Italy day 3 -- jenny and nicole arrival, Vatican City.

Woke up at 10 am to discover jenny and Nicole's flight was delayed from a 930 am arrival to 1020 arrival. Perfect. We got ready to stop for breakfast and they messaged us saying they were catching the 1108 am train to arrive to termini at 1140. We had our meeting place set and decided to wait to eat until the girls arrived. They found us within ten minutes of their train arrival. Walked them back to our hotel so they could drop their bags and take a quick shower before setting off for our 130 Vatican museum tour.

After meandering for awhile to find the metro train station we found it and were on our way to the Vatican. 10 minutes later were at the stop and walking to the museum. Worried we were going to miss our 130 time, we started straight to the museum, to be stopped by a guy who informed us we can go at any time not per the reservation. So we found a cafe for sandwiches and then went to the museum, where we stood in a short line to get through the metal detectors and then had to exchange our vouchers for admission tickets. That took awhile, but then we were on our way. Decided to take the fast track to the Sistine chapel as that was the highlight of our time in the museum. Passed through some marvelous rooms and gorgeous ceilings. After meandering for a couple hours we finally found the Sistine chapel. Then over the museum. But we had to meander for another half hour to find the exit. Matt grabbed an espresso then we headed to at peters basilica. The line was forever long to enter and it was 500 the duomo closes at 7 pm we got into the basilica at 545 and headed to the duomo. 8€ for the elevator and then 320 windy stairs. Or 6€ for all climb 551 stairs. We paid the elevator which got us to the top of the inside of the duomo of St. Peter's. All of the wall paintings were actually tile mosaics. We then started the 320 stair climb to get to the top of the outside of the duomo. The 360 view was gorgeous. Then we walked through the lower of the basilica stopped for some gelato and headed back to the tram.

Got the girls checked into their hotel and took them down to see the coliseum at night. Then meandered to a back alley ristorante and has dinner. Underwhelming dinner. Then called it a night. Early ish morning the next day to see all the sites of Rome.