Rome- Bus Tour, Nationazle museum, Leanardo's Exhibit & the Pope is elected

It was conclave when we went out to Rome, we thought that it would be a while before the pope was elected but we were fortunate enough to be in the area when it was announced.
It was an incredible experience as we were about 10 mins walk from the Vatican and the bells
started to Ring out all over Rome, people just started to run towards the Vatican, the traffic became instantly jammed. 
I tried to get Craig and Charlie to see the smoke earlier in the day and suggested we try to see the smoke but they were not interested- that was until the announcement of course. We then joined the masses to get to the Square.
It was a shame we did not speak Latin or Italian as we had no idea what was said until we got back to the hotel and watched the news. The atmosphere was concert like, and a once in a lifetime experience for us.  My Catholic Nan would have been pleased.

Bus Tour
We decided to take the tour bus ,which to be honest we should have on the first day as it would have saved our legs, but then again we would have not seen all of the sites we saw or used the train service (which was like the London underground and just as easy).
We decided to take the loop which took us around passed the Vatican and stopped at most of the main sites. The audio tour was informative as well.

Nationazle Museum

We went to the Nationazle Museum which was interesting and offered an excellent insight of Rome and Italy’s historical events. We almost gave up on the museum as a lot of the artefacts when you entered was described in Italian without English translations, but further on there was translations. It made the visit interesting, but I would not go back.

 Leonardo Exhibit
We then went to Leonardo exhibit, which is a temporary exhibit- (3 years I think they said they have been there for). We saw it from the bus trip and personally thought that it should be a permit exhibition. Charlie loved it as well, we all did, and it’s what most UK museums try to do with becoming interactive with the public. A lot of his inventions were built and displayed, a lot you could play with - and we did.
The staff were friendly and informative, the images and descriptions of the inventions were excellent- This is a must see for all.
The gift shop was excellent and a catapult was purchased for Charlie to build on the plane home- Apologies to the kind gentleman that got shot.

 
Food
I want to mention the cost of Food was quite high when you went to restrantant however they do a beer and food option in so resturants that were cheap but unfortunelty we felt it wasnt approatie for us with Charlie present, however if you are going by yourself I would recommend this option. Also during the day there were excellent vehicles where you could purchase hot food and sandwiches from, they reminded me of the vans you get at fun fairs but highly decorated. Museums cafe where reasonable and offered good cuppas. There is free water fountains all over Rome so if you enjoy your water you will not have a problem.