ROME - PART TWO

First, a word of advice.

When you come to Rome and you want to walk around and see the sights make sure you bring your comfortable sneakers/walking shoes.

This is not Paris where you wouldn't ( or I wouldn't ) be seen dead in them !

and the cobbled streets would be murder in any other footwear.

These photos were all taken at the Pantheon on that wonderful 1800 year old floor !

Having three days in Rome was always going to be a bit rushed. But when one of those days turns out to be a public holiday for Labour Day it makes it more difficult especially if you didn't realise that everything would be closed !

So our final day in Rome found us up at 6:00am and out the door by 6:30am to walk to meet up with our tour of the Vatican. It was a 2 k walk which we had made the day before so we were certIn we knew where to go. The tour was called The Pristine Sistine Tour with entry to the Sistine Chapel before it is open to the crowds. A tour with a limit of 12 people.

Thank Heavens we chose to do this tour. Rome is crowded with millions of people who came for this Saint business. The tour guide was terrific and an absolute fountain of knowledge and the Sistine Chapel was quiet, like it is supposed to be and we spent half an hour inside just looking and trying to take it all in. 

We then went round and round and up and down staircases through the Vatican museums, into the gardens then finally back through the Sistine Chapel where there were people shoulder to shoulder and a great hubbub of noise that was greatly distressing the guards.

We finished the tour in the wonderful St Peter's Basillica which was crowded but because it is so huge was ok. A truly amazing place that is hard to take in and could be visited a multitude of times there is so much to see.

We stepped outside into a thunder storm and a huge deluge. There are no down pipes from the columns around the huge square. Just shutes where water cascades onto the ground ( and any unfortunate people ) on the ground below !!! 

The annoying hawkers come into their own in situations like this and we were soon togged up in giant plastic bags to go with our umbrellas. 

We then set off to walk to our next tour - a Colosseum tour we had organised online the previous night - about 3k away. It was now about 12:30 and we had had no breakfast and been on our feet for six hours straight!! We made a quick stop at a shop and bought a drink and some beautiful cut up pineapple. 

We managed to make our rendezvous and joined the Skip the Line tour of Palentine Hill

the Roman Forum 

and the Colosseum.

Another wonderful tour guide and we traipsed all over Palentine Hill, then through the Forum and finally to the Colosseum. 

 So old it is incredible. 

So many layers of history buried beneath your feet and such stories.

Amazing places

So our tour finally ended at about 5:30 pm and we then were faced with the walk home - about 2.5 k ! There had been no opportunity to sit down all day - about two occasions I think - so when we finally came to an empty seat along the road we stopped for a spell. Then we walked home through the lovely Piazza Novona and into our little apartment where we collapsed in a heap. The time was 6:30pm a whole 12 hours door to door !

I told Tony I'd rather starve than go out for tea but there's no chance of starving when he is around so he slipped down our little street to a little pizza shop where he has made friends with the girl there and we had pizzas for dinner...... And they were very yummy too !!

On to Positano tomorrow for a week so a bit of a rest ahead.

Cheers.

PS. Photos with blue sky taken the day before !