T-minus 1 hour til the Match!

I was planning to take a nap to kill the last bit of time until the NRMP has their big reveal. Who am I kidding? There's no way I can sleep right now, and no way I'm leaving this computer until I know for sure! Hopefully writing this blog will do the trick.

The internet was terrible yesterday, so here's a quick summary: got to the Vatican right at opening time - very smart move on my part! No waiting in line for tickets or security, which was wonderful! I didn't realize how extensive the Vatican Museums are. The closest thing I can compare it to is the Louvre. Like the Louvre, you have three options: 1. Blow through everything quickly without really admiring much; 2. Research ahead of time, find out what you want to see, and spend the most time there, or; 3. Spend the entire day looking at everything. As I have very little appreciation of fine art, I chose option 1, then ate lunch in St. Peter's Square. At 1, I toured the Necropolis. This tour was by far the highlight of my day. For anyone unfamiliar with the Necropolis (like me a month ago), it is the burial site of St. Peter and the reason that St. Peter's basilica is located where it is. Also, for anyone who likes Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, it's the location where the antimatter was hidden (anyone? anyone?). Excavations have been going on for several decades, and an entire mausoleum has been uncovered. It's so cool to see this link back to Biblical times and the first few centuries AD. The basilica and the square are also impressive sights to see and again, there is really no adequate way to convey the grandeur of either.

Today I headed to the Colosseum bright and early, and was again rewarded with NO line! I highly recommend dragging yourself out of bed early to get to sites - you save so much time and have the place to yourself (kind of) for the first 45 minutes or so til the rest of the tourists really start rolling in. I loved the Colosseum! If you close your eyes, you can really imagine what it was like back when the place was first built. Granted, it was rather barbaric, but still a sight to behold. As I strolled to the Roman Forum, I realized that today is the Ides of March (the day Julius Caesar was assassinated), and sure enough, there were a LOT of people gathered outside the temple of Caesar. With Rick Steves podcasts as a guide, I felt pretty well informed of the history of both the Colosseum and the Forum.



Thanks for reading along with me! Next post I'll share match results!!