Rome: The Vatican Adventure

Raised Catholic, one stop in our Rome adventure had to be the Vatican. We booked a museum tour online and thank God because the lines are Llllloooooonnnnnnggggg. Even at 7am! So the good news is that we didn't have to wait in line . . . strike that, we didn't have to wait in the line outside to get in. We did have to wait in numerous lines of wall to wall people throughout the rest of the three hour tour.

The Vatican was a constant contradiction for us. On the one hand, the collection of art, sculpture, historical artifacts and jewels is breathtaking. On the other hand, this is an institution that's supposed to be in the service of Christianity, which can be difficult to remember as you walk through the ridiculous wealth of the place.

For those who don't know, the Vatican is consider its own country with its own currency, post office and governing body. It stands alone in the middle of Rome but doesn't have to answer to Italian law.

Waiting for our tour guide to arrive. Not a very impressive entrance, is it?

I wasn't joking about the wall to wall people. We literally shuffled through the halls of the museum for almost 3 hours in this crowd. By the end, we were a bit frazzled and more than ready to leave.

Nice view of St. Peter's Basilica's dome from the balcony of the museum. 

A few sculptures to give you an idea of the halls - not very wide. Only about 3-4 feet of 'display' space on either side and then wall to wall people walking through. It's not that we regret going, because I think we had to go, but definitely not something we need to do twice.

This is part of the ceiling. Despite the 3D look, these are paintings, not plasterwork. Pretty cool.

This was in the tapestry hall. Amazing huge tapestries with very intricate detail.

 Another painted ceiling. It's like every inch of space needed to be covered with art. All a bit overwhelming after a while.

Some of the paintings were massive and with such detail it was just amazing.

We ended the tour at the Sistine Chapel where unfortunately no photos were allowed. What a nightmare! Jam packed with people who were supposed to be respectful and silent - yeah right. All you could hear was murmuring and then every few minutes the guards would tell us all to be quiet in 3 languages and remind us that no photos were allowed. We had 20 minutes to look and the ceiling, which was truly incredible. Unfortunately, because of the atmosphere, we were a bit underwhelmed by the experience.

And of course had to get a shot of one of the Swiss guards. Poor guys - really, what thug would be afraid of that?

This is the inner courtyard where the crowds line up on Wednesdays for a blessing from Pope Francis. We were there on Tuesday so the chairs were all set up in anticipation. I asked Brian if he wanted to come back o see the pope and he promptly suggested espresso and gelato on the other side of town instead! :)

Rome: The Trevi Fountain adventure that wasn't

After our visit to the Pantheon, we consulted the map and realized we weren't that far from the Trevi fountain. Off we went, but after a few circles were a bit confused. The map said it was to our left, but there was nothing there but a bunch of scaffolding, some plastic sheeting . . . and a large crowd of people . . . taking photos. We had stumbled across Trevi fountain but the whole thing was under renovation!

They had constructed a little tourist bridge so that you could get close despite the renovation work. Luckily the line wasn't long at all - a first for our trip to Rome!

This is the view off to one side of the bridge and below is the other. This whole area above would be filled with water.

The sculpture was amazing even with all the scaffolding blocking the view.

So disappointing not to see the fountain as it should be. Guess that just means we'll have to come back to Rome one day!

Rome: The Patheon adventure

Our next adventure was to find the Pantheon. We had a map and did pretty well, only making a few wrong turns. The nice thing about Rome is that a wrong turn just means you see a different awesome historical item along the way!

The Pantheon was rebuilt from the original 118-126 AD and is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. It is one of the best preserved of all Roman ancient buildings and is gorgeous.

 Like most of Rome, this place was PACKED! Wall to wall people everywhere.

Rome: The Forum & Palatine hill adventure

After the Coliseum, we headed up Palatine Hill and spent some time wandering around the Forum. This area of Rome is some of the oldest and where the rich merchants and government officials lived and worked. The Forum was the heart of the city where people came to shop, worship and socialize. Absolutely amazing to imagine the rich history here, especially coming from Abu Dhabi where the oldest building is about 15 years old!

These fountains were all over Rome and delivered crystal clear cool water. We just had to carry a water bottle and fill up whenever needed. It was awesome!

A view of one of the larger houses on the hill overlooking the Forum.

A back courtyard (see next photo) with an almost perfectly preserved statue of a woman.

 This is a race course for chariot races and other sport events.

Overlooking the Forum from atop Palatine Hill.

If I remember correctly, this is the temple of the Vestal virgins. I really should take a notepad with me on these trips so I can remember!

Rome: The Coliseum Adventure

We ended up with 'free' tickets to the Coliseum as part of our Segway tour so decided to go the next day, which was a Sunday. It was actually the first Sunday of the month so the Coliseum was free! Ooohhh, so THAT's why the line was sooooo long. But, it wasn't all wasted as we had 'skip the line' tickets, which allowed us to do just that and be one of the first 10 people into the Coliseum. You'll see as you look at the photos what a huge bonus that really was.

We powerwalked to the top so we could try to get a photo with no people in it. It worked, even through the sun position wasn't cooperating that well. We then walked all the way around to get the full view before the hordes started to arrive.

 This is a view of the tunnels under the coliseum where the animals, gladiators and supplies were kept.

The place is massive. This shows a bit of the stage at the far end that was built to give the idea of how it must have looked. We had a Rick Steve's audio guide with us that explained the huge spectacles that took place here. Unbelievable - like a huge Cirque du Soleil event but with blood and death.

If you look closely in the back left of centre you can start to get a feel of the crowds by the end of our walk.

By the time the sun was in the right place, the crowds were too so I could no longer get photos without tourists. The place was heaving by the time we left! We were really glad to have gone early and have our 'skip the line' tickets.