A Day in Rome

We started the day with breakfast on the rooftop of our hotel. It was a lovely hot morning and great eating and admiring the views over Rome...

We then caught a taxi to a spot near the Vatican and met our tour guide for the morning Federica. We had prebooked a tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peters Bascilica. After going through all the security checks we entered the grounds of the Vatican...

Then went into the museum. The artwork, sculptures and tapestries are all amazing and once again we marvel at what they did all those thousands of years ago...

Next we went into the Sistine Chapel and it was crowded and the guards are  constantly yelling "No photo" and "Ssshhh". Nicole took a "sneaky Sistine Chapel" photo when she visited and I was good last time we came so I couldn't resist taking a shot  from my handbag of the Michelangelo painted ceiling...

Federica showed us where the portable stove is lit and the window the chimney is put through so the smoke signal can announce to the world when a new Pope has been elected. It just happened to be right where I was sitting and you can see the charcoal and burn stains on the tiles. I got caught this time taking the photo and told off.

After leaving the Sistine Chapel we walked over to St Peters Bascilica...

Pope's balcony...

Pope's living area - top middle window - he was away on vacation...

Inside St Peter's - the biggest church in the world...

Tomb of Pope John Paul 11...

Climbing to the top of the Dome of St Peter's was something on our list. So to preserve Dad's knee we caught the lift to the viewing gallery looking down into the Bascilica...

And then climbed the 320 spiral steps inside the dome to the top. The views were fantastic...

View over Vatican City

Views over Rome

Looking down on the roof of Sistine Chapel - the portable chimney is put out the first little arched shape window on the right...

Where we were...

We then went out to St Peter's Square the huge area where the pilgrims gather to listen to the Pope...

Once again time had got away and we were very hungry so it was a quick salad roll eaten on the curbside of a small street in Vatican City. We then caught a taxi to the hotel to freshen up. It was quite hot but we still decided to walk to the Colosseum...

The queue was huge to get in so the men decided to fast track our entry and buy tickets for a tour. I was annoyed as I just wanted a quick look not do a whole tour! Then after we bought the tour tickets it was still 20 min until it started. So we decided not to wait we were in and went off for a look around by ourselves...

As our tour ticket included entry into the Roman Forum so we walked over there...

It was hot and dusty but so very interesting...

I got to fit in some last minute shopping and kept the men happy with a gelato each. We went back to the hotel for a shower and then wandered back to the Pantheon and found a nice restaurant for dinner (pizza for entree and then Osso bucco) They had free wifi so I managed to get in contact with Sarah and she informed she had now come out in a big rash on her face and neck. Luckily she had an antihistamine with her and after a bit of worry the rash started to disappear.

So we sat, watched and toasted the end of our wonderful holiday...

And late into the night we thought we had better leave our wonderful spot and head back to the hotel for some sleep. On the way back we found a little shop still open and he sold marble plaques with names of well known landmarks and buildings around Rome. We bought a Piazza Navona one.