Today we booked a marathon day. We opted for an early entrance, private tour of both The Vatican/St Peter's Bascilica and The Forum/Coliseum trip. These are normally tackled on two days. Our driver picked us up at the hotel at 7:15am, for the trip to The Vatican. We waited in line with all the others signed up for the early entrance option until the 8am opening time. During our wait, Julia had an Ipad, where she covered all the paintings/panels by Michaelangelo that we would see in the Sistine Chapel. Upon opening, we went straight to the Sistine Chapel. Francine was having a hard time understanding Julia's accent. Of course, Sally and Kevin had not problem with her thick accent. Luckily, the lady seated next to Francine & Sally in the Sistine Chapel, had downloaded a Rick Steve's app on her phone, and was repeating what she heard, for Francine, who was able to then match that up with the story from Julia earlier in the morning. We then made our way back to the beginning of the tour, to go back thru The Sistine Chapel, to make our way to St Peter's Bascilica. We didn't take too many pictures, but everything we saw was spectacular. After St Peter's, our driver picked us back up, and when he dropped us off at The Pantheon, there were no lines, so we were able to go inside. Next stop was The Trevi Fountain again, where we informed Julia that we were there yesterday, and we thought Francine's credit card got "read" by an electronic reader. After some discussion, we got a driving tour of The Forum, before being dropped off for lunch at a super cute locals' place, Val>>>>>......, owned by a local family. The were quite a few folks already waiting for the place to open. Luckly, we had a reservation, and Julie spoke to the owner, who took great care of us. By the time we finished, 40 minutes later (due to our short time frame), they were full. Julia, our guide did not want to eat lunch with us, as this was probably her break, and she had to get our tickets for The Forum. But this time, it was quite hot, with little shade. After The Forum, we went to The Coliseum, where we had access to the ground floor, and the basement, due to our tour. We were quite spent, from heat and the long day. It was only 87, but with 79% humidity, it felt like 94degrees. Luckily, there was a breeze some of the time. We were super happy to find a taxi just as we climbed the steps up to the road, after the coliseum. He drove like a maniac, even driving on the left side of the cars, where the scooters/motorcycles drive. He was quite aggressive, got us back to the hotel super fast, and we all thought it was a riot and a great way back. Kev & Sally took a nap, had some drinks, and ventured out for dinner. Long, but fun day.
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| Outside The Forum |
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| The Forum |
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| Underground at The Coliseum |
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