Rome and the Vatican

 Dear Gentle Readers

I must apologise for my tardiness in writing this blog. We left KL, got into Rome at around 6.30am, caught a taxi to our lodgings, immediately organised a taxi to take us to the Vatican for the tour at 11am. The tour took around 3 hours, so we were tired from lack of sleep on the plane and footsore from traipsing around the Vatican. When we finally got back to our lodgings, we were so tired we crashed. The next day we were up early to catch the train to Naples to collect our car and see Pompeii. We headed off to Pompeii  only to find it is extremely popular this time of the year and the traffic was horrific. I took a wrong turn and lost 20 minutes getting back so we missed out on our organised tour. Fortunately we managed to procure another one, but Pompeii is huge and the tour was over two hours on very uneven stone paths. Heaven knows how the ancient Romans managed to walk on them. Then we embarked on a long, tortuous drive to the Amalfi Coast to stay the night. More on that later, but we were again so tired from all the days activities, we crashed again after dinner, so consequently, no blog was written.

 We left KL on the 787 Dreamliner and this time the Business Class seats laid flat. I achieved something that I have never done before - been the first passenger to step aboard the plane. Business Class passengers get priority boarding and I was front of the line, so I was the first to step onto the plane. We had an hour stopover in Abu Dhabi and I managed to catch a few hours on both legs but what with eating, watching a movie and turbulence, we got little sleep. The Dreamliner Business Class seats are amazing and the service from the staff was impeccable. 

We landed in Rome to gorgeous weather and yes, it is another big airport. Walked for miles after disembarking then had to catch a bus to the immigration and baggage collection. We got through the automatic registration, had our passports scanned, photo taken and fingerprints recorded. This is all part of the new requirements in the Schengen Area which encompasses 29 European countries, including Italy and Switzerland, our next country to visit. Then it was onto baggage collection.

This time there were 14 baggage carousels, but this time we found ours was the C one and our baggage arrived pretty promptly, so no problems here.

We caught a taxi to our accommodation which is only 5 km south-east of Rome. To our dismay, no one was there as we arrived around 8.00am and check in was at 9. We needed to drop off our bags and catch a taxi to the Vatican so we messaged them and a young girl, who couldn't speak a word of English showed up and let us in.

We asked the girl through a translator app (thank you Google Translator) how to call a taxi and she said the itTaxi app. I quickly downloaded it and tried to arrange a pickup, only for a message in Italian to pop up. Fortunately a young gentleman nearby translated it for us and said there was a transport strike on today and no online bookings could be made so he rang for a taxi and finally got us one, so it was quick dash through incredible traffic because of the strike to get to our tour with minutes to spare.

This is the entrance to the Vatican. Hundreds of people waiting to get in with different tour operators.

The Vatican City is actually a separate country to Italy and is the world's smallest country, measuring just half a square kilometer.

Napoleon captured the Pope in 1798 and effectively ended the Roman Catholic hold on the Vatican.

But in 1929, Mussolini restored ownership of the Vatican to the Pope where it remains to this day.

This is our intrepid guide and boy did he know his stuff! He talked basically non-stop (except in the Sistine Chapel where silence is expected but not always achieved) and unraveled an amazing amount of historical facts.

Because no photos are allowed in the Sistine Chapel, he stopped at these pictures and explained about how Michelangelo painted the roof over 4 years while in his 30s. The central frescoes depict God creating the world, separating light from dark, separating sky from the sea, creating the sun, moon and stars, the creation of Adam, the creation of Eve from Adam's side, the fall after eating of the forbidden fruit, the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the story of Noah, the Great Flood and drunkenness of Noah after the Flood.

30 years later, the Pope asked him to come back and paint one of the walls. He did this depicting the Last Judgement shown here on the right. It's very complex to explain, just Google it to get an explanation.

All through the Vatican there are decorated ceilings such as the one shown here on the right, but also multiple statues, painting, tapestries and wall art too numerous to display or describe here. Sufficient to say, try to visit the place yourself. You will be blown away at the opulence of the place.

Finally we got to the Sistine Chapel and it was just amazing, but I got a crick in my neck just staring up at the ceiling. It was cleaned recently so all the original colours are back. Although no photos are allowed, I caught a few people surreptitiously taking pictures with their phones until the guards caught them and said "No pictures". The place was abuzz with people trying to stay quiet but failing miserably. All in all, a fabulous sight and another item ticked off on my bucket list.

The grand finale was St Peter's Basilica pictured here on the right. It's supposedly built over the location of St Peter's grave.

And just to prove we were here, here's a selfie taken in front of the Papal Throne inside the Basilica.

And here is said Papal Throne.

This is just half of St Peter's Square it is too big to fit in one picture.

After this it was a taxi ride home to our accommodation where we just died from exhaustion.

However, on the taxi ride home we went past this beauty, so even if we missed out on touring it, we at least got to see the Colosseum.

Next up, Naples and Pompeii.