I'm not terribly certain anyone is reading these posts anymore, but I've enjoyed chronicling our trip regardless of that small fact. We left Montepulciano by taxi to Chiusi where we took the train back to Rome. We again stayed close to the train station since we were now more familiar with the area.
Since a good portion of our morning was spent on the train, we decided to see some of the "quick hit" sights in the afternoon. We started with the Cappuchian Crypt since Greg was really into seeing crypts. If you know me at all, you know that this is not my cup of tea....seeing dead monks' bones artfully arranged on the walls and floor. It was a lovely afternoon, so we strolled on over to the Spanish Steps. I'm not certain we saw much of the steps since they were crawling with tourists. Luckily, we were really just en route to the Pantheon yet another amazing Roman structure.
Our last day in Rome is what I would like to call our Catholic Day. We spent the entire day at the Vatican. We arrived to S. Peter's square late in the morning to a mind-boggling crowd to enter the Basilica. Thankfully, it only took 40 minutes to wait, pass through security and enter the Basilica. Wowzers! The place is crazy big with a seven story alter canopy (built on the supposed tomb of St. Peter), Mass occurring in a smaller alcove, dead Popes tucked into nooks, Michelangelo's Pieta statute, St. Peter's kissable toe and the spot where Charlemagne was crowned. After lunch, we were off to the Vatican Museum and four miles of art collected and commissioned by the Church. The museum ends in the Sistine Chapel where we were able to the enjoy the recent (1999) restoration of Michelangelo's frescoes.
Well, that was supposed to be our last day in Rome, but the 2 1/2 hours we allotted to make our flight was not enough. Several hundred dollars later, a night spent in Fuimicino and we were finally off to Atlanta.
