Rome

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Day 1.We left beautiful Florence and headed for Rome, a trip of 1hour 45 minutes. First thing that strikes you is the huge number of apartment blocks and it has made me realise how luckly we are that many of us own our own homes as this is the exception to the rule in Toronto, Amersterdam, Germany, Strassborg & Italy.

We stayed in a B&B in Rome in a good central location, but must admit that after our 4 star hotel in Florence, the B&B was quite a come down. That afternoon we mastered the metro and had a walk around the Vatican city.Wow, what an awesome city Rome is and hard to describe the splendour unless you have been there yourself. It was extremely hot and we got into a pattern of getting up early and going out until 3pm, having an afternoon siesta and going out again in the evening when cooler, 23 degrees as opposed to 33!! We walked to the famous Spanish Steps & joined the crowds of tourist sitting on steps having drinks and trying to cool off in the fountain at the bottom.

Day 2. We caught the metro, very easy to navigate, and met our guide to do the Vatican City Tour, which included Sistene Chapel and St Peter's Basilica. This was a truly great experience for us entering through the Museum section and slowly moving through to the Cistene Chapel. Wow!, does not even come close to describing the magnificence of the Chapel, now fully cleaned. We then moved into St Peter's and slowly made our way around the interior like the awe-struck tourists that we were. We took plenty of pictures and then were able to attend Mass at noon in the St Joseph's chapel. Very humbling. After a great lunch we went off to see St John's Laterano which was also magnificent. Back to the room for the siesta and then out for the evening again.

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Photos

Sunset in Rome
Another beautiful evening in Rome with a great sunset

New sculpture at Vatican
Represents the Catholic church within the world.

Inside St Peter's
Once again Wow! Notice the crowds.

Inside St Peter's
The letters are 6 feet high. Some scale!