Rome Day 2

Lou-Lou and Nora - our wonderful guide

The hall of Maps - they have been found to be 90% accurate!

This was the cutest little car we found - a Fiat. Definately a bonus to have such a little car here.

Our day:

OMG!!!!....Lou Lou had organised a private tour of the Vatican. She did not elaborate for me, just said we were to be picked up at 10am. As we were heading out the door, a dignified older Italian woman arrives at the door saying her name was Nora and that she had an appointment with Louise. Well, she was our guide and lead us down to the street where our car was waiting.....OMG! It was a silver Mercedes!!! I grabbed Lou Lou’s arm and said the obvious “gasp...it’s a merc Lou Lou!!” she just looked at me with a big smirk! Bloody hell she knew all along! It was luxury, Aldo, our driver, who we knew intimately by the end of the trip, was a stately gent who just pushed his Mercedes into spaces we would fear to try! Ah ...the poor plebs, having to walk around, shame......

Once I got over the shock, and quickly accustomed myself to this high status we were thrust into mind you....Aldo took us firstly to the top of the highest hill in Rome so we could look over the city of Rome and have all the landmarks pointed out to us. We then battled the traffic of Rome (insane) before commencing our breathtaking, informative and most leisurely walk around the Vatican, ending in the Sistine Chapel. Well, words cannot describe the pure delight of gazing on these most extraordinary works of renaissance artists, particularly Michelangelo who painted the ceiling. He was a master of sculpture and did not like painting, however, if the Pope asks you to paint, who would refuse? His representation of the human form was indeed sculpture in painting and so they seemed to come alive before your very eyes. We must have been in the Chapel for at least a half hour, as Nora knew the guards and the exact time that the doors were opened and people let in and out. Remarkable....

Sadly we said goodbye to Aldo and Nora...and the Mercedes...and went to experience the Colosseum, awesome, the Trevi Fountain, superb but smelly, then a taxi home and enjoyed the most amazing ravioli pomodore at a local restaurant, with a glass of red. ...mmmm what better way to end a sensational day in Roma! J