Rome, Italy, Day 3

8am Breakfast. Tea, toast and butter.

10ish Set off for the vatican. Weather was good in the morning, there was sun whereas the previous two days were cloudy. We caught the train from Termini to Ottaviano San Pietro. It was the first time we'd caught public transport in Italy. We used the Roma card and couldn't figure out that you had to tap it instead of inserting it like a normal ticket. No matter, we arrived at 10:40 and the pope was there giving a talk. We wanted to go into St Peter's basilica but that was closed until 1pm. So we hung around for a while, caught some Pope on telly and took some photos. The square has its own border patrol. You have to go through security before you're allowed through!

Walking from Via di Porta Angelica to St Peter's

The pope is giving a talk behind me on the left, to the right is one of the many pope screens.

11:15am Time for lunch. My stomach is now Norwegian, what can I say. In case you didn't know, I have lunch at 11am in Norway.

Ravioli with spinach, tomato and cream

12ish We caught a train back to Termini then to Colesseo where the Colosseum is located.  There was a lengthy queue outside for the tickets but good thing we had the Rome pass and just walked straight in.  The Colosseum is named after the colossal figure of Constantine which doesn't exist anymore. During a time they had 170 days of holidays a year in Rome. That period in time was full of Colosseum "entertainment".

Inside a train on the way to Colosseo station

That's also a train with bonus graffiti

Introducing the Colosseum

Arch of Constantine behind

Inside, on the 2nd floor, North entrance

Side view from the 2nd floor

Who should we kill next hmmmm.... these guys were set up outside the Colosseum.

View from the 2nd floor

Ground floor

Floating head ;)

3ish After the colosseum, we headed back to the vatican via Metro but not before first stopping for gelato.

4pm After lengthy queue and passing through vatican border security again, we entered the hallowed halls of St Peter's basilica. Just in time as well, it started pouring rain.

Interior.  You could walk closer to the back if you said you were there for mass.  I had to zoom in to take this photo.

Interior

One of many pope statues and figures in the interior

A flight of 537 steps and 5 euros took us from the foot to the summit of the dome. There were a lot of people and I felt like a sardine in a can. Great views at the top!

Dome

We were right at the top of the dome when the following photos were taken

7:30pm We had dinner close to where Piazza Navona is, took a walk from St Peter's even though it was raining.

Starter

Lauren's main course, chicken stuffed with some vegetables and a bitter tasting cabbage on the side

Pasta with 4 different types of cheese.  I had ordered something else but the english to italian translation was completely off. :)  The pasta was still really good though so I'm glad I had it!

9:45pm Walked to Piazzi Di Spagna, Spagna station, back to Termini then walked home. I'm really buggered, a total of 19418 steps today.  Time for bed now close to 12am...

Tomorrow we're off to Naples and Positano. Gotta get up early in the morning.  Some random Bangladesh guy asked where I was from today as well, he guessed China, Korea, Japan.  All fails!