1st December 2005 (Thursday) – Vatican City / Rome

Woke up at 0630hrs. Took a hot bath and had our breakfast. Breakfast was bread with butter and milk which was included in the hotel package.

Took Bus 371 to Vatican City. Went to Vatican Museum first. Saw Michaelangelo frecos. No photos allowed but saw some tourists trying to take pictures. Also tried to take one secretly but the picture did not turn out well. Bought a Vatican sourvenir (E0.50) which is placed on the Pin board. We also sent a postcard (E0.80) back to Singapore from Vatican Post Office. Vatican City has its own postage service which is different from Italy’s postage service.

Vatican Museum (Musei Vaticani) – E12
- Statue di Raffaello
- Michaelango frecos on the ceiling (painted 1508 – 1512). “Creation of Man” and “The Last Judgement”(completed 1541)

Along our way back to St Peter Basicila (Basilica di san Pietro), we bought a magnet (E1.70) as a sourvenir for Darren’s mother at one of the shops. We also saw the exact magnet that we bought at the Colosseum for only E4, Heartache!!!

The queue at St Peter Basicila was not too long when we went back. We saw the statue by Michaelangelo – Pieta. Then we went to see St Paul ‘s tomb at the basement. When we came out, there was a long queue forming at the entrance of St Peter Basicila.

We asked for directions to get to Olympics Nacos Stadium to see Rome stadium (homeground for Lazio and Roma). We took Bus 32. We did not manage to get into the stadium (stadio). We walked around the stadium.

We took Bus 32 back to Ottaviano Metro (Vatican City). There were some stalls selling winter items along the streets. We bought two pairs of leather gloves for E3 each. We also bought a slice of pizza at E1.45. We took the Metro to Spagna Metro station.

We walked along Via Condotti to get to the Spanish steps. There were lots of branded shops such as Gucci, LV and Prada around that area. We shopped around to soak in the atmosphere but did not buy anything. The shops were crowded with tourists buying their hearts out.

We then took the Metro to Barberini Station. From the station, we walked to Hard Rock Café (Rome). We bought a T-shirt and a Gladiator’s pin (E30.24). A HRC luggage tag was given as a free gift. I had absent mindedly left my gloves (which I had bought in Canada) in HRC.

We took Bus 95 to Del Corso. We shopped around at 2 shopping centres. We saw a Samsonite luggage for E109 (which was a good price). We were tempted to buy it to replace my broken backpack. But in the end, we did not buy the luggage.

We took Bus 175 back to Termini Station and changed to Bus 105 to go back to the hotel.

We packed our stuff for tomorrow and cooked porridge for our dinner. We slept at about 2230hrs. Dead tired with aching legs.