Rome - Vatican

Thursday 15th

Early start today to visit the Vatican and all it has to offer the tourist. We purchased a 'skip the line' pass for the museum and the Sistene Chapel, absolutely worth it when you see the queues. We did under estimate the time the bus took to get there, as I was worried about the 9am ticket time, this turned out to be ok, thank goodness, can't waste money on this girls budget. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the museum and took our time with all the exhibits, and the Sistene Chapel wasn't as crowded as I expected it too be. We left to visit St Peters Basilica where there was a huge line but it moved quite quickly so we were in, in less than half an hour. Again it is spectacular, what a sight. We spent €5 each and took the 512 step walk up the Cupola San Pietro, or the large dome on the Basilica. This lets you enter the dome on the inside high up above with the 'gods', then you go outside and view Rome, what a magnificent view, well worth the climb.

The apartment where we are staying has quite a street life, from early morning it is a great market with lovely fruit, vege stalls, bread, cheese and deli meats, fresh meat, fish and some clothing stalls. By later in the afternoon this all transforms into cafés, bars and restaurants, and bustling with people. Some people buy their wine and just wander up the street, others sit round outside at tables, and some just sit in the street!

We went to a very rustic restaurant the first night with the guy who owns the apartment and had a real local experience. Nice jug of red wine and pasta. We went there again by ourselves, as we are practically local, having dined with a local, in a local eatery - Bon appetite.

We bought a GPS today to help us with our travels in the rental car, all loaded with maps. Talking about cars, Libby we saw a couple of Mercedes in the Popes collection at the Vatican Museum, Mac came to mind, very classy ( the cars...).

Friday 16th May

We went 'Hop on, Hop off' bus today as we did a huge amount of walking yesterday. We visited the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and the Spanish Steps. The bus did a circuit of the city, so saw lots and we will visit The Forum tomorrow and the Castle of St Angelo, then that will just about wrap up Rome as we leave here on Sunday. 

I must say I love Rome as a city and think it would be a great place to live. For a large city which is busy with tourists, it still has a special charm about it, and the culture of food and eating out is quite special.