It's getting HOT over here ....

Tuesday, June 28

Just one thing on the agenda today ... Vatican City and a good thing it was too. What a scorcher of a day. Managed to see the temperature later on today at 6.30pm and it was 34oC.

Anyway ... back to the beginning. We took the local buses and arrived at Vatican City at around 11.00am. Could not believe the lines - they would have to have been at least 2kms long ... and that was just to get into the Vatican itself. We were comtemplating what to do when approached by a tour group hawker ... another glance at the lines convinced us it was probably worth it. We followed her to the group meeting point after which we were walked around to the back of the Vatican to the agency office. As we walked around on the side of the road with the shade we could see across the road at the line (in full sun) to get into the museums ... another couple of kilometres. In short, visiting the Vatican, Sistine Chapel & associated museums is NOT something I would recommend doing without a group. It took us a VERY long time - perhaps about an hour to get into the Vatican museum.

Once inside though it was amazing. Our tour guide was an art history student and we were astounded at the knowledge he shared with us as we walked through the many areas including the Pinecone Courtyard. There's a giant pinecone there that was 'pinecone-napped', as Bobbie put it, by one of the popes ... so hence the Pinecone Courtyard! We walked past sooooo many marble statue busts it is unbelievable that there is any marble left in the world to quarry! We were told that the sculpture and art we see is only a third of what the Vatican has in its possession. The Sistine Chapel is as beautiful as ever. Michelangelo really did NOT like painting and as he was forced to paint the chapel (short story for blog purposes) ... he really knew how to show the authorities of the day what he felt. The Last Judgement contains a self portrait in misery and on the ceiling itself he painted one panel with God bare-bummed ... that way God was literally mooning the Pope that commissioned Michelangelo to paint the chapel in the first place everytime he looked up!! Love it. Not allowed to take photos in there (a real shame) and there are guards constantly calling "Shhhh, no talking" "SILENCE" "No Talk". Ok ... got it.... be reverent.

After the Chapel our Tour Guide collected our little headsets and gave us a bit of an orientation to the Basilica itself. Another huge line was beside us to climb the steps to the top of the Dome ... roughly 500 up (and what goes up must come down). Another hour and a half was just too much to think about. So we went into the Basilica ..... the sheer magnitude of wealth is apparent. Statues, artwork, marble floor, crypts. Every inch is covered and is glorious to look out. So much it was overload.

It was a very long, hot day so after the Basilica (and not having eaten since Breakfast) we went back to the Trattoria near the Trevi Fountain where our friendly waiter served us graciously once again. Even sang Happy Birthday to us ... again. Rolled on out of there and waddled off to find a bus home. Found the bus station and when the bus finally came we found ourselves in rush hour ... on public transport .... with a LOT of other people. There are perhaps 6-8 seats on the entire bus so nearly everyone is standing. Up close and personal doesn't quite cut it when you can feel the person's body shape who happens to be next to/behind/ or in front of you. No groping was experienced but as I said at the beginning of this entry - I noted the temperature at 6.30pm was 34oC .... that was OUTSIDE the bus .... without sweaty people ... with body odour .... and sardine conditions.

Do you know how many people can fit into a public bus in Rome? A HELL OF A LOT!!