Vatican - Rome - Italy

I was really looking forward to the Vatican. The line to get tickets was 2-3 hours so we jumped that with a tour as we did at the Colosseum. We only paid for two tours for the whole holiday. The rest of the time we just paid admission fees and used local transport. Had a ball at a lot less than the cost of a tour.

The crowds were huge and the heat was immense in buildings with no air-conditioning. It was just too hot for Yumi at the Vatican.  I was really worried for her the whole day and she fell off the back of the group every time I took my eye off her.  When you see the crowds you will understand how hard it was to find her at times.

Because of the crowds you could not stop for anything and it was just not enjoyable.  Our tour guide might not have been an atheist but he certainly was not a fan of the Catholic Church. Bit of a buzz kill for this Catholic boy.

The Sistine Chapel I was so looking forward to.  Of course inside there are no hats, photos or talking....as our guide told us many times before entering.  Then he proceeded to talk for our whole stay there to someone about the price of real Italian pizza in Naples over our tour ear pieces. I thought the guards were going to throw our tour guide out.

Have to do it again in winter.

Waiting outside for the tour to jump the line. So bright and hot.

That pine cone. So much stuff from other cultures. I believe we were told the origin of the Pine cone fountain was Roman and the pine cone symbolises human enlightenment and the third eye.

Tour guide told us many of the statues were very old but replicas all the same of originals. This is the Trojan priest Laocoön and his two sons losing a battle to the death with two sea serpents.

You can see the crowds here shoulder to shoulder constantly moving.

I so much wanted to stop and look up and get a sore neck. Guards kept on shouting “Avanti” pretty much everywhere.

The gallery of Maps of Italy. Just wall to wall people. The flags are so you know where you tour guide is.

The tour guide found it amusing that the Vatican has a science department in this buidling, visible out one of the windows in a gallery.

The exit of the gallery of Maps of Italy.

Yumi waiting for the Pope to come out.

Shall we climb to St Peter’s cupola Yumi? It is only 550 something steps!

No thank you was the reply. She is done and we head back to Termini.