Day 6 – More Rome

First thing this morning we visited the Crypt of the Cappucin Friars.  It was a short visit (and no photos were allowed) , but was pretty neat.  The site is the burial ground of 4,000 Cappucins, whose bones have been displayed in decorative fashion (best way to describe it).  After returning from the crypt we purchased our bus tickets for the trip to Siena, and visited an Italian gun store – couldn’t help myself they had a big Beretta sign out front.  After a quick bite to eat and stop back at the room, the day really began.

We left the room a little after twelve and headed for the Castel San’t Angelo.  It sits right on the Tiber River and was originally the mausoleum for the emperor Hadrian, but later served as a fortress for the Popes.  We tried to see as much as we could in an hour or so, but had to hurry because we had scheduled our entry to the Vatican Museum, The Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica for 15:00.

If I had to use one word I would say “Overwhelming”.  While there were definitely many interesting artifacts in the Vatican museum, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s were amazing.  The pictures we had seen of the ceiling really didn’t do it justice, and St. Peter’s is just too much.  The place is huge, and every inch of it is ornately decorated.  Michelangelo’s Pieta is also on display there, and it was very cool to see in person.

Neither of these posts really do a good job of describing the days – there’s just not enough time right now.  We managed to cram an incredible amount into 2 very full days.  Rome was a little interesting to navigate (no map is good, and no street is straight) so we saw a little more of the city than we had anticipated.  It’s now 22:30 Thursday night, and we will be on a bus to Siena at 10:40 tomorrow morning.  We have to clean up and pack…