Piazza Barberini

Rome, take 2.

Seen a lot, walked a lot, queued a lot, over the last four days.

Tuesday we spent the majority of the day in the Vatican City. It is absolutely mobbed here in Rome. Not sure if it is the time of year or if it is always like this but I don't recall the sheer amount of people when I was last here, admittedly about 12 years ago.

We queued for about 45 minutes to view the Musei di Vaticani - a collection of museums - and most importantly to be squished like sardines into the Sistine Chapel. Incredible collection of sculptures, artwork and artifacts in the Musei - which Stuart and I took really seriously - and worth the wait to see Michelangelo's masterpiece. Next we headed to St Peter's and queued for about an hour and 15 minutes as despite returning three times during the day the queue never got any shorter, The experience was made much more enjoyable by spending the time chatting to a Korean chap called Reagan who is travelling Europe on his own.

When we finally got through security, I made the journey up to the Bronze Doors to request tickets for the audience with the Pope the following day. Only one person is allowed to go up the stairs and I got to chat to a Swiss Guard. Visiting St Peters is a must,it really dwarfs any other church that we have visited.

On Wednesday we headed in what we deemed to be early to get back to St Peter's square for the audience with the Pope. Reckon we underestimated it by about two hours as the place was swamped when we arrived. Although we couldn't get into the centre of the seating, we managed to hear and see him from a distance so pretty pleased with that.

We then went onto Castel Sant'Angelo, which sits on the west of the River Tiber which was built by Hadrian as his Mausoleum. Whilst I didn't really find the exhibits that fascinating.. can I say that? it was worth it for the view from the top. As we left the Castel we crossed the River only to bump into our friend Reagan again randomly in the street, we are now Instagram buddies so can follow each others travels. Despite having seen the Pope a few hours earlier I think that chance meeting was definitely Stuarts highlight of the day!

Headed to the city last night to eat after doing washing and preparing for moving on. Visiting my gran's friend Maria today and on the ferry to Croatia next Thursday, in the meantime who knows, will keep you updated!Weiterlesen