We set off on our daily march at 6:30am this morning for our tour of the Vatican starting at 7:30am.
We arrived at the meeting place and were soon assigned to our guide for the morning, Donata. We had booked a semi private tour so it was just us and an American couple from St Louis.
Donata was a fabulous guide and the kids could ask lots of questions so it was much more engaging for them than the Colosseum tour on Tuesday. She asked us if there was anything in particular we wanted to see, but everyone was happy for her to select the most important pieces. We went through the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel before heading into St Peter’s Basilica. Because we had started very early, the crowds, whilst big, weren’t as bad as they would have been later and we could take our time in the Sistine Chapel and the Basilica. There was a service being held while we were there to ordain a number of priests and it was in English which was interesting.
This was where our tour ended (3.5 hours later). The kids all really enjoyed it and I would highly recommend Donata at Liv Tours if you are in Rome.
We then went to the top of the Cupola of the Basicila. There is the option to take the lift for the first 231 steps but the queue was quite long so we convinced the kids that we could just walk. Together with the additional 320 steps from the top of the lift we arrived at the top. It is quite claustrophobic towards the top of the climb and I’m not sure the kids thought it was worthwhile but it is a great view from the top, even if Sophia did tell me it was the same as the view from the Altar of the Fatherland.
Once down we took some pictures in Piazza San Pietro. There were chairs all set up for an ecumenical vigil by the Pope ahead of a Synod General Assembly on Saturday to welcome the Archbishop of Canterbury and many other church leaders, as well as thousands of Christians from different denominations.
We strolled into the Prati area which is close by and had a wander and some lunch at Il Matriciano which was delicious. We all had pasta and I finally got my tiramisu.
After lunch we went to the Castel Sant’Angelo, once the tallest building in Rome, which was commissioned by the Roman Emperor, Hadrian, as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The Popes later used it as a castle and fortress and it is now a museum.
We walked back to the metro station via some shops and a stop for gelato at OGGI (Official Gelato Gusto Italiano). It was such a beautiful gelato shop and the gelato was one of the better ones we’ve had.
Onto the metro which was packed – it didn’t help being rush hour and there were some delays to the line. We packed into the train like sardines and so the kids had their first experience of rush hour commuting. It was entertaining though as at one station they kept trying to get on and yelling at everyone to move down (there was literally nowhere to go) and others yelling back they couldn’t. Obviously we couldn’t actually understand them but it was very clear what they were saying.
Back at the apartment, we rested and got ourselves packed up for Barcelona. I took the kids down to the gelato store downstairs for their final Italian gelato. They had wanted crepes as they were advertised but they don’t make them until November so gelato it was.