Day 3 - Vatican City

At 7:00 am, we boarded a bus that took us to tour Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel before taking us to the quaint town of Montecatini in Tuscany. When we arrived at Vatican City, we entered the Vatican Museum through the entrance on one side of the massive wall that surrounds the Vatican.

In the museum, the layout of the Vatican was explained to us using a detailed diorama. We had entered from the area near the white coat at the right of the picture.

The inside of the museum was absolutely breathtaking! The walls, ceilings and floors were covered in the most beautiful art we have ever had the pleasure of seeing.

We then went through the beautiful, but crowded, Sistine Chapel (where, unfortunately, no photography was allowed) and then entered Saint Peter's Basilica whose massive size had everyone enthralled.

Here is the dome above the alter in Saint Peter's.

Below it is the main alter.

As we exited the church, we found ourselves in Saint Peter's Square.

We then boarded the bus for our stay in the Tuscan town of Montecatini Terme located between the towns of Florence and Lucca. We checked into the Hotel Parma e Oriente where we will spend the next three nights. Here is the view from the balcony of our fourth story room.