We then headed out for Vatican City stopping by the cafe on the corner of our street for an espresso. We wandered the lane ways and streets of the old Roma area, where we're staying, making our way across the river to the Vatican.
Our luck was in today. There was no line up at all. We were prepared for a line up of anything up to 3 hours long. We were straight in after a simple security check. We explored the Musei Vaticani which has some amazing art in it's collection. Ancient Roman and ancient Egyptian antiquities, amazing artwork pieces and sculptures and even some Dali and Van Gogh paintings.
We also got to visit the Cappella Sistina (Sistine Chapel) which was smaller than I expected but stunningly decorated with Michelangelo paintings.
Once we had seen most of the Vatican museum, we headed out and back around to Piazza San Pietro (St Peters Square) to see this famous gathering place for Catholics all over the world. It is a very large piazza and must look amazing when it is packed with people. The Basilica Sancti Petri, officially known in Italian as Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica looms over the square and we'll be heading back over here to see inside it on another day.
We then walked back across the river to the area of our apartment, stopping to take a few photos over the river.
We were winding our way through the old cobble stoned lane ways and streets and found a restaurant for some dinner and wine. After dinner we made our way across to Piazza Navona and around some of the streets in this area where we are staying.
Roma is certainly a beautiful and old city. Amazing buildings, fantastic little cobble stoned streets, and more restaurants than you could probably visit in a lifetime of eating out every night.
