Day 7 - Walk to the Vatican

We walked over to the the Vatican today, as figured it's likely to be too busy over the rest of the weekend with Easter approaching next week.  We knew it would be a fair walk, so we decided to take it easy and take in a few sites on the way, if we could.

It was a bit chilly - it had been really cold last night - and we had our waterproofs at the ready in case it rained.  We headed out past near the Roman forum and Trajan's column - may well go back there tomorrow - and then stopped at the Victor Emmanuel Monument just to look around briefly.

After that, we headed along the Tiber towards the Vatican so we could look at the buildings and bridges as we went.   With the day being overcast, it wasn't quite as Lucy and I remembered it when we walked the same route 10 years ago in the sunshine, but it was pleasant enough.

We stopped for lunch before heading to St Peter's square and the prices around that area are extortionate.  We paid 35 Euros for just some sandwiches and soft drinks, regretting we hand't bought some pre-made stuff earlier to take with us.

When we got to the square, the sun was shining and we had a chance to sit down for a rest.  The queue to get into the cathedral was 3 hours long - last time we'd just walked straight in!  As we'd been there before and figured the boys wouldn't be interested, we decided to just have a rest and not face the queue.

Lucy and the boys in front of St Peter's

After our break, we headed a different route back to the hotel, passing the Spanish steps on the way,  It was packed out and you could barely see the steps for all the people sitting on them.  A bit of a shame but we'll revisit them over the weekend and hopefully enjoy them in all their glory.

The crowded Spanish steps

Passed a few fountains on the way back and then stopped in our room to freshen up and have a good couple of hours rest before dinner.  The boys were convinced we'd walked about 20 miles today, so we checked out the distance on the laptop and it turned out we'd done over 6 miles - pretty good going for them.  We went for a Chinese tonight as we were all desperate for a change from pasta and pizza and we all enjoyed it - even better, it only cost 3 Euros more than lunch!

Luke's joke of the day:
Luke: I broke my leg in 2 places

Jon: Really, where?

Luke: Venice and Rome!