If we were getting tired of crowds and noise in Florence, we were in trouble when we got to Rome.

We stayed in the worst hotel so far on our trip—I should say the hotel with the worst bathroom so far on our trip. It had one of those handheld shower-heads, but in this case the mount was broken so you had to hold it or the water went everywhere. But since this was combined with the fact that there was no shower curtain, water going everywhere was an inevitability. The worst shower was compounded with a tub that basically was like standing in a cone, there wasn’t really a flat bit to stand on. Fantastic.

Enough of that.

On our first day, we thought we’d check out the Vatican museum. We had a slow start and didn’t get there until about 11. At which point the line was 1.5 hours long. It stretched as far as the eye could see, around the corner, as far as you could see again, around another corner, you get the idea. Needless to say, we bailed on our first attempt to see this museum of riches. We instead did a bit of walking, through the park (The Villa Borghese) then through central Rome. Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, all the highlights. Jeni particularly liked Trevi Fountain, a bit of an oasis in a concrete city.

On our second day, we thought we would try the Vatican again. This time we had a plan. We thought it a good one. We got to Saint Peter’s Basilica at 7:30am, which was fantastic. The largest Christian church in the world, almost empty, it was excellent. We were able to casually take it all in without feeling like we were in a tourist trap. We were in the first group that went up to the dome—excellent views of Rome.

We then attempted the museum again. This is where the plan fell apart. We started our walk from St. Peter’s square a little after 8:30 and made it to the end of the line a few minutes later. It was actually longer than it was when were there the day before! We gave up and accepted it, we waited in line for 1.5 hours. Joy.

The wait was worth it, the museum was big enough that it was able to take in the crowds without feeling packed—well other than the Sistene Chapel. The Vatican museum is pretty crazy, there is just a ton of stuff. It feels like it has the same quantity of treasures as the Louvre, in a space less than half the size. There is one room, which used to be called the Room of the Miscellanea, now the Room of the Candleabra (the old name was more accurate). It had more than 1000 sculptures, it was practically stacked.

The highlight, of course, was the Sistene Chapel—totally worth the hype. A couple of amusing aspects of the experience, there is supposed to be no photography and no talking. The first was mostly followed (though still ignored), but the latter was not at all. People would whisper for a few minutes, then the volume would steadily increase until about ten minutes later it was deafening, at which point a guard would yell to be quiet, and the cycle would repeat.

The frescoes were great though. Worth a vist.

Day three was ancient Rome. We started with the Colluseum where we bit-the-bullet and got a guided tour. Totally worth it as we learnt a few good nuggets of information, the most interesting being the reason for all the holes in the walls—looting of iron reinforcements to make weapons in the Dark Ages (800-1200 AD). The Colluseum was pretty cool, definitely a highlight. We finished up about 11am and continued onto Pallatine Hill. Did you know that Europe in summer can get hot? Really HOT! This was a day we truly felt it, as the Hill and the Roman Forum had scarce trees for shade and lots of dust and of course ruins. We managed a few hours of walking around but bailed for air conditioning early afternoon.

Rome is a great city, the amount of random ruins, continually running drinking fountains, and late night activity gave it a real atmosphere. We didn’t seem to find the good food but I’m sure it’s there—maybe for more euros than we wanted to spend.