Vatican and Catacombs

6th July

Loved the Vatican – but Sistine Chapel you can keep, I’ll take St Peters Basillica any day!!! I love Baroque churches, that is what I have decided. All I will remember about the Sistine Chapel is “shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” from the bloody guards. Every 5 seconds, Shhhhhhhhhh, even if you were NOT talking. What a crock!!! However the Vatican Museum is amazing. I was so impressed that I bought the book on the Vatican. You know that my Dad will be turning over in his GRAVE at that – but I think he would have understood how much it was about the art!!

Was an extremely hot day when we did the Vatican tour, and OMG the queue to get in was amazing @ 8:30am – but when we got out at around Noon, it was over a kilometre long. I can honestly say, if I had not booked tours, there would have been no way in hell I would have stood in a queue for ANYTHING that long. I hauled ass in a cab back to the hotel to re-charge the cameras and sit in the air-conditioning before heading out again.

The Catacombs this time, and whilst we only toured ONE Catacomb, and then two churches, the Catacombs are amazing. To think that in 3ad these things were dug by HAND, up to 4 storeys deep as as a cemetery. There were a few saints and popes buried here, but the main burial place was for the homeless or those people who died in the street of Rome. What an amazing thing. The Guide mentioned that the sizes of the burial areas in the wall were different as there were many children buried here. How sad .....

Did two churches – which were Baroque. The guide said that Baroque must mean OMG in any language, as that is what you say when you see it. Very very true.

Got back to the hotel around 6pm, showered and sat in the aircon before heading out again – this time back to Wine & Grill for my final dinner in Rome. I was told by someone who lived here for a few years, that the traditional dish of Rome is Spaghetti Vongole (Clams), so that is what I had. One thing I don’t understand is that you get no food with Vegetables!!! You get bread and pasta ..... hello TUBBO!!! I must say tho, that I think I might be the only person to come to Italy and NOT gain weight because of my bloody dodgy stomach. I even bought “Travel” pills to help my stomach cope – which probably did help, but not much. I ate, and then the food left. That’s it. Oh well, not a BAD thing – my pants still fit:-) TMI, I know ...

Heading home tomorrow, so packed the cases and am ready to hit the road back to Melbourne.

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