{Travel} Italy-Day 3 Vatican City

I'm back with our Italian anniversary adventure after an unintended blog break. We were visiting College Girl with City Girl and I was soaking in the family time. Now that I'm home I can concentrate on the trip again.

To catch up, you can start here.

On Day 3 we were up bright and early to get to our tour of the Vatican.  We planned to take the subway but the station near our hotel was closed.  We found another sign for the metro but we couldn't find the entrance we ended up taking at a taxi.

We were extra early for our tour but also extra tired so we went into Caffé Vaticano which was right by our meeting spot for the tour and where we asked the taxi driver to drop us off.

We sat down and had a cappuccino.  Our bill was 17 euro but I guess we got off pretty easily compared to some other tourists (a quick Google search and you'll see people's super high bills). It's a great location but be warned, prices are super inflated.

Waiting for our tour to begin.

We had booked the Faster Than Skip The Line Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica Tour through Tripadvisor.com before our trip.

We knew the lines could be crazy long at the Vatican and also heard it's better to get there as early in the morning as possible because the crowds get bigger as the day goes on.  Here's our tour guide Christian getting us ready for the tour.

He gathered us inside first at a meeting place and gave us a bathroom break while he got our tickets. We had to keep our headsets on so we could hear him when it was time to reconvene. It was so crowded inside already, I don't know how he kept track of us. We were a group of about 20 but some tours were much larger.

We started the tour in this courtyard outside.

Christian was a historian and so knowledgeable. He really made the tour with his history and humor. 

He gave us a couple of breaks to walk around and take photos while also giving us so much history and information about the Vatican Museums,  St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.

I'm  sharing a few photos from our tour of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica. No photos are allowed in the Sistine Chapel but we had some time there to take it all in. It's incredible.

The tour ended outside where we could see the window of the Pope's apartment (except the current Pope doesn't stay there). This is also where they have huge Papal masses.

The Swiss Guards who protect the Pope and the Vatican hold traditional weapons but are also fully armed bodyguards.

One last shot before we go!

We decided to walk around the surrounding area after the tour.

We had lunch at Borgosteria long this quiet street.

More delicious pizza and a welcome respite after a full morning of walking and touring.  We took the Metro back and it was easy!

My evening outfit.

Walking around our Trevi neighborhood at night...

...finding a restaurant for dinner.

That pasta!

Later we explored our street a little...

...and found this amazing building right around the corner!

Another fantastic day in Italy!

to be continued..

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