Italy Part 2

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Day 6 Big day planned. Made the most of our 8 Euro per night stay in Peter Pan by eating up big at the free breakfast, then hit the road at 9.30am. We headed straight for the Colosseum and were super impressed. It is massive. Due to our mega tight budget we didn’t pay the 11 Euros each to get in, but got a good look from the outside, and the surrounding ruins. Hopefully we will go inside next time. The lines were really long and would have wasted too much time as well.
Santa Maria Maggiore was our next stop. Fantastic church. We discovered the very strict rules associated with all churches in Italy and I was asked to cover up my legs before being allowed in.
Other highlights of the day included the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Piazza del Popolo, Trojans Column and the Monument of Vittorio Emanuale. Final stop of the day was my favourite, Piazza Navona. It had such a great atmosphere. Artists had stalls everywhere drawing perfect portraits of people. There were water fountains, street performers, music, beautiful buildings, and of course the recorder player. Andrew made friends with the toothless, beggar/busker who blasted the recorder as loud as it could go but couldn’t play a note. We gave him a few coins for his troubles.
By the time we got home that night it was 10pm and we had gone flat stick walking for the entire time to try and cram everything in - so much to see.

Day7 Big day planned, got to get to a new country - the smallest one in the world in fact. Headed straight to the Vatican City. Not showing too much skin today- long pants and my white pyjama top (as it was the only top I had that covered my shoulders). I bet not too many people can say they went to visit the pope in their PJ’s!
We had a great day exploring all the museums. The Egyptian exhibition was fantastic. After 4 hours of cruising through the museums we hit the Sistine Chapel - or as I affectionately call it the 16th Chapel. The paintings were fantastic (inc. stuff by Raphael and Michelangelo - no anchovies) and apart from our sore feet we had an excellent time. Somehow we missed an exit from the Sistine Chapel to Saint Peters Basilico (forgive us Benedict XVI), so we had to walk all the way around the Vatican City walls to find the other entrance. Saint Peters and its surrounding buildings were huge. You could imagine the Pope addressing thousands of people there. We were able to visit all the past Popes tombs, including Pope Johnny Paul II where lots of people were praying and Andrew got in trouble with the security guard for jumping a 1 foot high rail-rope (forgive us Johnny Paul II). We left the Vatican City with extremely sore feet, but feeling very holy = forgiven.
We then headed for Castle Saint Angelo, The Trevi Fountain, Temple Adriano and finally back to Piazza Navona - because I loved it so much. After 15hrs of walking we were pretty tired and ready for bed.

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Photos

Piazza Novona, Rome
The Master and his Apprentice

Egyptian Museum, Vatican City
2250 BC Fragment of tomb relief depicting animals life along the Nile banks

Vatican City
On the way to the Sixteenth Chapel

Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
Sneaky shot - if anyone asks, Jess took it

Outside St. Peters Basilica, Vatican City
Jess in her pyjama top

Dirty Feet
15hrs Walking = dirty and sore feet

Comments

[mothermapes]

Ah Trevi Fountain - did you throw any coins in?

[Jessica]

WOO
I wish I had awesome looking dirty feet like that!!

[mace]

Rome is awsome - I made the mistake of visiting Vatican in shorts and had to buy 10euro black pastic pants - spent the day sweating from the balls down. PS - I am sure the pope gets lots of visits from people in their PJ's

[Zoe J]

Gotta love the dirty Roman feet
Hi Jess and Andrew, Just having a quick look at your blog at Eleanor's house in Perth and I love reading it! It brings back such great memories. Keep doing these little side trips to different places and I'll feel like I'm travelling all over again. Thanks. :-) How good was the Vatican and Sistine Chapel - that whole thing plus St Paul's Cathedral was one of my favourite things we saw on the whole trip. So much amazing detail. Anyway, have a blast coz it's all over before you know it (trust me). See ya, Zoe J