Story behind the photo - Rome

The next stop on our whistle-stop tour of Europe was Rome, where we had a roughly a day-and-a-half to explore the city. The first night, we were taken on a walking tour, which covered many of the main sights of Rome. So far, so good, and I was enjoying the city.

Then our full day in Rome happened. It was a Sunday, and happened to be the last Sunday of the month - which means people can get into the Vatican Museums for free. As you can imagine, this makes for long queues. And a long time standing in the queue. And people who don't know how to queue and/or don't understand the concept of personal space. The queuing was worth it though......when we made it inside the musueums, the people I was with and I made a fairly speedy trip through the amazing collection of artworks to the Sistine Chapel.....one word: jaw-dropping. We weren't able to get into St Peter's Basilica, so left the museums and had lunch close by.

Which is where this photo comes in. After lunch, we headed towards the main part of Rome, walking past Castel Sant-Angelo (which was featured in Dan Brown's book Angels and Demons, and also in the film of the same name) and across the bridge in this photo, the Ponte Sant'Angelo. Originally built by the Roman emperor Hadrian, it is now a pedestrian-only bridge (and really busy, too). You might not be able to tell from this photo, but all the statues are of different angels.

For a few reasons (crowds + the Giro d'Italia being on + me being a little bit tired of the constant travelling) Rome didn't live up to expectations. Next stop (and the city I was perhaps looking forward to the most) Venice.