(L) We had spoken to the receptionist last night and thankfully, for only €20, had managed to extend our hotel stay through to late this afternoon when it's time to head off to the airport so we have most of the day to see the Vatican Museums. 

Breakfast was included in the room rate and was much the same as all the other buffets - basic but sufficient and so with full bellies we set off to walk to The Vatican at around 8am. We took a short detour to see the Trevi fountain again because yesterday it had been packed and we were hoping to see it sans people if possible. Luckily there was only one or two others there and of course the Police and Army personnel.... I wonder if they stand there all night??

The Trevi Fountain is truly magnificent and as Deb said you'd have to be pretty jaded to not appreciate how gorgeous it is! I could have sat there looking at it all morning, well at least until the crowds all turned up, but we were on a mission to go see the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. Jane told us that it should take an hour to walk from the Hotel and I think we did it in just under 2 hours..... well there was that one detour and we do seem to take the scenic route not only in the car but somehow even when on foot. Deb's poor little "blue man" (the dot on google that moves with you) got so frustrated with us he went and jumped in the river when we were in Florence!! 

We approached The Vatican - St Peters Basilica up a long road and it really is quite an impressive sight however it did take awhile to try and find the place we needed to be to buy tickets and enter the Vatican Museums. The Cathedral (St Peters) is free entry and there was a line already when we got there so we decided to just get to the entry for the Museums first as Deb particularly wanted to see the Sistine Chapel and was worried they might sell out. We finally found out we had to walk another kilometre around the walls and had to run the gauntlet of tour operators trying to get us to pay €29 for a guided tour... they all told us we'd get to skip the lines with them and when we get there we'll find long long lines so best to buy from them now. Well I guess in summer it's like that cos I have heard there are long lines but we walked straight inside, through security, up the stairs and to the ticket office, where we paid €16 each, not stopping once in a line. Were we just lucky? Well it was only just after 10 which is opening time but we thought more likely the time of year..... we did think you'd feel pretty ripped off if you paid for the tour and got around there only to realise there is no line!! 

The opulence and magnificence of the Vatican Museums is just way too much to comprehend. Room after room of amazing objects d'art overwhelm the senses (and sensibilities!) - long galleries with every spot of the ceiling covered in amazing frescos, a room full of Rembrandt pen and ink line drawings, walls lined with the most incredible tapestries dating back to the 1500's, so old but so well preserved just blew our minds. Poor Deb kept muttering "it's all too much", "I swear I can't take in any more" and as we'd enter yet another room full of ancient treasures she'd exclaim "oh my, now I'm just in pain with the beauty of it all". One gallery in particular had all the walls covered in ancient maps of Europe - just completely incredible. We wandered through all this on our way to our ultimate goal, The Sistine Chapel..... I must say, when we finally got there, I was a little underwhelmed. Sure it's got paintings by Michelangelo but the entire place is full of amazing paintings!! Below I have added a bit from Wikipedia about The Sistine Chapel:

 The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art. The ceiling is that of the Sistine Chapel, the large papal chapel built within the Vatican between 1477 and 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV, for whom the chapel is named.

If you ever find yourself in Rome this is the one thing I would say you should do. Yes the colosseum was incredible, the Pantheon was also impressive, the Trevi Fountain was just simply stunning but the Vatican Museums are just way too much - it's kind of obscene that they own all of that history and beauty! 

We spent an hour and a half soaking up all the history and opulence and stopped for a cup of Hot Chocolate in the cafe there ... well I asked for Hot Chocolates and what we got was literally a cup of hot chocolate - like get a saucepan, put in some chocolate, melt it and pour into a mug!!! OMG it was so thick and rich - a dash of this in a glass of hot milk would have been lovely but this (as it seems with everything in the Vatican Museums) was over the top extravagant and rich!

We left the Museum with the idea to go down and pop into St Peters Basilica but when we got there the line was long, really long! I told Deb I'd wait in line if she absolutely wanted to go in but otherwise no way... I just don't "do" long lines! Luckily she didn't have a burning desire to go in as she had been in last time she was in Rome, she did try to talk me into going in only because it's (apparently) quite spectacular, but no.... I'll google it... I don't do lines like that!!

Both of us were getting a bit hungry and yes, a little weary and we do have at least an hours walk back to the motel so we thought we'd walk for half an hour and then stop for lunch.... which is exactly what we did. We found a lovely restaurant and we were very pleased with our choices as this being our last proper meal in Italy we wanted to "go out with a bang" so to speak! We ordered ravioli and a pizza which we shared... Deb had a G & T but I stuck with tea (too much wine in my past few weeks!) total bill was €38 so a little pricey but well worth it. 

It was around 2pm when we got back to the motel - we collapsed for about an hour and then got up, showered and repacked our bags ready for the long haul home. We had ordered a car service for 4.30pm to take us to the airport as we're both feeling quite exhausted from our big holiday and just thought it would be easier. Cost was €50, the train would have been €14 each so the car was not cheap but it's a long way to Rome's airport from the city and this was such a pleasant way to get there!

Finding the check in counter was rather interesting as it wasn't done by looking for your Airline check in desk but your flight number... once you find that on a big electronic display board the gate number and check in desk number info is there beside it. Our check in desk was 278 so we then followed the signs to the desk. Luckily we had checked in online so got to go to the appropriate desk, which also had no line at it!! Bags deposited and boarding passes collected we headed off to go through passport control and security. None of this took too long although it did take awhile to get to our gate area.... this airport is pretty huge but we found our way to boarding area E and then had to hang around for about 2 hours. All we wanted was to find a nice bar that we could have a drink and get some food... pretty hard to do. There's no "bar" so to speak and what there is there is pretty ordinary..... can't say we were sad when it was finally time to board about an hour late with no announcements or apologies... Emirates sucks!! 

First leg Rome to Dubai was only 5 1/2 hours so bearable but after 4-5 hours hanging around Dubai we braced ourselves for 14 hours flying on to Brisbane. You know how it is, long, squishy, tiring.... the service was as slack as on the way over in economy. No arrival cards handed out, drink service that would do one side of the cabin and just "forget" to do the other side, screaming babies, tired uninterested flight attendants. My one bright spot was when I was down the back stretching and waiting for the loo one of the supervising Flight attendants came out of a "secret" door and smiled at me whilst saying "I bet you've always wondered where we disappeared to"? she then invited me in to the crew sleeping quarters for a look see, it's just a small room with bunks on 3 sides - she reckons it's not too comfortable and like us sitting up in our chairs sleep is pretty hard to come by. 

We landed at 6.15 (ish) and within the hour we met up with Gwendoline who was there to pick us up in Deb's car... they dropped me at the Domestic terminal about an hour later, where I went straight for Subway and then I had to wait for Heather and Jack to drive Mum down from the Sunshine Coast, where she's been hanging out for the last 5 weeks. By the time we'd had coffee and a chat it was time to head to the gate - the staff were great and organised for a bloke to come down to push Mum out in her wheelchair to the plane, he then took the chair back inside for Heather and Jack to take back home with them. Mum and I were home in Longreach by 2.30 - poor Deb drove for a few hours and stopped for the night, she won't be home til tomorrow!

We've had a fantastic holiday, been so lucky with weather the whole trip, managed to "put up" with each other for 5 whole weeks.... yes there were moments we got on each others nerves but that's only natural when you're with someone 24 hours a day for an extended period of time, there weren't any arguments and we're already talking about where and when we'll do it again!! 

General observation about Italy.... pedestrian crossings mean NOTHING!! In Australia if you drive up to a crossing you come to a complete stop whilst the pedestrians cross... in fact it's illegal to roll through a crossing if there is someone walking on it but here...... well .... as a pedestrian you have to just boldly step out into 5 lanes of traffic, don't ever hesitate.... they will slow down or swerve around you!!! If nerve fails you wait for a nun or priest... surely they won't plow them down???? But really they are very good at missing pedestrians!! hahaha

If you want coffee never ask for a latte..... that is milk! You need to ask for a caffe latte!

Learn a little of the language.... yes, in the larger towns and cities they are well used to tourists and speak English but it's nice to know some of the native tongue. If travelling outside the larger centres you may find that English is not always understood so do some homework, learn a few words.... it will be appreciated and it's fun! 

Buy the water...... really it's a few Euro, it's not a tourist "trap", just order aqua natural. 

(D) Final wrap up from me is that is was a fantastic trip but of course as always it's lovely to be home. We really managed to jam pack a lot into our time away though we never operated at too frenetic a pace so I think we lasted the distance quite well. It was nice to have a mix of driving and not driving, self catering and hotels, and English and non-english speaking places to experience a bit of everything.

I was pleasantly surprised by the trip home in that I managed to doze on and off on the plane a bit so once we landed in Brisbane I was quite OK to drive 3 hours towards home (after coffee and breakfast with Gwendoline).... mind you that was really my limit and I was happy to stop and stay overnight then before finishing the next 3 hours to home the next day.

I love travelling with Liane, we manage the logistics of compromise and all the rest really easily between us and though yes there can be an occasional niggle it is never long lasting or heart felt - more likely it's just a natural consequence of travel weariness, taken out on the nearest available person!

It's hard to pick a favourite place out of a trip like that but I must say I was enthralled by the natural beauty of the Burren and Ireland in general, driving around the countryside there was an absolute pleasure and of course I must mention that I thoroughly LOVED playing Princess for a night..... and it was marvellous to revisit Florence, also Venice is entrancing and a perfect place for rocks, paper, scissors decision making!...... oh and the Vatican museum is brain overload on the senses and the Cinque Terre is beautiful and Orvieto was fabulous and on and on I could go! So many wonderful sights we saw and experiences we had, I'm actually looking forward to having time to sit and read this blog and pour over the pictures so I can start reliving it already!