The Vatican Museum

Another great location - 20 minute walk to the Vatican, 20 minutes to The Forum and Ancient Rome, 15 minutes to the Campo Fiori.  Couldn't be better.

But it's Birthday Day and we are getting into the Sistine Chapel no matter what.  The lovely Nicolette tried to book us with a guide she knows, but no response there, so we just head out the door and see what we can see.  As we rounded the corner we could see there was quite a line to get into St. Peter's, but I'd read that the line to the Museum sometimes dropped off after lunch and it was just a few minutes after one.  Since that line is well around the corner from the Basilica, we decided to head that way and take our chances. 

That's when we were intercepted by Esther, a lovely woman from Ghana who had just the tour guide for us and why didn't we just wander over to the other side of the square and meet her, listen to her talk about the history of the Vatican and see if we wanted to take the tour with her, skip all the lines, and and get into St. Peter's after seeing the Sistine Chapel without standing in another line.  How can you possibly say no to that!  And, by the time we walked around the corner we were still under no obligation - no line we were free to head out on our own. 

Well, guess what - no line, just as Mr. Steves had suggested.  But by this time Sonia, the guide had kind of grown on me, the tour was 45 Euros for both of us, and so we went for it.  And am I ever glad we did.  Not that she got us in any quicker than we would have on our own, but she took us through several galleries befoe we got to the Sistine Chapel, leading us through a throng of tourists that was overwhelming.  We had to fight just to keep together - it was far worse than anything I ever expected.

Seeing the look on Alex's face as we entered the Chapel was worth every hour of preperation putting it all together, and every nickel we spent.  Talk about priceless.