The Vatican and other Rome, Italy Things to Do Tips

The first thing I did in Rome was get a hop on hop off bus ticket valid for 24 hours. about the 5th stop for me was the Vatican, I got off and stayed there for most of the rest of the day.

Its awe inspiring, inspirational, humbling in a way, a treasure trove of art works, a masterpiece of engineering, all this and more (and I am not Catholic)

Entering St Peters Square is a feeling all on its own, you have seen this place in the news, in TV broadcasts, and suddenly here you are yourself. The symetry of the place is perfectand it does have a special feel.

When you finally enter the Basilica (through the security control) and there is no fee to enter, a rareity these days, again you are overawed with the sheer size and beauty of the place. There is so much to see here, if you are one of the faithful, there is generally a service going on that you can partake in, or side chaples that you can have some quiet time in.

The St Peter Catacombes are open to the public generally and are situated below the main altar. There are also a reasonable number of Sarcophagi on display, some with glass walls so you can actually see the odd Pope or 2 from the past.

The Swiss Guards who guard the Vatican are all Swiss Nationals, and supposedly wear a uniform designed by Michaelangelo.

The Musems I will write about seperatly along with the Sistine Chapel.

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First thing to do is get up really early, have breakfast, and get to the entry point as early as you can. The queue's for so fast and when our group arrived 1/2 hour befor opening the queue was already like 1/2 mile long.

The vatican museum's are incredible. They are extremly well set out, and quite easy to follow the map. A guided tour is good as you get the benefit of the guides local knowledge of the exhibits. There are mile and milre of corridors and you get to see only a fraction of them. I want to gop back some day and get to see some of the ones that I didnt' see.

Some of the ones that come to mind are the Map Gallery, The Tapestry Gallery and so it goes on and on and on.

The Sistine Chapel is the highlite of the tour and is kind of mind blowing. There is supposed to be silence there (very very hard to control) and no photography (which they try to control)

Its well worth seeing

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A must go to in Rome.

Its incredible to view this monument remembering whet happened here in it's hey day. It gives a taste of what life would have been like in ancient Rome and indeed in the entire ancient Roman Empire.

When I was there, they were doing some type of restoration work, but it was not really intrusive on what you saw. You need to climb to the top to get the full impression of the shere size of the structure.

A friend of mine is a professional photographer, and was planning to be in Rome at the same time I was. Unfortunatly she was unable to get there, but we were going to meet a midnight at the Colosseum and take some photos with no flash using a 1600asa film with available light. Apparently there can be some very suprising results when doing this at the Colosseum. The night I was going to go by my self, it poured down - the only rain I had during my entire trip - go figure. So the photography at midnight excursion will have to wait till next time, and there WILL be a next time I can assure you.

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The Roman Forum is a facinating place to visit. It was here that all the decisions about the Holy Roman Empire and its citizens were made. Just wandering around you can feel the ambiance of the place and the history. There is enough remaining of most of the structures that you can get a reaslistic impression of the size, scale and relativity of the forum. Work is still being done here, so more and more is being made available for the public to see.

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This is one of the many things to definatly see in Rome

At the bottom are some of Romes beautiful fountains (and there are so many of them) and at the top, a magnificent church to visit.

It is one of the most popular places in Rome so generally crowded all the time during the day.

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The Trevi Fountain is in a little square (the fountain itself almost fills it,) and in like a back street, but it would get nearly every tourist that comes to Rome to come visit.

Its a wonderful feat of engineering and sculpture

And there is a shop right oposite that I got a great tie at as well :)

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The fountains in Rome are world famous and rightly so. They are everywhere, all ornate in some way, generally all dis-similar form the others in their own unique way. They are so famous that a famous piece of music "The Fountains of Rome" was written by Respighi.

They are well worth a trip round Rome to see

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I went for a walk from my hotel one morning, and guess what, there I was in front of the Rome Opera House.

Me being an Opera fan, I went to see what was on, and found out it was the closing night of the season that night.

I went inside to find out about prices, and walked out with a great seat in the stalls, for a discounted price - I was to see Fidelio.

The performance that night was superb, packed, and wandering round the foyers was a real treat.

I would reccomend anyone to go if they can get to a performance.

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Address: Via Viminal
Directions: Not far from the Plaza de Republica

Well within walking distance from Termni, this church is a lovely place to visit.

It has a mid 18th century facarde with an off centre bell tower.

The ceiling is wonderful as are many of the mosaics.

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Address: Esquiline Hill
Directions: Just a few blocks from Termni, down Via Cavore

This (basilica actually) is a little way out of the centre of Rome, but well worth the effort.

It is the 2nd largest Basilica in Rome and features some wonderful art.

Many of the colums in the cloister areas are wonderfully detailed as well.

An interesting point is the head portraits of all the popes at the top or the walls.

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Directions: Take metro line "B" to S.Paolo, and its a very easy walk