First day in rome

Okay - first full day in Rome.  Decision made - we are going to Vatican City.  Nice long walk (shame I can't put in some of the photos).  Remember I said the map the hotel gave us was good, we didn't get lost once.....  We might have stood on street corners whilst we worked out where we were but we won't count that.

Just as an aside - typing on European keyboards can be a bit challenging as well - keys are not always where you expect them to be.  To type the @ symbol means typing ALT then 6 and 4 not shift 2.  Got a few emails wrong today.

Anyway we went over Ponte San't Angelo past Castel Sant' Angelo and along the Via della Conciliazione.  Straight ahead - there it was Basilica St Pietro (St Paul's Basilica).  Now - I am agnostic so there is no overwhelming feeling towards this building other than it is a beautiful piece of architecture. And quite misleading.  It is a lot bigger than it looks.  A great deal bigger.  I can't give you the stats as the book I bought on the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel is now in a box (together with a book on Greece and Greek Mythology, Colosseum and Roman Forum as well a number of personal items) which I posted from Rome today.  I only save myself about 4kgs in luggage but space is at a premium......  You know clothes etc are more important.

What a sight - you have no idea of the size of the place until you are actually there.

We had a slow wander round for about 10 minutes just to get our bearings and then went in at about 8.45am (this time is significant).  We passed by a free tour guide leaving in 10 minutes which we decided to join once we had visited the necessary (toilets in case you were wondering).

The free tour included Euro 2 for a headset each and we were then introduced to the Vatican City together with some interesting pieces of history.  Oh - an Hungarian - Australian was responsible for vandalising the only piece of Michelangelo's work he had signed....  The Tour Guide took great delight in passing that information on.....  By the way it costs nothing to visit Basilica San Pietro (it is a church after all)

As I said before, the stats for the building are truly amazing and once I get back and supposing my books arrive as well, I will detail a few for you.

At the end of the tour, the Tour Guide then availed her services - something missing in translation because when we had passed through the entry tothe Vatican Museum we were expected to pay Euro 20 each for the tour.  As I said, something missing in translation there.  We definitely didn't hear anything about Euro 20.  I know some things are expensive but we paid Euro 14 each and the whole thing would have cost us over Euro 100.  we decided it wasn't worth it.  We preferred to visit the Museum and see the Sistine Chapel at our own pleasure.

Should point out, whatever you do, make sure you wear a really decent, comfortable pair of shoes.  If you want to visit the Basilican San Pietro remember, there are fashion police on duty to ensure no female walks through with a sleeveless top and / or short skirt.  This is strictly forbidden.

Remember I mentioned the fact that we had all bought pedometers?  Well - to walk around the Vatican Museum including the Sistine Chapel is around 7 kilometers - I can tell you from personal experience - if you are not fit - this will hurt!!!!!  Very few places to just sit and rest your feet or your legs.....

I have ached in places, oh never mind - mentioned this before (Athens / Mykonos).

(Have about 30 minutes left on the prepaid Internet Access so may not finish this tonight).