17,000 steps

They had us out the door by 7am on Saturday morning to join the queues at Vatican City. Tours are let in earlier than the public opening times, but we were still in a long line. We saw the Vatican museum, the Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Basilica. Although it was all pretty amazing, we found it a little shocking to see such money and effort invested in decoration. I found the Chapel a bit too much - every square inch is painted, but you couldn’t move for people. The Basilica was pretty special - it is even bigger than St Paul’s which we saw in London, but a completely different style.



After a very short break, we were off on another walking tour, this time to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. These places were built 2000 years ago and there is a surprising amount remaining intact.

After a couple of hours off, we were off on our third walking tour. The highlight of this was the Pantheon - stunning! The top of its dome is open to the air - a hole of several metres. It is now a church and when it rains, the rain spirals down to the floor in quite a spectacular way. We finished with really Italian pizza in a vibrant little restaurant in a narrow lane. A quintessential Italian experience to end our time in Rome.

It was a shattering day in terms of distances walked, over largely cobbled uneven streets, and time spent standing in queues, or moving at a snail’s pace in the crowds, but we both loved the history and charm of Rome, and I’d come back just to watch the traffic!