We got a quicker start today than yesterday – by about an hour. I woke up about 3:30 am and tossed and turned for quite some time. When the alarm went off at 8:00 am I struggled to turn it off (I set it on my iPod) and then went back to bed. We made it out of the hotel around 11 only to find that the trains were running late, so we fumbled around looking for a place to eat breakfast and couldn’t find one.

So we headed back to the train station and made our way to St. Peter’s Square.

We visited the crypts and the basilica, followed by the treasury. I found the whole place a little dull and understated.

I kid.

Of all the cathedrals I’ve every seen, this one tops it by at least two orders of magnitude. Seriously, the place is amazing. Plus the treasury boasts not only a couple of pieces of the one true cross, a piece of the spear that pierced the side of Jesus, but also fingers, teeth and other holy bits all enshrined in gold, silver and jewels.

We didn’t leave until 3 pm when we went in search of lunch. We couldn’t find it. By the time we got to some places we’d like to eat, they had closed for the afternoon (about 3:30). Since there were no McDonalds in sight, we settled for some pizza and headed back to St. Peter’s (stopping to window shop along the way). We’d hoped to get into the dome but they had closed it due to good weather (on nice days no one likes to leave).

So we meandered back to the train and back to the hotel. Tomorrow - more old stuff.