
The tour was amazing but it took a lot of walking and even with a "skip the line tour" a lot of the main attractions are filled with tourists so you're constantly pushing through the sea of people. I will mention that Debora caught me trying to take a sneak picture of the Sistine chapel (not allowed). She was not pleased but hey, I took a shot! What do you want me to say??! Win some ya lose some
After the tour we walked down to the piazza de Madonna? (I think...so many piazzas the names are blurring at this point). It was like 6pm at that point so we had dinner by the fountain. I had some veal ossobuco and I must say that little calf was tasty 🤌🏽
After dinner and about 100 oz of some Italian beer I was ready to check out the little "casino " up the street. I mean....if the gods fortune us with a tiny slot machine cafe we have to seize the day! I knew my compulsive gambling mother would be down and it only took about 2 hours and one tiny jackpot for little Jackie to be fully corrupted. the problem was trying to understand the games but after dropping 20$ I found a little game that actually paid out so we basically broke even and had a fun 3-4 hours in there before going to bed
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