Friday morning ... another beautiful clear day begins with a short taxi ride to Rome's Termini station to catch the 9:15 to Brescia station in Firenze, a trip of about 80 minutes, giving us some time to bring this blog up to date.

Never in my life have I been squished into such small spaces with so many thousands of people as at the Vatican yesterday. Beyond comprehension. We arrived for the early time slot right at 9 am, thinking we might beat the worst of the crowds. I suppose this gave us a small advantage as far as temperature goes, outside at least. This was of no help at all inside the incredibly vast Vatican museums. We decided to go directly to the Sistine Chapel first.  Of course David has been there before and taught Michelangelo for many years but I was a newby, all agog, my head turned up to the ceiling trying to  grasp it all.  It's so simply fantastic that it is overwhelming. Thank you Pope Julius ll.

The Sistine is now astonishingly vibrant compared to the sooty old days, after the  restoration (paid for by Sony, I think, who were then given exclusive rights to photograph the process and the result). The endless queues reveal whatever we could glimpse of the huge collection of antiquities and an amazing modern collection I had never seen, including beautiful small oils by Guido Morandi, some Bacon, Dali, Cezanne, Matisse, and more contemporary stuff as well. 

After spending about 45 minutes holding the back of my head up in the Sistine, David wanted to see the Stanze di Raphaello.  (David note to Gary: I think these too have been recently restored and they are spectacular – the School of Athens ... wow!) We somehow got back in the deadly queue and nearly expired on the way.  Thank God we made it out and went to the Basilica di San Pietro, where we immediately saw the Pieta.  How did Michelangelo know how to turn cold, hard marble into melting surrender; a sight to break even the coldest of hearts.

We walked away feeling small and exhausted.  Wandering around the Vatican City, we hoped to find a reasonably priced spot to eat lunch.  Presto, we found Trattoria Vaticano Giggi!  So authentico, and local, full of Mafiosi, great food, wine for 1.50 Euro a glass,

our best bargain yet. Lunch, perfetto!

Home for a nap, then a bus ride to the Piazza Venezia and the Victor Emmanuel monument (the wedding cake) and the Campidoglio, Michelangelo's ''perfect piazza"

The surprise here is the tucked away balcony where you have a fantastic view of the Forum.  The sun was just glancing off the Colosseo to our left and lighting the sky pink to our right.  We stopped to marvel (again!) and carried on our way to visit the Fontana di Trevi one more time.  Just as crowded at 7pm as it was at 11 am, and full of happy lovers kissing and posing for the camera.  One gentleman seemed to be making it his home away from home as he was washing his feet and brushing his teeth at one of the side pumps!  When in Rome!

Dinner around a corner to the accompaniment of a lovely older fellow serenading us with an accordion.  Volare, and a very full moon!

Ciao bella!