European Vacation Day 4 – Rome to Venice

Up early today for brekkie at 6.30am. At 7 we were on our way back into town to the Vatican City. Once there we met our guide, an Irishman called Jimmy. He gave us lots of interesting information and had many great anecdotes about Michelangelo!

Nero's bathtub

The Laocoon statue

There were amazing sights such as Nero’s bathtub and Raphael’s tapestries, including one where the end of the table follows you as you pass.

The original statue of The Thinker, and Jimmy the Guide

I twisted my ankle taking this picture so I'm damn well going to use it!

We saw the stunning Sistine Chapel and got mooned by God. After leaving there our tour ended, and we were left to stroll around by ourselves. We went into St Peters Basilica and I was taken aback by the sheer scale of the building inside. Our camera has been playing up so hopefully our pictures turn out ok. We went down to the catacombs to see the coffins of the old popes, including the one for Pope John Paul II.

Inside the basilica

Another of Michelangelo's pieces

[One thing I didn’t know until Jimmy told us is that the reason you are not allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel is nothing to do with damaging the paintings with flash photography (which is what I had assumed) as non-flash photography is also banned. Rather it is because the Japanese TV network NHK paid for the cleanup of the paintings back in the 1980s and as part of the deal they now have exclusive rights to pictures of the chapel. Something about that really bothers me.]

The lighting in the basilica was very atmospheric

The dome of the basilica

After that we were pretty much done but still managed to make everyone wait for us as we were a couple of minutes late back to the meeting point.

Us outside the basilica

The Vatican's last line of defence against the outside world

The bus then took us to Venice. The journey took seven and a half hours, with one fifteen and one thirty minute break. I was a bit worried that the others on the tour were already established in little groups, but after we were introduced to everyone, an Aussie girl called Amy came over to talk to us in the hotel reception in Venice, and at our evening group meal we sat with a really nice couple from Singapore, Andy and Wen E. We had a great chat about anything and everything. The food at dinner was fine, but the main was a margarita pizza. J got hers changed for a salad, but I was not so lucky/forceful. I peeled the cheese off (in one big lump) and ate the foccacia pizza bread with the tomato sauce. It was fine. Dessert was a fruit strudel which was great.

The hotel room is huge with two double beds, the TV is the same model as our one back home, and we have a bath! Tomorrow is a full day in Venice, which should be fun.

I thought I had taken enough podcasts with me, but now only have around 18 hours of Double Feature podcasts left. I think I’ll run out in about 4 days if I don’t ration them!

[I really like Double Feature. If you ever want to listen to a couple of guys from Chicago talking about 2 movies for an hour then that’s the place to go!]