Viva il Papa...

...Well I would have yelled that out if I had seen him but he didn't show for our appointment so we did the 2nd best thing - we toured the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, St Peter's Square and the Basilica.

The day started with a trip on the Metro from the Termini to the station by the Vatican - it was not a pleasant experience for those of us who are not sardines!

Arrived at the Museum entrance and after sighting the length of the queue was rather glad that we had pre-purchased our entrance tickets - so in we went smiling broadly at those who must have had a 2-3 hour wait in the sun!

Went to take the first photo of the day, that of a Maori waka replica and found that I had failed to insert the memory card into the camera last night and realised it was still in the laptop - thanks to the efficiency of daughter there were another two memory cards in the camera bag so after raising a quick sweat my temperature returned to normal.

The next 3 or so hours were spent wandering around the Museums which have some of the best examples of everything that museums have from times past and not all of a religious nature.

The displays are in room after incredibly decorative room - murals on high ceilings above, ornate work around archways etc.

Around lunch time the crowds became very large and the officials implemented a one way system around the museums so you just got into the shoulder to shoulder crowd (some very pushy people one has to say) and went with the flow, a flow that ended up in the Sistine Chapel - for those that have seen it you will understand when I use the word spectacular, for those of you yet to come to Rome put it on your bucket list!  


As you know you are not allowed to take photos in the Sistine Chapel but ain't the ceiling beautiful!

Having been on site for well over 5 hours it was time to move onto St Peter's Square and the Basilica.

We joined a queue for the Basilica that must have been 400 metres long but which moved at such a speed that within 20 minutes we were inside the Basilica.

Words cannot describe the inside of the Basilica - I overheard one lady on her way out say "that was the most amazing thing I have seen in my life" and she might have been right though Stacey Jones' try in the 2002 NRL Grand Final wasn't too shabby!

Back out onto St Peter's Square which one can only imagine the sight it would present when it is crowded and a walk down to Castel Saint 'Angelo beside the River Tiber brought an end (after a more enjoyable Metro ride) to our sightseeing for the day.

We retired to the apartment battered and bruised but not beaten ready to do something similar tomorrow.

Viva il Papa....viva