The Hochmuth Adventures 2019 - Discovering New Places, Rediscovering Old Ones: Trip to Italy - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - Day 3

Up at 6:15 this morning for a 7:00 breakfast and a 7:30 leave time for our van to the Vatican. They had two vans to take us to there and it was very reasonable. Even though we had used the train we didn't want to deal with public transportation when we had to be sure to be there on time. As it was, two couples didn't make it. Don't know what happened, oh well. We met our guide Annarita and she took us through the Vatican. What an impressive place! We saw the Sistine Chapel - no pictures of course. She pointed out where the Pope lives and where he blesses the people on each Sunday. Then we went to St. Perer's Basilica, the largest in the world. It's amazing too that there are no paintings in there that everything is done in mosaics. We got to take pictures in St. Peter's Square.

From there Ron and I went on our own and walked along the Tiber River past the Castel Sant Angelo, the synagogue, Isola Tiberina on to the Palatino and Foro Romano. We stopped at the Palatino and Foro Romano and walked the grounds before heading to the Colosseum. Like Ron said everywhere you look there are amazing examples of extraordinary architecture in Rome. By this time it was almost 4:00 and time for some thin crust pizza, wine and gelato. Then we jumped on the metro to Termini and walked the rest of the way back to the hotel. It was only about 5:00 but it had been a full day. We went back to the hotel for a little rest before going to a nearby gelateria for a cone and some tea. All told today we walked anywhere between 9.5 miles or 11 miles - it depends on whose Fitbit you go by. Tomorrow will be another busy day with more of Rome to see as it will be our last day here.

Views of the Vatican