Rome: Day 2

We met our local tour guide, Ulysse, who took us to the Vatican Museums. Being with a guide enabled us to skip the super long line and get in before everyone else.

We saw the pope's garden,

An ancient mullet,

Some tapestries depicting the Massacre of The Innocents,

the inspiration for Dan Brown's Angels and Demons,

And the Sistine Chapel, which you can't photograph, and is more incredible and beautiful than words can describe. We exited the chapel on the stairs that the pope uses to get there.

Then we headed to St. Peter's Basilica. We stood in awe of Michaelangelo's Pieta. We also stood on the huge red circle where the holy roman emperors knelt for their coronations. It's also the spot where the pope starts his procession.

The church is immense. There weren't many people in the church yet, and there was a procession with incense and the organ playing and Gregorian chanting when we made it to the altar. Pretty cool.

Here are some sights from the bus. Clockwise from the top left is the Isola Tiberina- on the left of the island is an ancient Roman pedestrian bridge. Next is Mussolini's balcony. Then Largo di Torre Argentina where Julius Caesar was killed. Bottom right is Ponte Sant'Angelo. Bottom left is the Baths of Caracalla. The last one is Il Vittoriano. 




Next we went to the Coliseum. No big deal, you know. The arch is the Arch of Constantine. The white stripes in the top right picture show where the emperor sat.


Roman soldiers on a smoke break.

We should have stayed and seen more of the Roman Forums (since our Coliseum ticket included entrance into the Roman Forum, but we went back to the hotel and I took a nap. There was an optional tour to the Pantheon and the Catacombs that we skipped since we planned to see the Pantheon on our extra days in Rome and it's free to get in anyway. Then we went on another optional tour which included a massive dinner. It also included walking down the Spanish Steps, keeping my hands away from gypsies trying to put roses in them and trying to take a picture while fending off more roses.

Throwing coins in the Trevi Fountain to ensure our return to Rome. (Throwing 2 coins = meeting or falling in love with an Italian and 3 coins = marrying an Italian). Michael kept his eye on me. My first photo of throwing  my coin (in my right hand and over my left shoulder as per Alberto's instructions) was blurry so I had to do a retake. However I couldn't throw in a second coin, because that could get awkward.

Then we saw the Triton fountain in Piazza Barberini and headed to Ristorante Al Giardino. Umberto serenaded us with neapolitan songs. I made the mistake of having a cappuccino at our waiter's insistence (actually, Italians don't drink cappuccino after 11 am) and I couldn't fall asleep which made me completely exhausted for our next day which would take us to Florence.