Lots of walking, Lots of History1

Greetings from Roma!
Tuesday May 11th was a spectacular day! We had our private tour of the Vatican with our wonderful and adorable tour guide Silvia, a young woman who is incredibly knowledgeable about just about everything.

Vatican City was amazing and the Sistene Chapel was beautiful and made me cry! We were able to visit the tombs of many of the popes including Pope John Paul II and we viewed the tomb of St. Peter. St. Peter!!!! That is amazing!
We toured St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square and saw some original apartments of a number of popes from centuries ago.
Later on in the day, we walked through the Palantine and the Roman Forum and saw the Trevi Fountain and along the way we stopped to visit every church. The Roman Forum was also amazing because there are these pieces of roman architecture just laying about on the ground as as well as seeing parts of the Temple of Saturn and the Temple of Romulus. These gems are smack in the middle of a very busy and bustling city. We did lots of walking and saw lots of people and lots of tourists.
The Sistine chapel is beyond words. The art by Michelangelo is so spectacular and so huge and so brilliant (especially since the work has been totally restored). The only issue was that there were so many tourists in the same spot, it took away from the solemnity of the chapel and was hardly meditative even though the guards kept reminding people that the chapel was a sacred space.
We dropped into bed after 10pm last night, exhausted after a full day of walking what seemed like about 10 miles.
Food is magnificent and dinner was at Al Moro close to the Via Corso but on a cute little side street. We ate outside, very romantic and chic with beautiful candlelight. We share an incredible antipasto full of meats enjoying great slices of crusty italian bread (no butter..Tim was bummed!) and a delicious al moro pasta also as a shared dish that was a very light carbonara. We each enjoyed the most tender veal dishes; Tim had a veal and porcini mushroom dish and I had veal scallopine which was light but filling.
No dessert or espresso for us last night but we enjoyed a starlight sky as we walked a few miles of a brisk walk back to the Hotel Lancelot. Another magical day together!
Gail & Tim