Sunday seemed like an appropriate day for an outing to the smallest country in the world - Vatican City.We walked over arriving mid morning and saw the Pope on big screens taking the Sunday morning Mass, though we couldn't spot him in person. The crowds weren't as big as we anticipated but we didn't try to get too close. We'd booked to see a theatrical light, dance and music show about the paintings on the Sistene Chapel ceiling. It was very well done, with great...

With our accomodation so close to the Pantheon we were able to see the queues from our window - and at 9am they were non existant so we headed out for a walk through. I was expecting the inside to be more rustic (like the outside) in appearance - but it isn't. It was very ornate with lots of polished marble. The domed ceiling is an impressive feat of engineering, and the sheer size of the columns outside are also staggering. We headed off for a walk around some ...

It was a three hour bus ride from Siena to Rome and we had seats right at the front of the bus. April was not impressed to see the bus driver take his eyes off the road to organise a cigarette, or the speedo showing we were travelling 120km/h in an 100 km/h zone. We arrived in Rome to a local bus strike. Fortunately we'd noticed a warning about this the previous day, and had enough time for our helpful Airbnb host to organise alternative transport for us to our ...

We awoke to heavy fog, and wondered what we would see of the Tuscan countryside today. After a great buffet breakfast at the hotel, we headed off to Monterigionni, a neat little fortress with high walls not far from Siena. With viewing platforms alongside the tops of the walls, and an interactive Armature Museum it was a great place to visit. We had fun trying on different types of armour, chain mail, gloves, helmets and swords.With a dozen other shops inside t...

Chocolate icecream for breakfast to use up the remaining groceries seemed like a great idea as we don't like to waste good icecream and we couldn't take it with us. A leisurely walk down the road after a sleep in, had us picking up the rental car and heading off mid morning into the Tuscany region. It turned out shortly afterwards however, that chocolate icecream for breakfast wasn't such a good idea, as Scott's reappeared - fortunately out the window (thank go...