Rome Travel: Coliseum and Vatican Museum

We've had a couple busy days here in Rome seeing the big sights. I didn't take any pictures of our coliseum tour because I forgot my camera. It was stunning - as were the crowds. Although my favourite memory is licking a mango lemon gelato and looking up at the coliseum... We also wandered around a bit of the Palentine hill, but this was after lunch and hot and crowded, so we got back on the hop on hop off bus. The line up to get in to the Coliseum without a tour was absolutely astounding, even now in October. Since our last visit in April of 2008 it has gotten much more about security and there's way more fenced off sadly.

Our friend Angela arranged a guided tour of the Vatican, which included our very own guide for just the 4 of us, and tickets getting us past the crowds. Well, past the line ups outside.

Our guide Christina explaining some of the interesting aspects of this courtyard in the museum.

Famous sculpture

Good crowd shot

Another shot of the crowds.

 The crowds inside were so overwhelming we had a bit of a fight or flight reaction which severely hampered our enjoyment of the artifacts. Also, stone leaves me cold. There's really only so many stone sculptures I can look at and appreciate on any given day.

The tapestry gallery was more my speed, although it would have been nice to know more about the textile itself - but I am obsessive about that sort of thing.

Stalling in the Textile Hall...

Yes, that is my obsessive face.

This scene is from the slaughter of the Jewish infants ordered by Herod - the faces of the women show real anguish - Raphel drew the cartoons for the tapestries which were woven by Flemish weavers in what is now Belgium.

More of the Raphael tapestries

And some more...

I loved this foot in a sandal - imagine how tough their toes were...

Realistic dog and cat in the tapestries.

There's no photos and no talking inside the Sistine Chapel, but Christopher snuck some anyway.

I think by the time we hit the basilica of St. Peter we were a little art drunk and tired because there's no photos. It was big, there's more sculptures. We learned some interesting facts from our guide. All in all, we all agreed that one of our favourite parts was leaving the crowds behind and returning to our lovely calm neighbourhood.