ROME 1: After my very relaxing and enjoyable ferry ride across the Mediterranean to Civitavecchia, I caught the train down to Rome! Day 1 in Rome I decided to visit the Vatican Museums. Arriving at the Vatican, I came across the longest line I have ever seen in my life. No joke. It stretched for several streets and went around corner after corner; there were people walking up and down the line selling drinks, souvenirs and maps. Really quite strange. It took me - and I am not exaggerating - 15 minutes at a quick pace to walk from the start of the line to the end. Luckily though it did move reasonably quickly!
The pinecone!! Not really sure of the story behind this, I think I did know at some point but unfortunately no longer. Looks cool anyway
The Sistine Chapel... Every 10 seconds a security guard says "SSSHHH!!!" then yells, "NO PHOTO! NO VIDEO! NO TOUCH! SILENCE!!!" He's breaking his own rule really, so what does he expect when every tourist in the room is surreptitiously (or quite obviously) snapping away with their cameras and whispering amongst themselves? Including me, although I at least didn't have my flash on. No harm done
I like this ball thing, never realised but it actually spins, it's so big you'd think it would be too heavy to move
One of the museums I visited in the Vatican was the Egyptian one because all things Egyptian and Etruscan fascinate me. A real mummy!!
The Egyptians used to make lots of figurines to bury with their dead, most featuring activities from daily life. Often, 365 little figurines of workers would be placed in the tomb, one to do the work of the deceased for each day of the year
Standing in St Peter's Square hoping that the guy that offered to take my picture if I took one of him was not going to run off with my camera!
I had to take a picture of the unflappable Swiss guards. You really do want to try and make them laugh but it's easy to forget they are highly trained Swiss killing machines when they are wearing such lovely uniforms!
Bernini's amazing baldacchino over the altar in St Peter's, it's such a huge and impressive structure. I suppose it's not a work of art as such but it is beautiful
The view of St Peter's Square from the top of the Duomo of the Basilica, very impressive 360 degree views
Me blissfully unaware of the ghastly monstrosity of a shirt that is behind me...
The beautiful gardens of the Vatican, it really is a lovely spot. You'd never guess it's in the middle of noisy, crowded, hectic Rome, it's so peaceful











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