Rome-St Peters Dome and Basilca de San Pietro

Having booked Rome for my sons 13th Birthday it was crazy to find out that Conclave was taking place the same week.

In some ways it was great as we got to see the pope, in others it was a bit of a shame as we did not get to see the Sistine chapel, which I was hoping to see.

Charlie had long since decided that he wanted to go to the Colosseum, so as he only turns 13 once why not, and it allows me to better advise on where to stay and understand the layout of Rome.

We stayed at the Hotel San Remo, It'sas you would expect for a 3 star hotel, a place to lay your head, breakfast was ok, location turned out to be very good. The staffs was friendly, the receptionist all spoke good English. The room was a triple which was big enough and clean, the shower was good but the furniture as a bit tired.

I have never done so much in such a short space of time. But we were on a mission;

therefore I am going to break the blog up a bit.

As Conclave did not start until the next day, it seemed important to go to the Vatican ton the first day; the queue in St. Peter’s Square was about 30 min long, which I thought was good considering; I read it could be up to 2.5 hours long. We declined the tours offered by the reps outside, which turned out to be one of the best decisions. The time in the queue allowed us to take in the sites of the Square, The Baroque Architecture was excellent, and the view of the Basillca di San Pietro you can never get board of.

The fountains’ also provided free drinking water should you need to top up your bottles.

 We decided we wanted one of the tours that the Vatican offered, so when we got through the queue we went to the well signed office, where we booked to go around San Pietro which for the three of us it cost 50 euros. As we had a bit of time before it started they suggested we go down to the crypt or up to the dome, Now as I am afraid of heights you would think we took the crypt, but it was not my Birthday.

Scary but worth it!!!!!!!!?

The sights of Rome; you would think might be what compelled me to join them, but you would be wrong- it was the through of seeing Michelangelo’s works in St Peters Dome. We had the choice between a walk up the tower or a paying a small amount for the lift to take you about half way up.

We took the lift but walked back down, which was incredibly dole, you do not miss out on anything but going dizzy and exercise.

When you get out of the lift you are on the roof, this is a broad area where you feel safe and secure and can enjoy the sites without getting to close to the edge, (My Husband and son took all of the photos).

This is now the point of no return as once you go up the steps there is not much chance of going back down. We went up in to the dome where a mezzanine is, you can walk almost half the way around the Dome, but you can see down and is not for the faith Hearted.

This is an experience I never plan to repeat, However I am glad I done it. It's such an incredible place to be. I was holding onto the wall for dear life, so got quite intimate with the wall mosaics. Why do we never do anything like this in the UK? So beautiful.

You then have to go at least a quarter of the way around the dome to the next door, where you go up a lot of steps and in some areas its quite closed in, especially when the path starts to bend in and you know that you are leaning on the dome if you touch the wall (I know its very safe, but you were just looking at it and you know what you are leaning on, and how high up you are).

  

You then go into a spiral staircase (which steps that are castle tower like) and up to the very top of the dome to see Rome in all of her glory. This also gives you a chance to see the Vatican Gardens from high and take a breather before the dreaded trip down.

So pleased that I done it, I curse my vertigo for not allowing me to enjoy it more- but I know have the pictures to enjoy now.

We then made our way to the tour which we got given headsets to hear the guide with, this was one of the highlights of the trip, the guide was informative, discussed a lot of history, art and the crazy man that defaced  The Peata. Yes there was details about the Popes in the tour which was informative and interesting, considering not all of us are religious. It was a well constructed tour with time for Q&A afterwards.

You can not go to Rome and miss this site, you would be mad to!!!!