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It has been a long day, with lots of walking, climbing hills, etc., and we were ready to head for home. As we left the Forum we passed by the Coliseum on our way, and started looking for a nice place to have a beer.

It didn't take us long, as we found a little place directly across from the Coliseum, and the beer mugs were the right size.

Our waiter took a liking to my hat, and asked if he could borrow it. He took off for the
interior of the restaurant and was gone about 5 minutes. When he returned, I asked if
I could take his photo, as it was a little unusual for a stranger to ask to borrow my hat.

That evening we found a quaint little local restaurant for dinner. The owner apparently liked being photographed with
his clientele. There was barely an inch of free space on the walls to add another photo. I suspect that many of the people
in them were celebrities or political figures. It was that kind of place. The wine was good, and we enjoyed the ambiance.

The combination appetizer sampler came with an interesting presentation. I can't remember
what everything was, but it was all very delicious, and I do know they were all raw meats.

Pete is doing a taste test here. One is Grappa (suggested to him by Dana Cabello) and the other is Sambuca. I
liked the Sambuca better, perhaps for its sweetness. Pete isn't so keen on sweet drinks, so he liked the Grappa.

The next day was when we had decided to visit the Vatican. Pete went to a locatorio to get on the Internet so he could buy tickets. He read in Rick Steves book that if you wait until you get there, the lines are often very long, with a huge wait time.

With our Roma Passes we were able to take a bus to get to the Vatican. Here we are about to enter Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican City.

You can see tourists hurrying to queue up in the long line to purchase tickets, but since we already had our Internet vouchers, we just bypassed the line and entered the main reception area, walked up to a clerk at the counter at the appointed time, showed her our vouchers, and we had our entry tickets is 5 seconds time.

Of course, we had arrived a little early, not knowing how long the bus ride would take. We spent about half an hour walking around the square, taking photos, and absorbing the awesomeness of the Basilica of St. Peter. I wore my Blue Footed Booby T-shirt I had gotten in the Galápagos. We were also both waring long pants, in spite of the heat. There is a dress code to enter, although I don't know how strictly it is enforced, because we did see a few men inside wearing shorts and sandals.

Vatican City, also incorrectly known as but popularly synonymous with the Holy See, is the latest and only current Papal state in existence and is the temporal seat of the Pope, head of the worldwide Catholic Church. It is situated within the city of Rome and is the world's smallest state. Outside the Vatican City itself, 13 buildings in Rome and Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer residence, also enjoy extraterritorial rights.

The origin of the Papal States, which over the years have varied considerably in extent, may be traced back to AD 756 with the donation of Pepin. The popes were the de facto rulers of Rome and the surrounding province since the fall of the Roman Empire and the retreat of Byzantine power in Italy.

Saint Peters Square is actually and ellipse. There are two stones (one on each side of the square) between the obelisk and the fountains. If you step on either of these stones, the four columns on the colonnades merge into one.

The obelisk in the middle of the square was transported from Egypt to Rome in 37 AD by the Emperor Gaius Caligula to mark the spine of a circus eventually completed by the Emperor Nero. The so-called Circus of Nero was parallel to and to the south of the east-west axis of the current Basilica. It was in this circus that St. Peter was killed in the first official persecution of Christians undertaken by Nero beginning in 64 AD and continuing until Neros death in 67 AD. The original location of the obelisk was marked with a plaque located near the sacristy on the south side of the Basilica, where it remained until it was moved in 1586 AD by Pope Sixtus V to its present location.

During the Middle Ages, the bronze ball on top of the obelisk was believed to contain the ashes of Julius Caesar. When it was relocated, the present reliquary, the Chigi Star in honor of Pope Alexander VII, was added containing pieces of the True Cross. This is the only obelisk in Rome that never toppled since it was placed in ancient Rome and is the second largest Egyptian obelisk after the Lateran obelisk. This celebrated obelisk nearly shattered while it was being moved. Upon orders of the pope, no one was to speak a word otherwise he would be excommunicated. However, a sailor shouted to water the ropes to prevent them from burning. He was forgiven and in gratitude for saving the day, the palms for Palm Sunday still come from the sailor's home town of Bordighera.

What can I say, I like symmetry. I think this obelisk is quite beautiful. Its history is amazing.

In various shots in Saint Peter's Square you can see it was a beautiful day.
We were enjoying it before entering the Vatican Museum, and the Basilica.

We were fortunate that our visit was not at the peak of the tourist season. This square can be overrun with tourists.

We finally make it to the entrance of the Museum, and the first thing that catches your
eye is the beautiful restoration of the "ANNUNCIATION" by Marco Palmezzano.

It took hours to get through the museum, which finished with viewing the Sistine Chapel, which was a little disappointing to me. First off, it took a very long time to get to it from the main part if the museum, and once there, it was so packed full of people that I just wanted to leave. PLUS, we were not allowed to take photographs. Pete is very good about reading up on things in Rick Steves' book, so he was explaining things to me, and it was a little more interesting with his explanations, but for some reason I thought that the painting of God's creation of Adam was much larger than it was. So now I'll have to wait until I get home and go on the Internet, and probably get much better photos than I could have taken anyway.

I will continue our Vatican visit in the next chapter.