Primi Piatti

Friday, 29 September 2017 
After a long 20 hour flight (Melbourne – Abu Dhabi – Roma) we finally arrived early afternoon on a beautiful sunny day in Rome. We had a little drama with our taxi driver who told us he could not drop us off in the old town, so dropped us off 10 minute walk away from our apartment. No problem normally but we had all our luggage on the uneven cobblestone streets, it was a bit of a nuisance.
Found our apartment which was beautiful, right in the heart of the old city, very close to a lot of the attractions.

We arrived on a Friday and during our research we found out that the Vatican Museum is open Friday nights over the summer and into October, so thought it might be good to do that. Our apartment was in such an excellent location, that the Vatican was only 10-15 minute walk away. We got a Happy Hour ticket which included some food and a glass of wine – yes at the Vatican! Then having refreshed ourselves, we were onto the Museum.

This is the statue of Laocoön and His Sons excavated in Rome in 1506. The figures are near life-size and the group is a little over 2 m in height, showing the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being attacked by sea serpents.  

Here is the Gallery of Maps, which takes it’s name of 40 maps frescoed on the walls representing the Italian regions and Papal properties at the time of Gregory XIX (1572-1585). This is just one little bit. It went on and on and on.

The Museum was excellent, but after an hour or so we were really hitting the wall. Decided we would finish with the Sistine Chapel and then head home. It was another twenty minutes before we reached the Sistine Chapel – that’s how big it is! Unfortunately, they don’t let you take photos in the Chapel which was a shame because it was really excellent (as you would imagine).  Here is one of the most famous paintings which we took from the internet.

Then a walk home along the Saint Angelo Ponte.  This was the view of the river on the way back to our apartment.

St Pauls and St Peter's Square at night.  

Us on the Saint Angelo Ponte Bridge.