Rome for a day or so.

Having arrived quite early in Rome we couldn’t check in to the hotel so we walked down to the Colosseum and back via the Trevi fountain but it was a whistle stop tour since we are coming back to Rome later in the week.

You can rent scooters and Citroën Amis from these guys for quite a reasonable amount. I’m not sure if I’d want to drive here though. But I would love to try an Ami out.

There was a tiny vespa museum attached to one of the scooter rental shops, worth a visit. They also do tours in various quite cool vehicles. https://bicibaci.com/en/

Not too bad a collection for a tiny museum!

They’re still finding all sorts of interesting stuff as they dig up parts of the city. There’s a fair bit of digging going on for the new Metro C subway.

The Trevi fountain was out of action for maintenance unfortunately. Still very popular though. Luckily there was an excellent icecream parlor here. It’s hot in Rome!

We staggered back to the hotel having walked about 15kms or so. There’s so much to see around every corner. Had a sleep since we’d been up at 5am, then we found a very nice dinner at the Osteria Macondo nearby. The people we have met here have been particularly nice I have to say. You’d think they would be well and truly over tourists but apparently not.

In the morning we made our way to the Vatican for a guided tour. Even at this time of year there are a lot of people visiting the Vatican.

Walking through parts of the Vatican museum.

St Peter’s Basilica. We did go in and it was quite as flash as you’d expect.

St Peter’s square with obelisk and tourists.

I think if you’re in Rome it is certainly worth visiting the Vatican if only to see the Sistine Chapel but I remember thinking when I first came here in the ’80s that it was just mad and we both came out this time feeling the same. The amount of wealth gathered by all the many popes over the years. Crikey!

The Vatican gardens are my favourite part. Pauline took a lot more and a lot better photos than me so I’ve included some of hers here:

It is seriously a small world! A guy on our tour is good friends with a former student of mine!

Having “done” the Vatican we checked out of our hotel and jumped on a train to Naples and then Pompeii. Some swearing was required to figure out our Europass app. But we got there about 9ish. Long day!

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