Rome Day 2
Our second in Rome was spent in the huge crowds at the Vatican Museums and St Peter’s basilica! We lined up at the Museum at 7:30 for our 8am tickets and there were already SO MANY people. We made a bee line for the Sistine Chapel in order to see it without shoulder to shoulder people, and that worked. Then we worked our way back through some of the galleries. The line to get into the St Peters started blocks before even the beginning of St Peter’s Square. The Pope does a “Sposi Novelli” blessing for newly married couples when he is in audience on Wednesdays and so we saw a long line of couples in their wedding attire leaving the plaza. The couples must be married for 2 months or less and must wear their wedding finery to participate in the blessing.
St Peters is awesome in its grandeur. We all found it also a bit confusing in the directions for getting around with so many people. It quite a few incorrect instructions and wrong turns to finally get to our pre-booked visit to the dome and cupola. But on the up side we managed to tour the crypt and see the tomb of St Peter, which we definitely didn’t pay for LOL. The catwalk around the interior of the dome was a highlight for all of us, and the views from the top cannot be beat! Those 300+ steps are killer though!
After Vatican City, we walked down to Castle Sant Angelo. Such an interesting place. It was built in 135 AD, meant to be a mausoleum for Hadrian. But it has been used for many many other things since including residence of popes and military headquarters and prison etc etc. Walked across the bridge of angels and then worked hard to find a cab ride back. We finally got someone, slightly nuts I’m pretty sure, to pick us up and we got back on one piece.
We had a humorous moment when trying to leave our building for dinner. Could NOT figure out how to get the door open - in spite of having done it a dozen times already. We were at the point of banging on the door to attract attention from people passing by when some elderly residents of building came in and very sweetly showed these clueless American tourists how to open a door.
Have a blessed day, PB & Margery, Scott & Shelly
The Tiber River from the Bridge of Angels
