The Sistine Chapel, the Pantheon, and the Great Luigi

Walked through the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum on Day 2. Lots of beautiful art and relics from the past. Huge crowds, with the line to get in lasting around four hours. Before visiting Rome, get your tickets several weeks in advance and skip the line. This is a must see for anyone visiting here.

The line to get into the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum. This photo was taken at about the halfway point, around two hours in. Worth the wait, but you don't need to stand in this line. Plan ahead.

It's all Greek to me. For some reason, "Toilets" was usually in English. The language barrier was an occasional issue during this trip. I spent some of my travels in Rome a little confused and wondering if I was heading where I need to go. Thankfully I often found friendly locals who would point me in the right direction and give me instructions in the best English they could. Somehow, I always arrived where I was heading. Often you just need to follow the crowds and hope they are going where you're going.

This piece of art tickled my funny bone once I arrived back at the hotel and had time to take another look. Imagine you had an artist friend who came to you and said, "I have an idea for a new sculpture. What about a naked man laying down with about a dozen babies crawling on him?" You'd likely encourage your friend to come up with a different idea. This is a small part of an art exhibit that draws nearly seven million paid visitors annually.

Trastevere is often called the "cool part of Rome". An interesting neighborhood of narrow roads lined with restaurants, clothing stores and gelato shops, as well as drinking establishments. I ate my first delicious supli there. I wandered the cobblestone stone streets people watching and wondering how many were locals and how many were tourists. I'm glad locals were able to direct me toward the number 3 bus so I could finally arrive here. Highly recommended.

Of course I visited the Pantheon this morning. The oldest non-reinforced concrete dome in the world. This building opened for use in 125 A.D.

My chariot during this visit was the Rome Metro, a three-line train system that connects the city and offers stops close to most of the famous tourist attractions. Here's some onboard entertainment from a man I call the Great Luigi. You can catch him live on the Metro B line. This performance was recorded between Termini Station and San Giovanni earlier today.

Thank you, Rome, for an entertaining visit.