Drop in on the Pope

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Next on the agenda was Vatican City. The tour we did through the Colosseum and the Forum also did tours of the Vatican and as we enjoyed that sooo much we thought we'd jump on board. Especially as they told us we'd jump the queue, we'll we were to find out that that depended on what you mean by jump.

We arrived at the meeting point and went to sign in and pay at the office. Then a guy took us to meet our guide. We waited across from the queuing masses and he seemed a bit lost, constantly looking for someone and talking on the phone. We then found out what he was doing. Our tour guide had lined up and was 'holding a spot for us'. So as you can imagine the people behind her were suitably pissed off when 18 people cut in. Anyway, fortunately that was the only bad point of the day, maybe other than being on our feet for around 4 hours. The guide was from America and had been living in Rome for around 10 years. She was fantastic. She really knew her stuff. We saw a lot of beautiful art but the highlight was definitely the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo's ceiling.

After four hours of walking we were stuffed so we headed to a restaurant for a really bad meal. That's the second so far in Rome. We then jumped on the tube to go to the Spanish Steps, in my view the most over rated tourist spot on the planet. But it's just something you have to do when in Rome. Paige loved all the brand name shops around the area but unfortunately they were closed. I was ready to give her the credit card and everything.

Next stop Tuscany. (which is where I'm writing this from, but thats for another day. I have to go and find Piage as I left her shopping at the open air market. I hope I can find her otherwise I'm changing my name to Giuseppe and staying here....)

Love to all,
Peter and Paige

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Photos

Our guide Susan
In front of a statue of a very virile man, judging from the number of kids he has :-)