The Last Post or Doing the Vatican Rag

Early start again and then off to do the Vatican Rag.

Queue to enter the Vatican Museum in the off season!

We meet our guide Simone and manage to avoid the riff-raff.

Most normal people would take years to absorb all that is in the Vatican Museum but we can take it all in, in a mere 3 hours.

Laocoon feeling pretty snakey

Louie and Arabella for Ella

Apollo minus wedding tackle

Cherubs for Ella

This is what happens if you are caught taking photos in the Sistine Chapel

We leave the Sistine Chapel via the back passage and emerge into St Peter's, the largest church in the world designed by Michalangelo and decorated by Bernini.

Mrs Christ and the boy

Bernini

Bernini

How good is the boy Bernini

All mosaics

Yep, its that Bernini again

We then admire the structure from outside

Hey Ludwig, how much for one of those fancy pocket knives?

and then admire our lunch.

We stroll around the area, indulge in some very fine gelato and finish the day off with some retail therapy.

To all my thousands of loyal followers, I thank you and have a very nice New Year!!!

Bogging in with Borghese and Bernini

Early start to the Villa Borghese for a look at some art stuff including our favourite sculptur of all time, Mr. Bernini. We have 2 hours to fill our heads with everything in this gallery.Bernini was a top man in his field and much loved by the popes.

Done at age 11(when I was still just mastering fingerpainting)

Put me down you big lug

Eat stone, Goliath

Apollo and Daphne-created at age 20

Then it is time for pastries and a cappucino and then lunch at a local trattoria.

We then mosey on over to the Trevi Fountain now called the Trevi Scaffolding-a fine example of rennaisance formwork.

Then of course it is time for our afternoon gelati before retiring to our digs after meeting our twins.

Frank and Robyn become Carravagisti and Lazarenes

An early start and it out to meet our docent for the Carravagio Tour, but not before a simple yet nutritious breakfast.

Our docent is Dr Lauren from England and what she does not know about the big C is not worth knowing. She manages to transfer all her knowledge to us using a type of metaphysical cut and paste technique, so much so that whereas at the beginning of the tour we were dedicated mannerists, by the end we were devout realists! Anyway, these are the paintings we saw and discussed at length- as far as art is concerned we now divide history into before C and after C.

Our brain being so stuffed full of knowledge we decide to do the same for our stomachs-so it is off to the trattoria for victuals followed by a visit to our favourite gelato shop where we are completely stonkered after our 3rd serving of blissful joy.

New Fiat 500 vs Old Fiat 500

In the evening it is by taxi to the Olimpic Stadio to see our beloved Lazio take on the might of Sampadoria, the scum of the north. The taxi ride turns out to be one of many near death experiences tonight. After passing through 4 security checks and being searched 3 times we find our seats among the die-hard Lazarenes. The proceedings start with a real eagle flying into the stadium and alighting on a perch and then the fun begins. I was surprised that all spectators spectate while standing on the seats for the whole game; there is continuous raucous singing, with huge banners, flares and explosions from time to time-a real tribal event. We seemed to be the only 2 people in the stadium not to be chain smoking. Fortunately, Lazio won 3-0 so that none of the players needed to be crucified along the Appian Way, a charming tradition dating back to the days of Nero.

Following the match we somehow manage to find a taxi who is also from the no holds barred school of driving including driving on the tram lines to bypass the traffic.

Roamin' around Rome

Today we have nothing booked so we decide to make our own tour.
We head out to the Pantheon where we are completely alone apart from the other 10000 tourists.

Time for quiet contemplation

Elephant for Ella

JC by Mike

Then on to various art galleries and then to one of my favourite parts of the day, lunch-pizza Roman style. We then enjoyed the peaceful solitude of Piazza Navona, along with 25000 tourists including glimpses of Bernini's fountain of the 4 rivers-the Yarra, the Murray, the Todd and the Murrumbidgee.

We head back to the billet to recover from all this solitude and then it is out to dinner at a local trattoria.