Rome 16th September 2010

Yesterday’s tours had been so successful that we had booked with the same group to see Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s works, St.Peters Basilica and St Peters Square.  The queues were very long – it was good to be able to just queue for about 10 minutes instead of 1 to 2 or more hours.  The Vatican Museum was very interesting.  Many treasured artworks.  The Sistine Chapel was also very special.  Our guide Elaine explained, outside on boards, some of the hidden meanings Michelangelo had included into his painting and also what was involved with painting frescos – harder than watercolour.  It truly was amazing walking along under Michelangelo’s work.  No talking and no photos were the rules.  People would sneak of photo and the guards would yell, or someone would speak and the yell was louder – quite strange way of demanding silencio!!  It was a pointless endeavour as they were making far more noise than what they were trying to stop.  We then went to St. Peters Basilica – it was over the top beautiful.  Michelangelo’s ‘Pieta’ is so beautiful tears just welled in my eyes.

The square was enormous – it would be incredible to see it filled with people like the scenes when a new Pope is elected.  We thanked our guide for a wonderfully memorable morning.  There were still endless queues waiting to go in – the guide said they would be in line for at least 3 hours at this time of day.

Back to the hop on/off bus and our next stop was a return trip to the Trevi fountain.  We both wanted to see it again in full sunshine – it was a beautiful sight.  Crowds of people, the water splashing over the edges at times but it was so hot it was refreshing.  Time for some lunch and then on to the Spanish steps – nothing special but it would take a lot to impress after our morning, but we were pleased to have seen this Rome landmark.

Back to the bus and home for a rest, getting our bags packed, before going out to dinner for our last night in Rome.