Sunday - day 2

Sunday was our second day in Rome so the plan was this....

1. Rise and shine at 7am.
2. Eat breakfast at 7.30am
3. Leave at 8.30am to visit St Peters. (We had heard that the lines were not as long if you got there as soon as it opened.)

The reality was this..
1.  Woke at 9am.
2. Ate breakfast at 9.40am.
3.  Ready to leave at 11.05am!!!

So off we headed for St Peter´s church and the Vatican museum. We discovered that it was free to get into the Vatican museum the last Sunday in the month and that was that day!! Weren´t we lucky that we got to save a bit of money!!!

We made our way over to the river and followed it down to the Vatican. It was hot but we were coping!

                                         "See we are really, really here!!!"

 

So we arrive at 11.52am. We were surprised to see soooo many people just waiting around at the square to St Peter´s church. Kristian and I stood and looked over the crowd and then we went in under the archways to walk around - it was too hot outside. As we dandered around Kristian turned to me and said - "Laura, it looks like those people are waiting on something." Then he looked at his watch, it was 11.56am. "I think the Pope is coming out to say something at noon" he said.

 

So off we went into the crowds again. It was then we noticed the big screens, the cameras on the roof pointing to a window, the window had a red cloth hanging from it. Yes indeed, the Pope had heard we were in the crowd and he wanted to come and greet us!

 

 

 At noon a figure appeared at the window and the Pope addressed the crowd. After saying hello to everyone he had one important question to ask. He wanted to know where Laura and Kristian where standing, so we gave him a wave!! haha

The Pope had just started his speech to the crowds, which we didn´t understand, when Kristian and I looked at each other at the same time and said the same thing...."Everyone is here listening to him, that means there will not be too many people waiting to get into St. Peters!! Lets go!! " (We have been married too long!)

We got in line for St. Peters. There was a bunch of us waiting to get in,  but nothing compared to what it could have been. Within 20 minutes we were through security and in the church.

  

 What an amazing place. Once again we were blown away by the craftmanship!!

 We spent a good bit of time in the church just enjoying it all.

 When we were finished and came outside we could not believe the line there was to get in!!! It went right around the Square! People would be standing there for hours. We had done good getting in to the church when we did!

We decided to give the Vatican museum a miss, neither of us were that interested in it, instead we decided to walk up a few hills to a viewing point where we could see over the whole of Rome.

 

 

 It was sooo beautiful.

After walking for miles in the heat, I was starting to wither!! We stopped at this small restaurant and had a pizza each, along with a big cold glass of coke!!!

 It was then time to head back to the hotel. The walk back was amazing - there is always something interesting to see, no matter where you go in Rome.....

After a few hours rest, we freshened up and headed out again. We took a walk around the area just enjoying the atmosphere and the sights. We then headed to a restaurant that I had read about on the web while researching our area. It got fantastic reviews and we wanted to check it out. So of we went to Babette, found down one of the small side streets.

We were not disappointed. The decor was beautiful, just my sort of style. The service was also great, the waiters and waitresses couldn´t do enough for us and the food was delicious!! A bit more exspensive than the other side of the river but worth every penny.

The dessert was to die for!!! I had a white chocolate cake with a soft heart (that´s how it was described on the menu and it was exactly like that) ....oh my it melted in my mouth!!!Kristian had a tiramisu done gourmet style!

We loved it so much that we have decided this is where we want to celebrate our wedding anniversary so we will be back!!