Tuesday 27th May

Day 4 On the alien planet....just kidding, Rome is getting better every day and so is the heat!

Ciao mia amici!
Today we met our tour guide Heinz at the Ottaviano metro station and walked to the Vatican Museum. It was only early in the morning and it we were already starting to sweat in the 30 degree heat. Heaps of of people were lining up but we were lucky because we were already booked in. First thing we did was go outside into the garden and he talked about the Sistine Chapel and how every person in the painting was a real person living during that time. After some time we went inside and looked at ancient marble sculptures. We then walked through room after room including the tapestry room and the map room and finally arrived at the Sistine Chapel! The ceiling was amazing and not one inch on the room was left unpainted. Michaelangelo must have been pretty keen to finish the whole room. Sorry, no pictures were allowed so you will have to look it up on google.

Continuing our journey through the vatican we went into St Peters Basilica. In the bible Jesus said to Peter "You are my rock and on this rock I build my church and they did it literally". Saint Peter's Basilica is built on top of Saint Peter's tomb. We took lots of pictures so you can see for yourself. It was amazing and the ceiling was so high! It makes our churches look tiny! Heinz then left us and we split upinto two groups. One climbed to the Cupola, which is the top of the basilica and the other group went down to the catacombs and saw past popes including Pope John Paul 2nd. We met for lunch in the colonnades and two reporters (your bloggers for today) had a close encounter with a pigeon! We caught the metro from Ottaviano to the Termini station and shopped till 4.30 but two of these shopoholics took till 5.00!!!!! But luckily they picked up some groovy bargains.

We went back to our hotel and freshened up, ready for some bush tucker at the Il Gladiotore. Dinner was different to what we thought it would be but doesnt beat mums home made goodies. Sarah (our tourguide) then led us into the centre of Rome for a night tour. The Trevi Fountain looks SPECTACULAR at night! Everyone grabbed gelato and we really recommend arancia (orange). Che molto Buono! We then started making our way to Piazza Navona and on the way we met our good friend Pinocchio! We heart you pinocchio and you look really woody in the photos! At Piazza Navona there were lots of talented artists selling paintings. The metro had shut by this time of night so we had to catch two buses to get back to our hotel. Our feet were aching an it was really hard to keep your balance on an Italian bus. When we finally got back to our hotel we collapsed for the night and didn't move until we woke up the next morning!

Still tired now while were writing this on the bus on our way to Assisi.

Ciao for now!

This blog has been presented to you by the Google Bloggers: Emilia, Teresa and Kelsey

Look out for our next edition on this alien planet on day 12!