Vatican City

Our B&B was near the Vatican which was nice. It was just a 10 minute walk to St. Peter's Square. We knew it would be crowded as it was Saturday. I had already been to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel so did not need to stand in that line again. However, when I was there St. Peter's Basilica was closed for some official ceremony that was going on with the new Pope. When we arrived the line was only about a 10 minute wait so we jumped right in . . . you can imagine how thrilled Colin was as we walking into the basilica and again quickly asked, "which was is the exit?" We made our way in the maze of tour groups and saw the line to the crypt where the tombs of many popes are located was very short . . . why not? As we moved along the line became congested because many would stop and pray at the simple tomb of John Paul II. It was worth a visit especially to see some of the architecture under the massive basilica above. As we exited outside we saw these two . . .
. . . we had such a close view of their outfits . . . pretty impressive and they were not too bad looking either even if they were probably half my age. We walked around the square to snap a few photos . . .
. . . and of course let Colin feed the birds . . .

The line to enter St. Peter's was at least 5 times longer than when we arrived so our timing was great. We then walked along the wall towards Castel S. Angelo. It wasn't too far but I was starting to get tired and hungry. Go figure! I was pretty set on not hiking to the top but they sort of trick you as it is very gradual . . . I was so glad I did because the views were pretty impressive of the entire city of Rome!
view of the Vatican from Castel . . .
Earlier in the day Colin had seen two police men hanging out at the entrance to St Peter's square . . . he wanted his photo taken with them and had been practicing his serious face. As we walked towards the Metro, I stopped and asked and they were more than happy to let me snap a photo and chat with him a little bit . . .
We took a break and had lunch in Piazza del Popolo which had nice views. We wasted some time until San Clemente opened back up so we could visit the crypt. Again, it was closed on my last visit so wanted to see it this time. It has some amazing history if you care to read more here. We thought it opened at 2:30 but as sometimes guide books are wrong and it reopened at 3:00 which was music to Colin's ears as he got to continue doing this . . .
Of course it was time for our daily gelato break . . . I got lemon and Colin soon discovered he liked it too! We took another long walk all the way from the Colosseum to the Pantheon for dinner! It was much busier than as it was Saturday evening. Colin again asked to go to Trevi Fountain and I was happy to because it was gelato time! We were tired so back 'home' for some rest because tomorrow is road trip time!

Colin's Photo of the Day