After the flea market and resting up a bit back at the apartment we headed into Rome on the bus 170. We intended to get off at Piazza Venezia but the bus was so crowded that we could not see out and ended up at the end of the line…the Termini station. We were literally packed so tight we couldn’t move. Is this off season? It didn’t matter, we never had any plans so walking around from there was just as good.

Rome is crazy high energy and the traffic is insane and even though it was October there were still many tourists.  As it turns out we discovered on another evening that this day was actually fairly quiet in comparison.

There were lots of people making their way to various hotels pulling suitcases over the cobbles and people taking pictures everywhere.

The buildings of Rome are colossal, and of course there is history and excavations and restorations at every turn of a corner.

The hotels in this area are very upscale and even the building that houses McDonalds is beautiful.

There are lots of lovely cafes under the colonnades and stands selling souvenirs beverages and snacks.

Some of the things we saw were:

Fountain of the Naiad

an ancient wall and the baths of Diocleation that have been converted into a church.

Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri

We headed back on the 170, we needed to rest up for the next day. This was going to be the first scheduled event for us. I booked the Vatican museum and the Sistine chapel for the next day. I purchased the voucher on line at the Vatican website so we could skip the ticket purchasing queue.  We printed out a map and directions before leaving home.

I pulled out all our maps and tickets that we brought with us and used my new portable office to check out what bus to take.

My office on the road

Their directions were from the airport or Rome central.

—http://www.atac.roma.it/files/doc.asp?r=383

I had a little trouble setting my alarm clock as it was on a new phone. I had to set the date and time to Rome first. Our appointment was for 10:00 and we could not be late.

I didn’t plan a lot ahead for this trip as I new from studying art history that it would get overwhelming if I tried to fit too much in.  There was just so much that I would like to see, it would have been hard to choose.

I thought a very loose itinerary was better and it was low season. If we had to wait in a long line we could pick something else. My spouse prefers this, but normally I have to book skip the line in high season, because of my inflammation. Going in October is giving us a chance to take it more day by day.

Not visiting the Sistine chapel would have been the one thing in Rome that really would have disappointed so I purchased tickets ahead.

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html