The weather bureau forecast rain from tomorrow until the end of the week and we thought it best to make the most of a fine day and catch one of the “hop on, hop off” buses to see the major sites of the city. The tour around twelve major sites took two hours but it could have been quicker except for the Rome traffic. The congestion is on all the streets with scooters and pedestrians weaving in and out of cars and buses. We hadn’t noticed the traffic problem before as we have been catching trains and walking largely in pedestrian only areas. We were in awe of our double-decker bus driver as he was able to come within centimetres of traffic and people and make his way through.
The bus took us past St Peter’s Basilica and large numbers of chairs were being set out. We also passed a poster of Mary MacKillop where the tickets for her canonisation are to be collected.
After our bus ride we visited the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and returned to the Pantheon to have a look inside. The hole in the dome which is 8.3 metres across was much larger than expected and I could well see how the rain can fall through it.
It was a long day as we left at nine o’clock and got back to the apartment at five o’clock.
We had our first set lunch menu of three courses for fifteen Euro each at a little restaurant near the Roman Forum. The service was slow as it was very busy but the wait was worthwhile as he food was very tasty.
After our big lunch we had an Italian-style meal of bread, cheese and sliced meats for our dinner.
Photos: A lane near the Vatican City; Traffic congestion on our bus tour; The Mary MacKillop poster with a gypsy woman sitting behind it begging; The dome of the Pantheon.
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