Day 30 (Monday) Rome

The plan today was to "do" the Colosseum and the Vatican/St.Peters/Sistine Chapel - and we did!! Verdict summary - Colosseum fascinating, St Peters a bit of a let-down and Sistine Chapel amazing. Want more detail?? - read on!

Breakfast at our hotel is enjoyed on the roof top terrace garden with views all across Rome - a great start to each day. We then headed over to the railway to book our tickets for the trip to Pompeii tomorrow and that was all done very easily. On to the hop-on etc bus for the short trip to the Colosseum where we had booked a tour at 10.15. Its one of those structures that you have seen so many times that it is very strange to see in reality. Beat the worst of the crowds thank goodness and the tour was interesting - and then we were left to wander around for as long as we wanted to. It was constructed in about 50A.D so poor old Julius Caesar never saw it. Rome was one of the last cities in the empire to get such a building so they got the biggest when they did.

We decided to walk to St Peters - went through the old "Circus Maximus" (chariot racing venue and where they filmed Ben Hur) and then walked along the banks of the "mighty" Tiber - a beautiful walk along the tree-lined streets. Lunched on the "Isola Tiberina" island in the middle of the river.

Crowds pretty big at St Peters and had to understandably go through security checks. On the inside, it was a bit of a disappointment for us anyway - it did not have the impact that York Minster, St Pauls London, Cologne or Notre Dame had for me. An exception is the "Pieta" sculpture by Michaelangelo - incredible. Went through the vaults where St Peter's buriel spot plus those of most of the Popes are situated - amazing.

Then off to join the hoardes entering the Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel. Takes forever to go through all the hallways and ante-rooms before you reach the chapel itself. The artwork is incredible (Michaelangelo WAS pretty good after all)  - the ceiling well known but even the painted "curtains" on the walls with their folds etc are just unbelievable.  Repeated "NO photos please" from the guards doesn't stop all the i-phones going crazy - even flashes going off! I'll stick with downloading some photos from the net as they wil be better anyway.

Coffee and relaxed before finding the metro station to catch the train back to Termini and "home" - hardest part of the day was finding our way out of the underground! We have now mastered another Metro system!!!  Eur 1.50 each by the way - how can Brisbane justify its prices???

Dinner report:There   has been a cheerful little waiter in the restaurant next door who has been trying to entice us in each night so we gave in tonight and had a beautiful meal. There is also a great pastry and chocolate shop on the corner so we went there afterwards and got some decadent things to bring back to the room - when we get home the two "R's" will have to apply - riding and restraint!!

Trivia:
The Colosseum is 50metres high.
A fair amount of the marble which originally lined the structure ended up in StPeter's!!
The "performance" area/stage was made of wood (sitting on top of a complex of underground rooms, passageways, lifts, water systems, cages etc) and it in turn was covered in sand - to soak up the blood! The latin word for sand is "arena" so that is how the word came to be used to refer to a large performance/sporting area.

Pictures:
*Inside Colosseum
* the river walk along the Tiber
* figures on facade of St Peters