DAY 20 - Vatican City

DAY 20 -
Up relatively early this morning to catch our bus to take us on our tour of Vatican City. There was a slight misty rain this morning which turned into a shower but by this time we were indoors.  Vatican City is its own little country, so technically we were in another country today. Being on a tour meant we got to jump the queue and there was only 14 in our group, 10 of which were from Australia. We started off walking through the Vatican Museums which were really interesting with lots of very old art, sculptures, and in particular huge tapestries all of a religious nature of course.

Huge beautiful tapestry of the Last Supper

We were then led onto Raphael's rooms (Renaissance painter) which were small rooms with walls & ceilings painted by him. This was quite informative and the paintings all told a story but it was starting to drag just a little. Eventually we were given a coffee/toilet break before we headed into the Sistine Chapel to view Michelangelo's famous artwork. This was the only place we were not allowed to take photos (copyright) and had to stay quiet out of respect as its a holy place. Sure the artwork was beautiful, but the chapel wasn't what I call "grand". I also expected Michelangelo's painting of "The Creation" to be larger than it actually was but I guess I can now say that I've seen it.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

From this chapel we were lead into St. Peter's Basilica. Now this was impressively huge and unbelievably decorative in every way with small chapels off to the side, some including glass tombs of previous Popes either preserved in wax or bronze. I didn't take photos of these bodies as I feel it's a bit disrespectful (I know if it was my body preserved and showcased, I would not want anyone taking pictures).

We finished our tour outside (it had stopped raining and had cleared a little) in the Vatican square. It was up to us if we wanted to keep looking round Vatican City or leave, we were getting quite hungry so started wandering back and found a nice place to eat....oh and had free wifi as our apartment does not. 

After lunch we took a stroll to find a place to get a tourist wifi dongle. The stroll took us along the Fiume Tevere (the main river of Rome) past the Castel Sant'Angelo (castle) and across the bridge Ponte Sant'Angelo. We walked a fair distance and saw a good part of the city today, also hiring a tourist wifi dongle which we can use the whole time in Italy. Needless to say, by the time we got back to apartment we were very tired but all of us much happier and really starting to enjoy Rome.

Bridge & Castel Sant'Angelo