Today was our tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica and after a hearty breakfast, we headed out. We found the meeting place with no problems and after a short wait, we all headed to the Vatican. We were fortunate because by booking the tour, we got ‘skip the line’ and let me tell you how fantastic that is…the line up was all the way down the street and down the other block – that was a huge line. We passed that entire line and proceeded in through the tour line, which as much smaller…once inside, our tour began. It was amazing to see all the statues, paintings and the courtyard was quite impressive. I could only post a few pics of the over 200 I took. The Sistine Chapel was beyond words…the artwork was amazing (all painted by Michelangelo beginning in 1508) and again, only a few pics could be posted. St. Peter’s Basilica was very overwhelming, the beauty cannot be described in just a few words.

Once the tour ended, we stopped, had a bit of lunch and was off again. We shopped while making our way to the Spanish Steps…yes, we did climb them and then to the Trevi Fountain…however, there was maintenance being done so we were not able to watch the water flowing – although a bit disappointing, it still didn’t take away from the wonder of it.

After a little rest, we started the hike back to the B&B and on the way, stopped to check out the Pantheon. It is the best-preserved and most elegant ancient building in the city and was designed and built sometime between AD 118 to 125.

After, again, another little rest, we thought (since our feet were ready to fall off), we would get back to the B&B and rest up for tomorrow (Florence).

Selena