After breakfast at the hotel, we paraded down to the Termini station where we took Linea A to the Vatican museums.  We walked a few blocks to the museum entrance, managing to foil a gypsy who two who had designs on our wallets.  At the ticket booth there was some confusion as to the number in our group.  Eventually, a self-important-looking capo came out, wrote all over our only copy of our certified group letter, and then demanded a copy but wouldn’t let Anne use their machine.  She had to go out into the street while the rest of us waited in the hot gallery.  Yes, this explains Argentina very well. The place was mobbed.

When Anne returned, we started off through the museums.  There were some good Egyptian Aswan “Granite” statues (actually syenite) which Bob, Val, The Faulkner, and I stopped to look at for a minute. We became separated from the rest of the group.  We zoomed through gallery after incredible gallery spending little time to admire the countless works of priceless art.  Finally, we came to Raphael’s “School of Athens” and paused a few minutes there.  Then, it was onward to the Sistine Chapel.  We stayed there for about half an hour.  The heat and the crowds eventually became unbearable, so The Faulkner and I left and went out into the entrance plaza, our prearranged meeting point.  By 2:00 everyone had arrived, so we walked a couple of blocks to a trattoria Will had found.  It was okay but a little expensive for most people’s tastes.

After lunch we walked around the wall to St. Peter’s.  Bob and Anne gave us an introduction and then we all went in – except Dave and Val who were barred as sinners for wearing shorts.  The inside of the dome is 100 m high.  Some of us went down to the tomb of St. Peter and the Popes.  After that, I climbed the many many steps to the top of the dome.  It was crowded, narrow, and hot.  It was a relief to get outside at the top.  The view of Rome was tremendous.

I descended in the elevator from the base of the dome and walked back to our meeting point on the far side of the square.  Anne, Bob and Drew were about 1½ hours late.  No sooner had they arrived than Drew managed to get lost.  This was followed by five minutes of panic before the police brought him back.  He had chased people he thought were Bob and Anne.  When he realized his error he had the good sense to seek out the police. 

We walked to the train station and headed back toward Termini.  We are having a cash flow problem so I got off, with 5 students, at the Spanish Steps to get some money from American Express while the students hung out at the steps.  We then reboarded the train.  A guy tried to pick my pocket on the train but was unsuccessful due to my zippered pocket.  He did manage to undo the zipper, though. 

After a shower at the hotel, I went out with a group of 10 students to a sidewalk restaurant two blocks from the hotel.  We had a blast.  Then, most of them went to the Spanish Steps while I went to the Internet café to email home.  I love the ability to communicate easily.  I walked back through very dark streets at midnight and went to bed.