ITALY - DAY 3

Today we were picked up early for our tour of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. We stepped over the imaginary border and entered the smallest country in the world. The amount of people lined up was staggering. Thank goodness we had pre-purchased our tickets and could jump the cue. After going through the security check we headed into the museum to wander through the various rooms marveling at the artwork.

We wandered through the Raphael Rooms and spotted the various artists he had painted into his piece 'The School of Athens'. There was Leonardo Di Vinci, Michelangelo and he had even included himself in the piece. Very clever.

We then headed into the Sistine Chapel. Wow! We got a sore neck from craning it to see everything on the ceiling. The girls wanted to know about the scenes depicted on the ceiling so I whispered the story of Adam and Eve between the 'shhh' and 'quiet please' from the guards and 'no pictures' and 'move along'. This chapel was incredible. We had a good 30 minutes in there just looking and taking in the atmosphere. We were told to look out for a fresco of a man that was wrapped up by a snake, which is biting him somewhere unmentionable, and we found him just above the door we entered from. Apparently, this man was someone who was in opposition of Michelangelo painting all of the pictures naked so to get back at him, Michelangelo added him to the fresco in this fashion.

After pushing our way through the millions of people inside the Sistine Chapel we headed into the Basilica Di San Pietro (Saint Peter's Basilica). We thought that Notre Dame was big, but it is nothing compared to this church. The guide explained that it is the largest christian church in the world and there is a law/rule that states that no other christian church can be built larger than Saint Peter's Basilica. Along the floor are the names of other large churches from around the world, showing just how much bigger Saint Peter's really is.

She also explained that under the alter lies the tomb of the Disciple Peter. According to her they found 22 bone fragments inside the tomb and tests carried out show that the bones belonged to a man in his 80s, he lived in the right era and had been buried with no feet. The story goes that after Peter was crucified, his follows rushed to cut him down before the Roman guards could get to the body and because they couldn't remove the nails quickly, they cut off his feet to get him down as fast as they could. So it really could be Peter buried there.

We saw Michelangelo's Pieta. It was wonderful. It was amazing to think that it was carved from one solid piece of marble and took over a year to carve.

We left the Basilica wandered through the Piazza and down Via Della Conciliazone. The sun was belting down so we headed across the bridge next to Castel San Angelo and back into town in search of ice-cream. We didn't find any ice-cream but we did come across Piazza Novona with the magnificent Fontana dei Fiumi (fountain of the four rivers) in the middle. The four rivers represented are the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile and the Rio de la Plata. They are arranged on a steep rocky crag from which a Roman obelisk taken from the Ancient Appian Way is rising daringly from the middle.

We continued wandering the streets until we found the Pantheon. This was another amazing building. The ancient Romans certainly knew how to build things to last. In the centre at the top of the dome was a nine metre diameter opening. The rays of sunlight entering through the hole makes the Pantheon an astronomical clock. In the floor there were 22 holes that collect the water when it is raining.

Also inside the Pantheon was the painter and architect Raphael's tomb, the first king of Italy's tomb as well as the second king and his wife.

We continued our journey through the streets coming across another basilica with yet another monument out the front. This monument was cute. It was an elephant supporting an ancient Egyptian obelisk. It's like a never ending supply of sculptors and monuments and wonderful ancient buildings at every corner throughout Rome.

Our last stop before we headed back to the hotel was Vittoriano-Piazza Venezia. This is a huge white building with bronze statues surrounding it. One statue of Emanuele II on his horse was so large that 22 people could climb into the belly of the horse he is sitting on.