England, Holland, Germany, and Italy. What do they have in common?

They all go into making a Benedict.

Bad puns aside, today was finally the day of our booking and we were allowed to go visit the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica. Let's see, last post our luck was going badly, I'm glad to say it's improved thankfully and has been upgraded to average. Yesterday saw us head over the Tiber to Trastavere. A quaint little neighbourhood and home of the Santa Maria Trastavere, our first proper church visit in Rome; ignoring the fact the Pantheon has been used as a church since the 1st century.

Kel will also be glad to hear the Nutella situation in Rome is also under control.

The part about our luck changing? Well on the way back to the hotel we stumbled on some more ruins, this time Theatre of Marcellus, which looks a lot like the Colosseum but isnt, and bumbled onto Piazza del Campidoglio

Where I got to recreate a photo I'd taken 10 years ago. The god TIberinus holding his horn of Cornucopia.

2001

2011

Anyway enough deja vu today we went to the world's smallest country, Vatican City.

What can I say, but wow? As previously noted we were signed up for the full three hour tour of the Museums and Basillica. Elsewhere on the web is probably a lot better run down of everything they have in the museums and I must be honest after the first hour of trying to remember who painted what it does get all a little someone did this in the blah century.

However the standout parts for me were the Gallery of Tapestries; for  the tapestries where people's eyes seem to follow you like the Mona Lisa and realistic looking jugs of wine. Apparently both are achieved through the use of silver thread in the tapestries.

I also really like the Raphael Rooms and of course the Sistine Chapel. Michaelangelo took four years to paint the Chapel's ceiling and another five years to finish the the Final Judgement fresco behind the altar. However what sometimes gets forgotten is that while Michaelangelo was doing his thing Rapahel was also painting just next door.

These frescos are actually Raphael's rooms, sorry there are no photos from the Sistine Chapel, because you're not allowed to take any. Partly becasue flashes could cause damage to the frescos and partly becasue the sold they copyright to pay for the restoration work on the frescos.

The other interesting thing about the Vatican Museums is that the church is still expanding it's art collection. Although there is a lot less religious artwork done these days they still have several comtemporary paintings including some Dalis.

After the Vatican Museums we visited St. Peter's Basilica, again not a lot to say that the photos dont.

Well that's almost the end of our time in Rome, tomorrow we're off to Naples for a few nights. We've enjoyed it and turned our thoughts about Italy around.