Busler Europe Trip 2011: Day 33 - Back to the Vatican

Day 33 (Oct. 5th) - Today, we went back to the Vatican.

We used our last day's Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) bus tickets to go back to the Vatican to see the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.

The Pope was giving an general audience in front of St. Peter's Basilica when we arrived. He was speaking in Italian, however, I think he was welcoming to the Agape Church Arizona delegation....I could be wrong.

Several touts told us the wait was over 4 hours to get into St. Peter's Basilica and the museum. However, with a 200€ guided tour we could go right in. After walking a ways to get to the museum, we got right in. We followed Rick Steve's tour which had just the right amount of details for girls.

The Pope welcoming us to the Vatican

Belvedere Apollo

"I'm really liking casual Fridays"

Resurrection of Our Lord by Raphael's assistant Pieter van Aelst

Sistine Chapel Ceiling

At the end of the tour, we entered the Sistine Chapel--where the "shhh" police constantly "shhhh" the crowds.

Lunch was in the pizzeria at the Vatican. The pizza was ok, but cheap. We then took our HOHO bus back to our area to have gelato at the same store where stopped yesterday. (Yes, by the end of our trip, the South Beach diet has nearly gone by the way side.)

We then walked around this area. There are ruins several ruins being excavated in the Portico D'Ottavia area. We ended up walking into Santa Maria della Pieta, a church that is currently used by Charismatic Catholics. We were right next to the Jewish Ghetto, so we walked through this area to the Jewish Synagogue. In October 1943, the Jewish and non-Jewish Romans paid a ransom of 50 kg of gold to halt the round up and transfer of Jews to concentration camps.