Arriverderci Roma

Great, now I'll have that song stuck in my head all day again. Yes, blogging before leaving Rome for the Cinque Terre, 5 small villages on the coast, where I plan to walk, relax, read, eat gelati - ahhh bliss! Hopefully the weather improves, as it's been rainy for a couple of days here and there's nothing indoory to do there as far as I know, plus the hostel I'm staying at locks you out from 10 to 4!!

Anyway, up early this morning as I decided I would regret it if I didn't see St Peter's. Got there about 8.15 or so I think, there were no queues and not too many people inside - perfect. The queues had already built up by the time I left around 9.30. I walked around the church and then saw the treasury, full of a predicable bunch of crucifixi and reliquaries and the like. At the gift shop, I got a wee cherub charm in the style of one of Raphael's putti - after all, the Vatican is another country, so should get a commemorative charm! I've already got my Italy charm, a leaning tower of Pisa - I know I'm not going to Pisa, but I think that is *the* symbol of Italy, so had to have it.

Then I walked across the Tiber, having decided to check out the Pantheon properly. Not actually that much to see inside, but it certainly does have an impressive bulk offset by the soaring dome. Since I needed to get back to the metro anyway, I then went by the Trevi Fountain agian - this time, it was going, but since it turns out it doesn't actually spurt upwards, it didn't look very different to yesterday...

Now just killing time before my train at 2 - a 4 hour trip!

PS ranch ranch ranch