Monday 23 November

It's a good night. After breakfast we get ready to leave. the forecast isn't promising so we make sure we take umbrellas. Once we figure which direction to walk we head out. Eventually we get to the Spanish stairs and fountain unfortunately the stairs are fenced off for something. Repairs or cleaning I guess. So many monuments we have seen on this trip have been covered with scaffolding! We walk across the square and we see a black lump of fabric moving. It looks like two ppl are underneath. We figure it's ppl setting up for an act. We wait around to see it. It's an Indian man appearing like he is levitating off the ground. He looks like a guru with his hand on a stick. It's a clever gadget, but I don't see anyone give money. We walk along to another square and the and the centre fountain is covered up for cleaning. We walk up to the park and get a good view to the Vatican. It starts to rain lightly, but under the trees we are pretty dry. There are a lot of statues. A significant amount headless. We sit under a tree for a while until the rain eases. We decide to walk to the Vatican. We get side tracked to a castle. It's closed because today is Monday. The bridge outside is a little bit ornate with it's statues. It starts raining harder and we are glad for umbrellas. We stop under shelter for the worst of it. As we enter the square we are stopped by a lady from Ghana. We gives is info on the church and the Vatican. She is offering tours. She thinks I'm 18 or less maybe and cannot believe I'm 26! She asks if I'm sure and looks me up and down a few times! Maybe it will be my curse to look young forever. Lets hope. We don't end up buying tour tickets. Later we are even more glad. We go into the St. Peter's square and stand in line to enter the church. You have to go through security. It's a long line but it doesn't take too long. Inside is pretty massive and ornate. I think maybe it's one of the biggest churches so far. There is a group of ppl singing and sounds nice. They are led by priests and they walk around the church. At the end of mass I think. After the church we stop for a lunch break. We weren't planning on going into the Vatican museum but we decide to walk around to the entrance to see it. It's raining again. Inside another security check and free toilets. We check out the price and it's lots less than told to is by the African lady. We decide to go in. It's ornate decorations but mostly a lot of statues and tapestries. Eventually we get to the Sistine chapel. There are so many paintings. We catch the metro back and walk home via a supermarket. It's pizza and fruit for dinner. We need to get a few things sorted - printing. Hopefully we find a good Internet cafe tomorrow. With printing options. The wifi here isn't great.