Big Adventures, Little World

The morning started nice and early once again, but this time not for the bus ride. This was to head to Vatican City, for a professional guided tour. I really don’t know what to say about Vatican City, there is just so much history involved and so much to take in, it is really something that needs to be done yourself to fully appreciate it. We went through and saw some of the famous and priceless statues and treasures of the Catholics in the Vatican Museums. The tour ended up with us visiting the Sistine Chapel, which is something that cannot really be described. I have heard about it before, but until you actually see it for yourself, you cannot really comprehend how amazing it really is. The fact that it was painted hundreds of years ago by a single person is just truly unfathomable.

We had the rest of the day to ourselves, so Lucy, Bel and I went off to a church where they have human remains inside, and is more like catacombs than a church. It was something that seemed so cool to go and check out, as we had a bit of history about it the night before on our walking tour, but when we got there they were closing, but we could come back later that afternoon if we would like as it would open again. We planned to do this after we checked out a couple of other sites, but because of the intense heat, we never made it back there unfortunately. Just gives me another reason to go back and visit Rome I guess. What a shame.

Our next stop was the Colosseum and this time, to go and have a look inside. When we got there, we were advised there was an hour and a half wait to get inside, but there was an abundance of guided tours around where you get a guided tour of both, the Colosseum and the Roman Forums, as well as entry without waiting in line for only an extra few Euros. We decided this was the best option and a few minutes later we were inside the Colosseum with our own personal tour guide explaining the history of the famous building to us. I would have loved to seen it when it was still completely built before being partly destroyed by an earthquake, but just the fact that it is still standing is amazing. I would have also loved to see a gladiator fight within the arena, as that would be an atmosphere like no other anyone could ever imagine. Looking around inside and imaging it filled with 75000 people all screaming for bloodshed is an incredible, but kind of scary thought.

After our tour we had about a 45 minute wait before our tour of the Roman Forums, but all we wanted to do was get back to the campsite and relax because of the heat. So instead of waiting for the guided tour, we made our own way in and walked around checking it out on our own accord. It really is an amazing place so full of such history, but being that it was so hot we really struggled to be able to take it all in and appreciate it for what it was. However, we saw some pretty cool ruins throughout it, and also got some amazing views out over the Colosseum and other parts of the city, as well as seeing a current excavation site which was started in 2009 and is uncovering some giant columns and buildings from thousands of years ago.

Then it was back to the campsite to relax by the pool with a few drinks and ball games in the water late into the night, as they were having a pool party that night. Once again we got some pizza and ate it around the pool before meeting 3 new guys from Perth who were joining the tour. That morning we had 6 that were finishing up in Rome, so we had become quite a small bunch. We stayed around the pool until about midnight playing volleyball in the pool and just enjoying to the cooler weather before heading off to bed before our drive to Venice in the morning.