Vatican

So for some reason neither of us put on an alarm. First time that's happened lol
Luckily we got up just in time.
Or really a little too late to bother figuring out the train and/or metro. We decided to just get a taxi because there was no obvious direct route there.
Very pleased with our driver - he used the meter and took a direct route. It even came in €3 under the lowest estimated price.
12€ all up.
The most expensive part was waiting to get out of the damn taxi bay because it's at the station and person after person kept walking in front.

He dropped up pretty close - we had to just walk the straight line towards it.
So many annoying people trying to get you to book a tour I ALREADY HAVE A TICKET DAMN IT.

The annoying people did serve a purpose though - they directed us to the entrance which was a 10 minute walk from St. Peter's square which I didn't realize.
Once we found the entrance I had a memory flashback.

We paid an extra 4€ each to skip the line which turns out to have been a complete waste.
Not a single person in front of us. We walked straight in 😪
In summer the line was ridiculous so I guess better safe than sorry.
We went through security checks, collected our hard copy ticket and entered country number 27✌🏼

Signage was crap - no idea where to go - we ended up in an Egyptian artifacts room. We skimmed a lot of it but there was a exposed mummy body so that was cool. I also liked the statues because they different from European ones.

I found it interesting that they talked of other gods. I know it's a museum but it still is the Vatican.
Cool thought.

Essentially the museum was just a shit tonne of statues.
There was a corridor though which I want to have a sleepover in.
I just want to put a mattress on the floor and look at the ceiling for hours. It was beautiful 😭😭😭 the corridor also had maps lining the walls.
Once again a roof was my favourite part.
We walked and walked and walked through rooms until we finally got to the Sistine chapel.
I'll be straight to it. Not even slightly as nice as the corridor. Still cool to see. Took another illegal photo like I did last time.
Will was surprised by it. He thought the finger touchy bit was the whole thing and that it was going to be really big and in a dome.
Nope.
It's just not as detailed as some. Still obviously fantastic but it was like half the lines were smudged.
The room was very crowded.

We walked through more corridors holding stuff from jewelry, old globes to what I think was a sewing machine.

We were hungry so we left and went and got food. To enter straight through to St. Paul's basilica you had to be part of a tour and as we weren't that meant we had to join the line outside boo.

But first, food.
Wills was delicious except for the fragment of glass he spat out....
lol

Joined the line and it took maybe 30 mins to reach security.

Honestly, you would think 99%+ people visiting would have been through and airport before. And yet every second person had to go through the gate 3+ times.
TAKE YOUR COINS OUT OF YOUR POCKETS YOU IDIOTS.

They also only had 3 boxes to hold peoples bags as they went through the scanner so that caused some time delays too.

Into the chapel we went.
It's the biggest in the world.

The colour scheme is actually quite boring. But walking around you start to absorb all the hidden details.
Very nice.
The roof is super high.

The apostle peter is buried there. I remember I encountered the same problem last time I visited - I couldn't see down into the staircase/crypt from behind the barrier.
Of course Will could 😒

A few popes buried around the place.
We just went in the free areas. Skipped the paid spots.
We poor hahah

There was a nun praying and it made me happy.

Very nice 👏🏼👏🏼

Walked to the pantheon.
I remembered in school we all got yelled at inside by a worker because we were too loud.
It's free too - but boring.. not pretty to look at. A big dome with a checkered roof. It was a pagan spot then got destroyed and rebuilt and converted.
It's 2000 years old though so that aspect is an A+.

A few men dressed in gladiator outfits outside made it fun.

We then walked to the Trevi fountain to see it again.
I bloody love it.

Big walk home and I think I might have some blisters coming.
The perils of new shoes eh?

Chilled at the hostel then went across the road for dinner.
AMAZING bruschetta but they tipped themselves... 😒😒

Gave away a lot of money today 😩 this morning a lady approached us and said her bag was stolen and could we help her - she was British, we though she was gonna ask for directions when we stopped to help.
As I am unable to say no I gave her 2€. I hope what she said was true.

At the hostel now.
Keen for tomorrow!!Read more