The Vatican, St Peters Square & Basilica; The Sistene Chapel.

We heard the tales and took the advice, before we left Australia, we purchased skip the line tour tickets for all of the above hotspots. One thing to say - THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

We attempted to take the 8am bus (No. 64 Pickpocket special) but couldn't get on without having a ticket. Ticket booth doesn't open until 9am which is 15 minutes later than when we were supposed to arrive at the Vatican! That wasn't going to work, a little nervously I decided that we were brave enough to take the Metro. There are only two train lines in Rome as each time they try to excavate a new line - they find more ruins!! How lost could we possibly get??? Turns out that the Rome Metro is incredibly easy to navigate - we bought tickets; validated them (I think) and we were off. Happily the Metro wasn't nearly as busy as the bus and ….. air-conditioned (yippee).

The queue against the wall of the Vatican was at least 1km long by the time we got there at 8.15am!!! We met up with our tour guide - Georgia (Degree in Art History) and took off towards the Vatican following her yellow umbrella. Once inside the remodelled section for the Jubilee in the year 2000, we started what was to be a very long tour. The couple from Tennessee were a little embarrassed about having to delete their video of each other that happened to also take in the x ray machine and the Vatican Security Officials - clearly they don't have the Smart Traveller ads!

The artwork, history and political stories that Georgia wove through the tour were all interesting and complemented information we'd heard on other tours. I saved a complete idiot from drinking non-drinking water (the sign was in seven languages) and the sun kept shining. We viewed Raphael's rooms; took in the museum of modern art and then came the Sistene Chapel. We had spent some time outside understanding the fresco's so knew the history and the theory behind the paintings. Some things we didn't realise before the tour: the Michelangelo didn't get paid for the three years it took to paint the chapel; that he demanded complete liberty with his painting and included one of the Vatican officials as the person leading the damned into hell!; that Fresco's are painted onto wet concrete and cannot be altered; that the golden sphere you can see in the garden is the same diameter as the one on top of St Peters Basilica (check the photos); many of the sculptures on the roof are actually very cleverly painted and not 3D at all and finally, that the Pope has his own corridor through the centre of St Peters in case he decides to drop by!

We finished the tour with a glimpse of the Swiss Guards whose costumes always make me giggle -although a little less now I realise how hot they must be!