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Published: April 2nd 2010
22 March - Monday We woke about 9:30 am to another nice day...so much for the 10-day forecast with rain every day. Our new room was located on the fifth floor away from any road or alley so the only noise to disturb us was the birds...cackling in this case. Will heard from his friend that we wouldn't be able to get tickets for the Vatican until the afternoon. I was puzzled about this, as I was not aware from any guidebook that there were limits on the number of tickets...wait in line and you get a ticket. Nevertheless, we decided to take a taxi to the Villa Borghese and then walked from there to the Piazza del Popolo, after which we would go to the Vatican to get tickets. The Borghese Gardens were ok, but I like lots of flowers, and there were only dandilions.
At the Piazza del Popolo we went into the church where the first cardinal representing earth in the movie "Angels and Demons" was executed. We never found Raphael's tomb as pictured in the movie...a Hollywood fiction.
We heard from my son's friend that he had bought a 3 pm ticket for the Vatican
Museum and that we better get there soon if we wanted tickets. So we caught a taxi there and joined the long line. It turned out to not be that long as we were able to buy tickets in about 40 minutes. When we got our tickets there was no way that we could exit to return at 3 pm, so we called my son's friend to tell him that we were proceeding through the museum without him. It took about 2 hours to see. It was very crowded. People were told not to take pictures of the Sistine Chapel, but they did so anyway without any consequence...at least in this world. We then walked around Saint Peters Basilica and saw where Peter is buried, supposedly.
Then we took a taxi to my son's favorite kabab restaurant in Trastevere, but it was closed. We took a bus back to our hotel for lunch at a nearby restaurant followed by the mandatory two scoop gelatto. Walking miles every morning and afternoon really tires us out so an afternoon siesta has been mandatory...in this case from 4 - 7 pm.
Will went out with a large group of his friends
from JCU that evening, so Tamara and I walked to the Pantheon to have dinner in a sidewalk cafe in the piazza in front of the building. My routine has been to have the first course, pasta, for lunch and the second course, a meat dish, for dinner (and of course gelatto at every opportunity). Afterwards we bought a few souvenirs before heading back to the hotel for the night.
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Marlan
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Really Enjoyed Your Travel Blog ... Fortunately I've Got To See Most Of The Sights First Hand ... That Always Helps ... Some Things Didn't Change Much ... I Do Remember Those Big lines At The Chapel Like Yesterday ! I Really Didn't Get To Eat Much Local Food As I Ate Mostly At The Hard Rock Cafe ...