Italy, part XVI - Rome (vi): All about the Vatican, part I

I booked my Vatican tickets online because my experience with the Sagrada Familia four years ago showed me how awesome it feels to prebook your entry online, and sally past a long sweaty queue of hot tourists lining up at the ticket booth. I was expecting similar lines at the Vatican, but turns out I under-estimated the power of off season - there were barely any people at the booths. I was a bit annoyed, but still - safer than sorry.

The rest of this entry is just going to be pictures of the Vatican, pictures upon pictures. And then some.

Italy, part XV - Rome (v): A random Roman bar close to the hostel, the Collosseum, Panino Divino, and the Piazza San Pietro

Piazza San Pietro

I had the slightly bad luck to run into rain during my day at the Colloseum, it was absolutely pouring whilst I was there and it was really hard to concentrate on the magnificent Colloseum itself. The good thing about this though was that it was fairly uncrowded, so in a weird flipside way, I was able to enjoy the Colloseum in peace - when I wasn't thinking about how unpleasant the weather was, that is.

Tickets to the Collosseum come in a parcel ticket that enable access to the Roman Forum and Capitoline Hill as well. I didn't get to see them all in as much detail as I would have liked, but was able to go over most of it.

After spending the morning at the Collosseum, I went to another highlight of this part of the trip - Vatican City. I decided to have lunch at another restaurant I'd found on tripadvisor/google, called the Panino Divino. It was in the neighbourhood of the Vatican, and was fairly easy to locate. It had started raining again at this point and had gotten very chilly, and I was glad to duck into the warmth of the Divino. I ordered a sandwich and munched away on it, whilst wondering why this trip was filled with so much panini.

After I was finished, I went out to find the Vatican, and accidentally happened into the Piazza San Pietro, the great square that fronts the Vatican, and houses the famed St Peter's Basilica. At this point it had begun to rain worse than ever, but that did not detract from its majesty. It was freezing though and I was beginning to get very wet, and I really needed to get inside, so I asked a Vatican member of staff where the entrance was (it was surprisingly hard to find). There was a gigantic queue of people queuing to get into the Basilica, and I asked if I had to join this line, devoutly hoping that the answer was no - it was the longest queue I'd ever seen in my entire life, and I was certain that I'd have to wait for a good two hours at least before getting in. The lady assured me that it was for people who wanted to see the Basilica and not the rest of the Vatican, as entry to the Basilica itself was free, but access to the rest of the Vatican required tickets. I asked her if I'd be able to enter the Basilica from the Vatican itself without having to come back in and line up in the queue. "Yes, that is possible, but it is a small corridor which people don't usually have access to, but ask anyway - you don't know if you don't ask!" Slightly mystified, I kept her advice in mind, and just for the record, it actually did work.

The crowds. It was much worse in person

The ticket booths for Vatican entry

..and the view of the Eternal City from the Holy See

The rest of these are just random Roman pictures and snapshots from the rest of that day, and night - me and some guys from the hostel went to a bar close by.

Roman people on the Roman metro

Mona Lisa, men named you