Day 43 Rome

Me outside Pantheon

Pantheon ceiling



Trevi fountain



Tossing our coins in

Katie on Spanish Steps (part of)

View from the top

At Colosseum

Ceiling in map room of Vatican Museum

Vatican

View of Rome

Today was Rome and now it is late and we have another pre 6am alarm call
for Florence and Pisa tomorrow........my dedication to this blog is
astounding. Our tour today was a private one arranged by Joanne with
whom we did Istanbul with, though today there was only 6 of us, Joanne
and Gary, Judy and Colin and Katie and I. We had our driver who would
give us all the info about each place and then drop us off give us a
time to meet him again and off we would go to the next highlight. It
worked really well and we had a lovely day, again the weather was kind
and because of our early start the crowds weren't really too noticeable
(I think we are becoming immune to them!).
First stop was the Pantheon - very impressive but still St Sophia's for
me for the omg factor
On to the Trevi Fountain where we tossed in our coins, they have already
worked for Katie cause she will be back there in 4 weeks time! Either I
never saw any of the movies with the fountain in them or I just forgot
but it was much bigger and different to what I imagined.
Then the Spanish Steps, and wasn't there a lot of them, just when I
thought I'd had enough of stairs on the ship I got to climb a whole lot
more, we went right to the top. Katie keeps telling me that its good for
me.......
We went to Capital Square next where around the back there is a great
view of the arches and forum and other ruins, got some good photos and
then we had a quick stop at the Keyhole of Rome before we ventured in
search of lunch.
Stopped at an outdoor cafe where we all indulged in either pasta or
pizza and then got into trouble for getting back a tad late.....all was
forgiven I'm sure.
We were then off to the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's
Basilica and Square, for this we had a specialist private guide who
seemed to know every guard we passed :) The museum was fairly crowded
but we managed to stop in places at times while the guide explained
things and the same for The Sistine Chapel, he got us to spots that were
the best for viewing different aspects. St Peter's didn't feel crowded
and the square seemed quite empty, but maybe because it is so huge. No
photos are allowed in the Sistine and while what Michelangelo did was
very impressive it didn't actually 'wow' Katie or I, but I'm sure others
especially Catholics would have been in awe.
It was then time to head back to the ship which would take around an
hour or so, we had a quick photo stop on the way and a stop to buy some
beer and wine and we had finished another satisfying tour. The
countryside from the port to Rome was reminiscence of home, there were
paddocks with rolled hay bales and grapes growing. Rome was very nice
with lots of green, big trees and also more churches and statues and
fountains and columns and ruins then anywhere previous. Rome wasn't
built in a day is certainly true.
Once back on the ship we had a little nap before going to have a roll
for dinner and then going to a hypnotist show. He was very funny, the
show was only short but Jacob who is 15 and Damien who is 20 got up on
stage (they are 2 of Katie's friends). Jacob was deeply under and Damien
not as much but it is always funnier watching folks you know. There are
2 more shows tomorrow so we might go watch one of them if we can talk
some others into getting up.
For a more detailed account of today read Joanne's blog and do check out
Ray and Paula's blog of Mykonos as there is a rather funny photo of me
in it.........the links are on this blog.

Colosseum