May 27, 2025: St. Peter's Basilica and Bari

(Written May 28)

We got up much earlier than we wanted and got ready for the day. Gabe was in our room, and we tried to let him sleep as long as we possibly could (the story of this whole trip, I’m sure). We got all packed up, and finally headed out the door to walk to the train station (Rome Termini). We were later than we meant to be, and we looked all over for the luggage storage station before we finally found it (and, incidentally Nana, Papa, Lara, and Greg). 

While Brian was checking our luggage in for the morning, I headed a few doors down to order food at McDonald’s, cringing as I did so, but we were running out of time [and I trusted them to be fast]. 

After we all ate our breakfast, we headed to the metro level of the station and got tickets to the station near St. Peter’s Basilica, and then we headed into the Vatican City. 

Navigating Rome's Metro Station

Escalator down to metro trains at Roma Termini

Metro crowds

I guess this is what it takes to get a long hug from Michael #worthit

Pictures don't do the crowded state justice

Walking to the Vatican City from the Metro station

Entrance to Vatican City

St. Peter's Square

St. Peter's Square, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

We had reserved tickets to take the lift up to see the dome of St. Peter’s, which gave us quick access to getting into the Cathedral. We got to go in a side way through some crypts and finally down into the Cathedral. It. Was. Incredible! The care and craftsmanship are phenomenal! And the incredible vastness of it? There aren’t words. 

We got so good at going through security! 

St. Peter's Basilica

Crypts

We made our way over to the special lift and scanned in. We took the elevator up to the top of…Actually, I’m not sure how high we were. It didn’t take us to the very top of the dome like I thought it would. It dropped us off on the roof near the main dome, and from there, we walked across the roof and into the dome. 

We were able to be right next to frescos and see the incredible paintings of the dome from way above the nave. Then, we began the long, long climb up somewhere between 300 and 400 stairs to get to the Cupola on top. The stairs were winding and seemingly never ending. At one point, the walls were tilting to the side (obviously due to the shape of the dome), and for half a second, I felt a little claustrophobic. But, onward and upward we went! We finally made it to the top, and the view was incredible, but my legs were jelly! 

Gabe went to the top with Greg and Lara, Brian, Mom, and I, but Greg, Lara and Gabe soon got ahead of us. Brian at one point kept going, and while I tried to keep my mom in sight, we kind of did an every man for himself kind of thing until we got to the top. Kirt, Julie, Rachel, and Michael walked around the inside of the dome for a bit before going up to the cupola, so we didn’t see them up there. 

Lara, Gabe, and Greg climbing one circular staircase

View partway up

The Staircases got smaller the higher we climbed

The top! 

St. Peter's Square--shaped like a key

Brian, Gabe, Lara, & Greg

Rachel, Nana, & Michael at the top of the dome

Kirt & Julie, AKA Nana and Papa

We wanted to go see the inside of the dome, so we went back down. 

One of two walks around the interior of the dome

View of the Dome from its base

We all met up outside of the elevators, and we rushed down to find La Pieta by Michelangelo. There was a pretty long line, and by this point, we really needed to head back to the Rome Termini station to catch our train to Bari, but I HAD to see the sculpture, and I’m so glad we did.

Porta Sancta (Holy Doors) only open during Jubilee Years

The line went quickly, and soon we were near it. As I was explaining the statue to the kids (we had our whole crew back together by then with Mom), I got choked up looking at it. I don’t think I’ve ever been choked up by a statue before. 

Lara, Greg, and Julie went in the line to see La Pieta, and we ran into Papa at the end of the line and took some photos with him until the rest of our party caught up. 

Then, we booked it out of there! Kirt was worried that we would miss our train, but we got there in plenty of time to get our bags, grab some food, and catch our train. 

When trying to get food, we went to a pizza and Indian food place next door to the luggage, and I tried to order food for everyone. I would tell the man working one thing I wanted, and as I tried moving onto the next thing, he walked away to help someone else. It was so bizarre and frustrating, and it was eating up our precious time dealing with him that way. We ended up only being able to order food for our kids and grab some water before I had to call it and leave. One of the orders wasn’t even something I asked for. I left really upset at being so ignored, and I didn’t have food for me, Brian, or my mom. I said it would be okay since there was a cafe on the train. 

We made it to our train, and had to get three people to move out of our assigned seats. One easily recognized that she had gotten in the wrong row, but this older couple refused to move. Thankfully, Kirt was there to talk to them, and eventually asked to see their tickets. They were in the right seats, but in the wrong car. Once they realized that, they moved, but in the meantime, there was quite the traffic jam in the train. 

All went well on the train until some unauthorized something got on the tracks ahead and we got delayed for 2 hours! Mostly, we just sat there. The train got stuffy, and the cafe had no food, but we were okay due to being in fairly comfy chairs. They eventually brought us out water and crackers, which helped, and then we got moving again. 

Screenshot of our location mid journey that I sent to my sisters

We got to Bari later than anticipated, and we got dinner first thing because everyone was really hungry. This meant that Gabe got to bed later than I anticipated, and we got started on laundry late as well. Our apartment had a small washer and no dryer, but desperate times meant we ended up doing a few loads in the sink and running the washer on the fastest cycle available. 

The elevator to our Bari apartment

We strung clothes lines all across the kitchen, enclosed balcony, and dining area. We knew that they wouldn’t dry in time, so we busted out the hair dryers. Mom and I had both brought one, and I found a third one one of the bathrooms. We tried drying the waistbands and socks first, and we stayed up until 12:15 working on them with the hair dryers. It was a little comical, this little impromptu laundry operation we had going on, but the later it got, the less funny it was, and I really dreaded needing to wake up early to finish. 

It certainly added some spice to our trip, and I really got to use my laundry stuff i had purchased for our last Europe trip that I didn’t really get to use then.