More walking today.....first up, a wander to the metro (via a church which had a 'meridian' on the floor which acted as a calendar using the angle of the sun projected through a hole in the mouth of a decorative lion on the wall) and a packed train trip one stop beyond the Colosseum. We walked through the Circo Massimo, an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium. Then to the church of St George for a quick look before climbing up the Capitoline Hill with a stop at the Greek Orthodox Church in Rome.
From there we walked past the town hall where the Caribinieri band were setting up to play as part of the City celebrations and into the Victor Emmanuel Palace which, it seems, is an eternal maze of staircases. From there we looked into the Basilica Santa Maria and then took the lift to the roof of the building for some great views of the City of Rome. The Band struck up immediately after the noon cannon so our viewing was accompanied by them.
From there, we intended to get a bus, but were somewhat caught out by the closing of a few streets for some parade within the city celebrations. We walked by the imperial fora and toward one of the City museums. In the end, we started off the main drag and came across an interesting street with a number of bridges that appeared to join buildings to some greenery behind.
We walked all the way to Piazza del Popolo and the museum which had a special Leonardo da Vinci exhibition. The exhibition comprised a number of replicas of Da Vinci machines and items from his drawings and notebooks and displays of drawings and a few paintings. All in all, very interesting.
We then walked on and over the Tiber to find a place for a drink (and a welcome sit down). Here we decided to try to get into the Vatican Museum as we had been told that the queues subside by 3.15/3.30. We worked out the bus to get us there and set out - but did not find a bus stop with the right number on it until we were a couple of hundred yards short of target.
The queue was non-existent, so we went in to the museum. It is an incredible place, with lots of artefacts from Ancient Rome and a collection of more modern artworks housed in galleries which appear to have been commissioned by various popes intent on decorating them to the max. There were some wonderful ceilings and paintings (and a number that were not to our taste).
The route through the museum takes on, eventually, through the Sistine Chapel with its frescos and ceiling paintings, some of which are stunning given when they were painted.
The route out goes through more galleries, but at that stage, most are unable to take in more (and some of the more modern galleries are less interesting anyway).
From the Vatican, we had done enough, so we were back on the Metro (by a slightly circuitous route) and back to our hotel for a shower before an excursion out to dinner (as to which, see the separate post).
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