Rome, pick pockets and the Sistine Chapel.

First we visited the Colosseum, huge, iconic  and evil but we got a good tour of all the different levels and then walked across the road to the Roman Forum, of course alot of ruins, the only photo I got was of the arch of Titus because my battery gave out, a curse of the digital camera. Anyway it was a fascinating insight into Roman times and a good tour and then on to the bus to St Peters Square.

The tour guide gave us a quick breakdown of where everything was, where we could see the Popes blessing etc and showed us a cheap cafeteria lunch spot in a side street. Everywhere we were assaulted by gypsy type Europeans selling scarves.

We had our lunch and Bob paid with his credit card. little did we know that that was the last time we would see it. Then on to St Peters, entrance at the right. A big crowd and a security check . Bob went to get out his wallet, you guessed it, it wasn't there! He felt he had been jostled and had been pickpocketed here but it may have been the cafeteria.

Anyway we proceeded through St Peters but I must admit I didn't take much in I think we saw Michaelangelos  Pieta . Anyway after the visit we decided to go back to the hotel to report the loss of our credit card. We did this certainly not much longer than an hour after we had noticed it gone. Bob was sure there was no clues in his wallet to the pin number which perhaps points more to it going at the cafeteria but it was not stopped before $14 thousand worth of damage had been done although I don't think Bob found this out until he got back to Australia and he had to fight the bank that it had a daily limit on it of one thousand and they were out of order in allowing the transactions to go through. The bank had to accept liability for that. Anyway I have to say that Bob coped brilliantly with all this, much better than the overpriced taxi ride in London! We did not mention it to the rest of the tour group!

Next day we had to be up early for our visit to the Vatican Museums. Unsurprisingly I had not slept well and in the night had taken a diuretic instead of a short acting sleeper so I was abit dehydrated However the visit was brilliant. I remember wonderful mosaics and the map room in particular.

Waiting in the queue against the back drop of the walls of the Vatican

The visit finished with a visit to The Sistine Chapel,crowded of course, the highlight being the ceiling painted by Michaelangelo showing the creation of Man. Yes truly one of the great sights of the world Then on to the bus getting to Florence about 4. In time for a walking tour of the Duomo,  the Baptistry, The Piazza della Signoria with the Neptune fountain and replica of David,the Ponte Vecchio, and a leather shop. Then an ice cream in the square of St Croce but unfortunately not time to go into the church. Not a long visit but it certainly showed you the important places with lots of good photo opportunities.
sistine chapel