La Bella Italia

2 Days in Rome

That's right, we made a quick pitt-stop in Rome on our way to Asia. We had planned on having 3 days here but a mega flight delay in London meant a reduction to 2 full days. Can't complain though. We did it ALL.
Pics from top left: Bird's eye view of St Peter's Piazza from the top of the Basilica (Cuppola); me at the Roman Forum; Grant's arty shot of the Colosseum; and the big guy with the Colosseum in the background. I have more pics but i haven't scanned them. No time!

In summary we saw:

• Day 1: Open-Air mass with the Pope. Got him on video. Pretty chuffed about that. Also visited the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona and La Bocca dela Verita (mouth of truth).
• Day 2: Super dooper tour of Vatican City - Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, the Basilica and the Cupola and St Peter's Square. Then did a tour of Palatine Hill. By this stage we were SPENT so we went back to our hostel to chill out with a couple of drinks.

All in all, a very successful trip, considering its length. We had to get up very very early both days to see it all before the other tourists packed these places out, and it paid off. We lined up for the Sistine Chapel at 7.20am. By the time we left (around 2pm) the queue was metres and metres long. Ridiculous!! And the poor plebs at the end of the queue had no idea how long it went for because it wound up a few times and you couldn't see where the entrance was from the end. Ha ha!!

Next stop: Sabah, Malaysia. Woo Hoo!!

Maz xxx