Well, it's almost time to go back to the grind. We have had a great trip. It's the first time that I have been on a vacation and really feel like I have done enough and I am ready to go home. We jumped on a train this morning to go back to Rome. One thing is for sure, if you are taking a train, you will be on time!! It's really amazing how efficient the whole system is.
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| Vatican at dusk |
We are staying at the Adriatic Hotel that is right around the corner from the Vatican. Again, I booked this hotel because Frommers suggested it. It is a two star hotel and it has turned out to be a good place to stay. It's clean, good location, nice staff(only one person at a time...but hey) and cheap. We have a small room with two singles and a queen for 140 euro!! That is a deal. Has all the other extras that the better hotels had: hair dryer, soap, 4 shampoos (the expensive Salerno hotel only gave us two for 3 days!), linen towels and the best air conditioning we have had yet. The only thing that it didn't have was a refrigerator, but the ones in the hotel didn't keep things that cool anyway....so no loss there.
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| One of the ceilings in Vatican |
We had 'skip the line' tickets to see the Vatican. That worked out perfectly. The line was huge again, so it's nice to walk right by the line. We didn't do a tour and that worked great for us. Just walking through without reading all the history they have put for you took about an hour! It's amazing how they have you zig and zagging all through the museum on your way to the Sistine Chapel. There is so much to see and take in that you really need a couple of hours. One thing about Michaelangelo that I didn't know (actually I'm not all that well versed on Roman history) is that he was forced to paint the chapel! He had signed a contract for his his work but he thought it would be all sculpting. I won't go in to the whole story but google it and read about it. It's really interesting.
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| Ted on spiral staircase in Vatican |
The boys were sleep deprived from getting in around 4am (normal for Italians) so they went right back to the hotel to take a nap. Ted and I walked around the area near and across the bridge from the Vatican. That's where all the expensive shops are!! We did mostly window shopping!! :-) Then back to the hotel for a quick nap. We got up and went to dinner and to see how the Vatican looked at night. It was beautiful.
Home tomorrow. So check back to see the pictures of our travels!! Thanks for going along with us!!
