Selfie-ing in Rome

I have visited Rome once before, but nestled in between trips to Santorini and Florence, the big city was daunting and I left feeling like Rome was just another big city. I knew I had not truly appreciated the history and grandeur that is Rome, so when I learned I would be returning, I was really excited. Read More...

Rome is clearly not on the coast so we had to take a bus ride from the Port of Civitavecchia into the city, right up to our first stop- Vatican City! Visiting Vatican City can be a full day adventure, so I had had to skip it in my last trip to Rome, so I made sure we got our skip-the-line passes this time so I would not miss out again.

The tour guides tell you a ton of information before you even enter as it is quite frowned upon to be talking up a storm inside the museums, and especially the Sistine Chapel.

We pushed our way through the crowded hallways and emerged onto the grass.

I have heard it said before, but you truly cannot describe what it's like inside the Vatican Museums. Every crevice of every hallway (even the roped off portions) are beautiful and detailed.

So, without interruption (maybe some) here are a collections of pictures from inside the Vatican Musems.

Even the corners of the floors were cool.

I quite enjoyed the lions...

As we all know, no photography is allowed inside the Sistine Chapel. As awesome as it was, it was sort of a letdown.
It was so crowded and of course, there were still people speaking. It was a surreal experience and I can imagine that if it were truly quiet, it would have been even more powerful.

When you are shoved next to a tour group shushing each other and secretly (not) whispering to each other, it seems to lose just a bit of its magical quality.

After visiting the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, we emerged back into the sunlight for a pop into St. Peter's Basilica.

Another awesome thing about Vatican City is that its the world's smallest internationally recognized independent state, complete with its own post office!

I picked up a postcard and made sure to put on the special Vatican stamp, although I kept it for selfish reasons instead of mailing it out.

The chairs were all set out in the square as the pope had just given a public address the day before and was set to give another one in a few days.

We set off past Capital Square...

and ended close to the Roman Forum.

As I have mentioned, I recently purchased a selfie stick.
They are ideal for traveling as I can take as many pictures of the colosseum as I want, but guess what? You could google those pictures yourself, and they would probably mean the same thing.
But, it makes it so much more personal when you are also in the picture.

So I made sure to get a few selfies in Rome.

We trudged back to the bus for another long trip back to the port, already dreaming of what we would get to do on our next stop.