Day 41- Rome

After only about a 2 hour drive, we arrived in Rome!







The Italians aren't the best of drivers, but we managed anyway. Once we found our accommodation, EcoHotel Roma, we asked them to store our luggage as we arrived before our booking in time. We had organised a tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel for 2pm, so we asked the hotel to drop us off there. They have a free shuttle service that  takes you to only a few places. Because we were early, we had lunch not far from the Vatican. The service was terrible but the food was good. As soon as we finished our food the waiters told us to move as other people wanted to sit down- we hadn't even paid yet. No tip for these guys, not when they charge you a 15% cover charge on top of your meal. We wandered around and found a gelati for desrt and then made our way to the meeting point for our guide. Jimmy from Ireland was our guide for 2 1/2 hours on foot. We were the only people on the tour.  At first we were a bit sceptical, especially as we walked towards the Vatican and a guy just out of the blue happened to have 4 tickets to get in. We had read about people like this that they are not legit tickets. According to our guide, they were ok and he promised us if they weren't, he would foot the bill. Well we got to the place where you put your ticket into the machine......thank goodness they worked and we got a great discount. Instead of it costing us 60E, it only cost us 30E, but we had bought 4 tickets and Daniel didn't need one. Jimmy bought one of us, which meant it was even cheaper for us. Once inside the Vatican, Jimmy took us through the history and other interesting facts that you wouldn't get in a large tour. Did you know that the Vatican City is its own tiny independant country? They even have their own currency. In the Vatican Museum, we heard a lot about Michelangelo and how he was not a very nice person and at times very rebellious. Yo can see this in some of the paintings in the Sistine Chapel. One painting has a picture of God twice but one of them is facing his backside to you. Michelangelo painted this so that every time the Pope Julius II (whom he didnt like at all) walked into the chapel, he was being mooned! Well so our guide told us.  We also saw Nero's bathtub and learnt abouy many other interesting facts (like Hitler was a failed artist, and never got to see the Sistine chapel despite making three visits).  We ended the tour in front of St. Peters Basilica, so wet went inside to see Michelangelo's Piata, and also climbed the Basillica dome for the best view of Rome.  We ended the day back at our hotel with "Cup of Noodles" for dinner.  After going out to dinner every night it was nice to have something basic!