Day 2 Rome Vatican Museum

Had a wonderful tour of the Vatican Museum today including Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. Truly a once in a lifetime chance to see one of the world's most amazing sights. No photos in the chapel but you can take pictures of the post cards in the gift shop 😃

I must have taken a hundred photos of the amazing artwork within the Vatican museum. Here's a sample:

Day 1 - Flight to Rome

After almost a year of waiting, our trip is finally here! Left Dulles on Lufthansa for the transatlantic flight to Frankfurt. Smooth flight and caught a little sleep. Arrived in a rainy Frankfurt but we never left the airport so not a big deal. I did take the opportunity to have a butter brexel (pretzel) while waiting for our flight to Rome.

Flight to Rome was also a smooth one. Arrived and were greeted by Viking staff who escorted up to our bus for the 40 min drive to our hotel. Once there we checked in and decided to explore the city. Since it was Sunday afternoon, not a many people or cars on the streets but still lots of folks strolling on the warmer than usual (57 degrees) December day. Our first stop was the Trevi Fountain which is one of the highlights of any trip to Rome. This panoramic shot shows the size of the crowd admiring this beautiful land mark.

From here we walked to the Parthenon, a temple build to honor the goddess Athena around 447 BC. So far this is the oldest structure we've ever seen and it's still in amazing shape. Ah Rome.

Lots of interesting sights everywhere in Rome. Here are a few of the highlights from our first day.

Our Western Mediterranean Viking Cruise

We are only one day from embarking on this amazing Western Mediterranean Explorer Cruise. We are flying into Rome (by way of Frankfurt) and have booked the two-night extension to have the chance to get over our jet lag. Of course we also get to experience the ancient Roman city as well as the Vatican. So much history and culture to absorb.

We will be cruising the Mediterranean on Viking's ship the Sun. Not as large as an ocean liner so we are hopeful that means less crowded boarding and disembarking. This is our fourth Viking cruise but the first one that isn't a river cruise.

Even though we haven't started our journey it's already shaping up to be one of our greatest thanks to a last minute upgrade of our room by Viking! We have been moved from the 5th deck up to the 8th to experience a Penthouse Junior Suite! Thanks Viking!

You can find out more about this cruise here and about our ship the Viking Sun here.

I will be trying to update this blog daily as our adventure unfolds. Hope you find it informative and entertaining.

Ray