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Toni booked our weekend in Rome, her last minibreak before returning home, way back in September. On Friday 10 December,
Tracey, Toni and I headed to Stansted and off to Rome on the good old RyanAir. The weekend began with hysterics as we drank
wine and got louder and louder. So loud, apparently, that it warranted a woman from four rows back to come and "shush" us.
Can you imagine! (It wasn’t me!) When that didn’t work, she said the stewardess! As Tracey so aptly noted, that
wouldn’t have happened on easyJet (where she saw far worse…)
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| Inside St Peters Basilica |
We found our
hotel, not too far from the station, and collapsed into bed. Toni and I had a
full itinerary for Saturday. Tracey had been to Rome
before, so after breakfast she went back to bed and Toni and I headed out. We
jumped on the metro and headed west to the Vatican. I was disappointed that there was no visible sign that we were entering
the world’s smallest country – no border control or even signage.
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| Toni in St Peters Square |
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| The elliptical St. Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro) |
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| Michelangelo's Pietà, behind glass after a vandalism attack in 1972 |
Our first
visit was to St Peter's basilica, the world’s largest church, built from 1506 and largely designed by Michaelangelo.
It was quite extraordinary inside; huge and beautifully adorned.
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| Bernini's gilded bronze tabernacle, made from bronze taken from the Pantheon |
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| The cupola of St Peters |
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