Return to Vatican City

We had an 11:30 Friday morning admission to the Vatican Museums and were on the bus and in a thick traffic jam by 9 AM. When we got to the Laurentina Metro station, it was closed: a Metro transit worker strike! Perhaps the gods really don't want us to see the Vatican Museums, we began to think. But we joined forces with a Swedish couple who had found a bus, already quite crowded, headed into the city center, and hopped aboard. An hour later we hopped off, within walking distance, we thought, of the Vatican.

The bus passed right by the Pyramide, a monument put up by

an emperor or general in the later Empire

Interestingly, one does see Mussolini's name here and there

And everywhere in the old city, there are plots well below

street level, filled with ruins

This one, the "Sacred Area of Largo Argentina," is a whole

city block; four temple ruins

We have become far more discriminating about

whom we ask for directions; Vicki figured

these ladies might know which bus went to

Vatican City

The bus they recommended took us right to St. Peter's

And after another walk, the Vatican Museums,
and, no lines!



Finally, we're in, stopping at the first of many, many gift

stores