I tried signing up for the trip to the Sistine Chapel yesterday but they said it was all booked, so I decided to just show up for it and hope someone didn’t make it.  The trip was due to leave at 5, so just to be sure if there were others planning the same thing as me, I wanted to be there first.  I arrived at the designated spot at 4:40am and waited…and waited…and waited.  Eventually I walked to the base gate hoping they’d be able to tell me if I was in the right spot (I was), and still no one showed.  Finally after waiting for 45 minutes I went back to my hotel and searched for a website for the travel tour I was taking.  I found it and opened the PDF file and it said it left at 5:15am from the point I was on - 5:00 from a different part of the base.

I RAN out of my hotel and RAN down the street and could see the vans on the corner, and just as I was approaching they left.

So I RAN some more, waving maniacally (which I do well), and I think maybe the Pope intervened or something because the vans stopped for something and I was able to run up and talk to the guide.   Did I get lucky - there was one seat remaining.

We just arrived to the USO across the street from Vatican City and are waiting on our tour guide, and this means very shortly I will be in the Sistine Chapel admiring some of the most beautiful fresco paintings ever, with my camera that I can’t use.

I’ll let you know how it smells.