Roma - historic sights and braised bean curd

Our Italian journey began (and ended) in the classic city of Rome. As Dave and I had been before but my mother had not, we felt the need to visit some tourist spots. We arrived at the Vatican Museums, home to the Sistine Chapel, at around 9am (they open at 8:45) to find a line rumored to have 5,000 people in it, with promises of at least a two hour wait in the blaring sun. As Dave had a train to catch later that afternoon, and none of us really wanted to brave the line, we ventured instead to St. Peter's Basilica which is right next door. After a short 10 minute wait we found ourselves inside the cavernous church. The photo above is the work of Dave, taken as we were leaving St. Peter's.

Aside from a few other sights - the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon - Rome's highlights were mostly gastronomic. I must admit my second time in Italy's capital didn't find me liking it any more than the first, and it was certainly my least favorite of all the places we visited. However, its gelati was by far the best, and the best pizza we had was also in Rome. My favorite restaurant there, however, was a Chinese place called Mr. Chow. We found it by accident as it was across the street from a pizza place we went to, and my mother and I wound up going there twice as a nice break from carb- and cheese-laden Italian cuisine. Chinese food is one thing we don't eat in Sao Paulo (we have yet to find a good place) and so I'd actually been craving it for a while, and Mr. Chow (no relation to the well known US/UK chain) did not disappoint.