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Tuesday

Writing this on the bus trip to Florence which will be about 3 hours

Travel to Rome today. Fairly long haul about 6 hours  but through fabulous scenery and about 15 tunnels. The Tuscan and Umbrian mountain and hill scenery beautiful and most of it postcard stuff. First off the Vatican tour. Not Paulines best day as she was pretty tired and the local guide introduced the “ a loura” into our vocabulary ie OK. Nearly drove us spare as it punctuated nearly every sentence. There was a new spin on “crowds”. Unbelievable! Stretched for hundreds of meters and we were able to by-pass the long line as we had prepaid tour tickets. In through the gates and security checks for the cameras etc and then through the museum, a feast of ancient art, many busts, heads and statues. There is good reason why the Vatican is the richest corporation. They also have about 28000 visitors per day through there which, while maintenance costs are high, provides well for the administration- they run at a hefty profit.

On to the Sistine shapel, the ceiling cleaned and restored and looking superb, but no photos. The other ceilings provided more than enough opportunities for that. Interesting commentary from Miss OK especially on the Michaelangelo effort on getting that ceiling painted and not getting paid fully for the work. The crowds in the chapel were unbelievable, and as there was to be a holiday for two days with the Vatican closed, all the more people therefore.

Back to hotel for a freshen up and after dinner visited the Spanish steps between the Boat Fountain and the old church on the hilltop. Dinner at the Piazza del Popolo was a treat, plus drinks included and live music. Did the “illuminations“ tour but the lighting levels were low (Energy issues) but fortunately the Canon has some functions to allow for this, even at night.

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Wednesday

Our full day in Rome. Started off with a visit to the Coloseum. No shortage of engineering grunt amongst the Romans at that time for sure . No labour shortages either; 25,000 slaves for 7 years does enable one to get stuff done. Dumkopf here put backpack on but no camera, that was still in the hotel room safe wasn’t it, NOT HAPPY! The only saving grace was that Pauline had hers so snap happy time for her.

We now had nearly a whole day to ourselves-much needed. To the hotel and relaxed with a coffee and had time to organise the finances and check the emails. Then on foot to have a look in the city which was lovely. Poked our noses (and cameras) in places where we normally wouldn’t go with a tour group and really enjopyed ourselves. Pauline could look into shops at her hearts content and I could look into courtyards and driveways for some happy snaps. Camera is getting a bit of a hiding and Pauline is getting the gist of hers really well. Trouble is it has so many functions every now and then she hits an odd button and asks me “what’s this and how do I change it?”. Grrr!

We meandered down some street and there was this huge crowd at the fountain, Trevi no less. Name originates from three roads Tre-three and Vi(a)-road. Walked into the opera house gardens and fountain, past other monumental memorabilia and so back to hotel for an hour before doing a short bus ride and hoofing it to, yes the Trevi fountain and other stuff of which we’d seen some on our own walking tour. Then to dinner in the Piazza Nirvona Square with wine and local Roman foods. Good feed and the atmosphere and evening were delectable. Had a walk around the artists and their outputs in the square after dinner: very nice The short bus trip afterwards to see the “illuminations” fo three of the places we’d been to. Nice touch to  finish off a warm and most pleasant evening.