Part Two, as promised. Here you will see highlights of our time in The Vatican and the picturesque "beach town" of Sorrento.
First, I would like to give you some advice, if you ever have the good fortune to visit the Vatican Museums. If you have the money to do this, find someone you can bribe to let you into the museum before it opens in the morning. Yep, you heard me--before it opens. Once the museum opens, it has floods of visitors through its doors (somewhere in the thousands per day--even in non-peak season!). It is also very easy to get lost in the museum, so I've heard. Sarah and I decided to pay for an actual tour of the Vatican (as we heard of how intricate it was). This was best picture I got in the museum:
This was the flag our tour guide carried with her so we could always find her. Now imagine seeing at least 4 of these flags in one room, and you walk through 20 rooms. Yeah, that's a lot of tours. I appreciated the need for tours (especially tours in multiple languages), I was simply overwhelmed.
The rest of my pictures of the Vatican Museum can be found in the link at the bottom of this post.
(If you are wondering where my pictures are of the Sistine Chapel, you are not allowed to take pictures in there--which didn't stop many tourists being sneaky away from the guards. I wanted to respect the rules. Besides, there is no way the majesty and beauty of the Sistine Chapel could ever be captured in a simple photograph--go and see it if you can!)
Once we got through the Museum and the Sistine Chapel, we made it to St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square.
The Dome.
This was a portion of the ceiling under an archway. I loved the gold!
The view from the front door of the Basilica. This is almost what the Pope sees when he stands on the balcony above my head when I took this picture. Though, I think he sees a lot more people when he looks out :)
The front of the Basilica, but what I love is the couple I was able to photograph as they admired the Basilica together.
I saw these two guys taking turns taking each other's picture in front of the obelisk in the middle of the square. They were doing insane flips and jumps and stuff for the pictures (well, it looked insane to me--I could never do what they were doing). The guy in the red shirt's hat flew away--I helped him get it!
To give you a sense of scale, I asked Sarah for her modeling skills again (can you see her at the bottom?) These are the columns that run around the edges of the Square--really tall!
Front view. By the way--unless you have a helicopter or a lift of some sort, it is difficult to get a decent centered shot of the front of the Basilica and the obelisk. The obelisk will block the Basilica! Anybody want to lend me a helicopter? I so wish......
Nuns taking a selfie with a tourist---love!!!
And now for Sorrento....
Sarah and I stayed in Convents for the majority of our time in Italy. Our one in Rome was run more like a hotel, but this was the entrance to our one in Sorrento--La Culla. We were checked in by Sister Monica. Sarah and I felt like we were in the principal's office when we were in her office!
The view from inside our room. You can't see it from here, but Vesuvius is across the water. Yeah, the volcano. No, it did not erupt, thank God!
This is one view from the three-sided balcony at the top of the convent. That was the train we rode in on. We affectionately nick-named this train "The Sketchy Train." This is due to the numerous warnings Sarah had read about pick-pockets and our own experience with pick-pockets and traveling gypsies on the trains. No, we did not get anything stolen (we refused to take our hands off of our secured bags), but we spotted a few pick-pockets, one of which was very obviously targeting us!
Mount Vesuvius. This guy was actually very difficult to photograph. Not because he was camera shy, but because it was very hazy over the gulf.
I love this photo! It is simply a cactus flower on the balcony at the convent, but it came out beautifully!
The mopeds....I loved the mopeds! In Sorrento, it is much easier to get around in a moped than in a car. Driving laws are more like suggestions in Southern Italy, so mopeds dash in and out of traffic easily.
The view of Sorrento from above. This was the start of our private drive down the Amalfi Coast.
If you ever go to the Amalfi Coast, do invest in a private drive down the coast. The road is incredibly windy with lots of twists and turns, plus the mopeds and tour buses. Trying to navigate it and see the amazing views at the same time is simply not possible.
Our first stop: Positano. In my opinion, it was the most picturesque of the three we visited (Positano, Amalfi, Ravello). We started at the top of this hill and walked down. Tough to walk back up, but beautiful!
Positano from afar. I would go back again in a heartbeat.
Sarah got creative when I asked her to model for me again. This is a yoga pose, though I can't recall which one it is. This little set up was located in the Villa Rufolo in the town of Ravello. It had some beautiful gardens and a stage where they have their summer music concerts. No, we didn't get to go to one.......still a beautiful place to visit.
A sunset view from our (communal) balcony. This was also the place where Sarah and I took a day to recuperate from our first week of intense sightseeing. We could not have picked a better place to sit and relax in Italy. The nuns really know how to pick a spot :)
The last rays of sunshine in Sorrento.
I have many, many more photos than the ones I have shared in these last two posts about Italy--far too many to put them all in the blog. Below are two links that will take you to all of my chosen photos from Rome and Sorrento. More photos of Venice and Verona to come!!
Click: Rome
Click: Sorrento
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