Thursday 21 April

4-22C

Sunny

We had to get up quite early this morning as tour groups have early entry to the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel.It was really good to be able to walk straight into the museums instead of waiting in line for a couple of hours.We didn't visit all of the Vatican museums as it would probably take 3 days but what we saw was very interesting and consisted of beautiful tapestries, marble busts and figures (the male figures had their d*** covered with plaster leaves because in some century the church got funny about them being seen and ordered them to be covered, so the statues are 2000 years old and the leaves are 400 years old), gifts from other countries to the Vatican and lots of other stuff.Then we went inside the Sistine Chapel…..it was awesome to see the work that Michelangelo did and learn about the history behind how he came to paint it.I wish we were allowed to take photos although they wouldn't have done it justice.From there we walked to St Peter's Square where the Basilica of Saint Peter is.We couldn't go inside though as the Pope was holding a service (how rude!) and no-one knows how long it would go for however there was a huge queue to get in once the service was over so we gave it a miss.I took a picture of the Pope from the big screen but it didn't work out real well….you can't see his face. After we grabbed a quick coffee and cake we jumped back on the bus and drove to the Colosseum.It was fantastic!!!In it's day it was known as the Flavian Amphitheater because the Flavian family ordered it to be built.Begun shortly after 70 AD , the amphitheatre was opened by Titus 10 years later.The interior consisted of the arena, a wooden floor covered in sand and the stands.Under the wooden floor was a complex system of passages and rooms which housed the gladiators and animals and was also used to store stage equipment for the shows.The amphitheatre could accommodate up to 70,000 people who came to watch gladiatorial combats and wild beast hunts as well as less important spectacles of various kinds.Truly awesome……l loved, loved, loved it.We then crossed over to the Roman Forum of which l didn't walk to but Mum did and she said it was pretty good.It was in the Forum that the magistrates had their official seats and offices, people elected their magistrates and senators met.Religious processions and sacrifices to the gods took place here, as did grand funerals. Afterwards the bus went back to the hotel but since it was only about 1.30 mum and l decided to stay in town.We caught a taxi to Trevi Fountain which was lovely but for some reason l thought it was round so l was quite surprised when l saw it.We had a slice of pizza for lunch then went onto the Spanish Steps.I'm not really sure about the history to that but it looked good anyway.By 3.30 we were starting to get really tired so we caught a taxi back to the hotel.It was a really great day and l loved Rome more than Venice, probably because there's more to see in Rome.The weather was quite hot….the gauge in the taxi read 31C…..l think the back of my neck got sunburnt.