Day 13 - Rome, Italy

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Activities

Vatican Tour

Highlight(s)

• Vatican Museum
  
• Sistine Chapel
  
• St Peter's Basilica
  
• Pasta lunch - have found a good little local trattoria where the staff are friendly and the food is well priced and authentic.
  
• Being back on-line! Regaining Internet Access after the Indian-Italian Porter came and re-booted our connection.
  
• Michele's Gelati count - 16
  
• Joscelina's Italian Coffee count - 8. Does a double espresso count as 1 or 2 coffees?
  

Odd Spot(s)

* Insistence of concierge yesterday that we be delivered a breakfast box prior to early departure for Vatican Tour. Breakfast box, which was actually a bag, contained oversized pate biscuits, jam, crackers, cheese, coconut yoghurt, a juice box and a bottle of water. Was actually a nice change from cereal, eggs and toast.
* Wacky bus transfer for Vatican tour which "absolutely, positively starts at 6.55am". We were collected by minivan at 7.15am, driven around the block to collect additional tourists from hotel 2 doors up, then driven at a frantic pace to the tour office which was no more than 4 minutes walk away to begin with.
* Up-sell effort of sales assistant at Vatican gift shop. We willingly sought out a reasonably priced set of rosary beads - not the cheapest, not the most expesive - to then be badgered by sales assistant with at least 4 attempts to cross-sell additional items.

Weather

Hot and sunny. High temperature of 32 degrees.

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Photos

Gallery of Maps
Ceiling in the Gallery of Maps, within the Vatican Museum

Tour Leader For A Minute
Joc steps in as group leader whilst our tour guide sorted entry tickets for Vatican Museum

We're Heading Here
Michele points towards Acquapendente, the main area for week 6 of our adventure.

St Peter's Square
View from St Peter's Basilica

Pope's Eye View
Behind us is the view the Pope has when addressing the masses in St Peter's Square

The Cupola
The dome from inside St Peter's Basilica. It's interior diameter is 42.56 metres which makes you feel remarkably small when looking up.

Perspective
The only way to take in the greatness of St Peter's Basilica.

The Swiss Guard
The Popes personal protection dates back to 1506. They must be Swiss citizens, of catholic faith, at least 174cm tall and between the age of 19 to 30. Their uniforms were designed by Michelangelo.

St Peter's Basilica & Apostolic Palace
View from St Peter's Square of St Peter's Basilica and the Apostolic Palace. To maintain its standing as the world's largest Basilica, all new churches are measured to ensure they do not exceed the dimensions of St Peter's Basilica.

Comments

[Steve.Z.]

Stunning
St Peters Square.....just stunning...keep photos coming. Great video as well....you guys are really embracing the web2.0 technology :)