150cc's of awesome under my Roman ass

At 1PM I decided to bail on the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel (a 3 hour wait in line plus the museum would mean I saw nothing else today.) Instead I rented a scooter again and did the whirlwind tour of Rome. It was a good call. I made it to all the major tourist destinations and spent enough time at each for my tastes.

I got out of the old city for a bit to see what else was around. The answer? Lots of closed stores and empty streets. It was a ghost town - apparently Monday are a day of rest, and August is vacation month, so most folks split town.

I also got to see stuff I'd never see any other way. I followed the old city wall for miles and miles (it's big - 100' tall in places. And long - I started following it at it's halfway point.) I followed the Vatican wall completely around he perimiter of Vatican City (several hilly miles). My favorite surprise was the vista next to the Medici house at the top of a tall hill next to The Piazza del Popolo. I got there as the sun was starting to set and had an amazing view of the City. Above is a bad pic of the view.