This is getting bit much

As opposed to much too much, but it really is way too much. See, I was using the literary technique of understatement. In many cases, understatement is a code word for lying, like Republicans calling the latest gun slaughter an unfortunate incident. But this has been great,though more than I would really want to do in this short a span of time.

Yesterday, we did the Vatican museum in 3 1/2 hours. That was pretty quick, but it seemed endless. So much walking up and down hallways- looking at cool things, mind you, but long.

 
Both this guide and the guide we had last time we came here made it clear that the Vatican was far more interested in quantity than quality when they were creating their collection, and so the occasional great piece always attracts huge crowds, like the statue above. It depicts the one Trojan guy who was trying to tell people not to bring the horse inside, being engulfed by a sea serpent sent by Athena, who was rooting for her home team. the Greeks.

 The hallways are all like this, with all kinds of ridiculous artwork on the ceilings, along with that on the walls

But the main thing you're doing is walking down a very well-decorated hallway to catch a look at the Sistine Chapel. Because you're not even supposed to speak in the chapel, not to mention take pictures, the guides spend copious time before you get there preparing you for what you were going to see.

But it's hard to be prepared. I've been there once before, but it was better for me this time. Everything seemed closer and more rich, though I still got a stiff neck after a few minutes. Brilliant is such a throwaway word now (at least for Americans, the British usage is more fun), I can't really thing of what to say about it. It's like Louis CK reacting when someone calls a basket of chicken wings "amazing." "That's amazing? What if Jesus Christ returned to earth, made love to you all night long and left the future Lord growing inside you? You just used 'amazing' on a basket of chicken wings!" The Sistine Chapel is, simply, a masterpiece. Or a bunch of masterpieces all together in one harmonious space. Amazing.

After that, we went out and looked at St. Peter's Basilica from the outside, since the pope had been doing something in there earlier (I guess he's allowed, and the guide called him 'capricious'), the tourists had queued up for hours and the line was easily a half mile long. So we passed on it and went to have lunch at this place, which was well reviewed on Yelp and we all agreed.

We went back to our room for a while, then decided to go on a shopping trip along with another stop by the Trevi Fountain so we could see it during the day. It was still quite busy there, of course. Practically the same as at 10:30 at night.

From there we moved on to a really nice area near the Spanish Steps.

We also went through Piazza Navona, which contains another insane fountain, this one with an obelisk stuck in the middle of it. So weird.

 
I never really got the whole Spanish Steps thing. It's a nice staircase and it's outdoors and near the Spanish Embassy, but so what? Maybe there's more to it.  That plaza is full of aggressive street vendors, including one who only left us alone when I started yelling at him and who left a woman nearby in tears. Worst part of Rome. So many aggressive vendors. This guy was definitely the worst.

Went back to the room and were exhausted enough to consider room service, but decided to go into the hotel restaurant instead. This was fine and it was easy. Tomorrow is Pompeii and then down the coast to Sorrento.