Playing dirty in The Vatican

Now, people talk about the fabled back entrance to the Roman Forum where you can get in for free. The Roman forum is free, but you have to pay to get into the Palatine Hill and Trajan's Forum. But how many people can say they dodged their way into St. Peter's or the Vatican Museums?!

Anyone who's been a tourist in Rome knows that the Vatican Museums are closed on Sunday (except for last Sunday of the month) and the queues are horribly long to get into St. Peters. Not so! Just walk up to were the gates begin, mingle a bit, and voila! You'll be in the Basilica in no time!

The queue ends near the second colonnade

We decided to climb the cupola and if say you'll walk it (500-something steps), it allows you to jump the queue to get into the elevator. But the elevator stops after 200 steps and if you want to go to the top, you have to walk the next 300-something steps anyway! This bit we couldn't dodge because the staircase is about as wide as I am. But if you're brave, you can write your name there.

The guard working really hard (on his PSP)

When Pooey finds she can't squeeze her way through to the balcony, I try a different method.

Pooey works her way up

The Vatican gardens

The view of piazza from the top

We did a bit of dodging to get into the Crypt where nothing dirty happened, unless you count the guard who told me off for showing too much cleavage than is considered appropriate (my cardigan came undone!).

I don't have dirty advice to avoid the queues into the Vatican Museums other than to get there early. Assuming it was going to open at 8:45am, I got there at 8am and proceeded to wait two and a half hours because they decide whenever they want to open. But we were very close to the head of the queue and we didn't have to wait long to get in! Once inside, Lydia and I split to go to the Student queue. Now, this next bit is for real. The girl in front of me showed her ISIC card to the guy in the ticket booth who then asked her how old she was.
"I'm 25"
"You mean, you're eighteen"
"Oh yes, I'm eighteen!"
Being the smarties we are, when caught on pretty quickly and when it was our turn, we showed out student cards and then with a raised eyebrow...
"How old are you?"
"I'm eighteen!"
"Here's your ticket!"
And in doing so, we saved 5 euros on the entry fee. That ticket guy, so dirty!

You're not supposed to take photos of the various frescoes inside, particularly the Sistine Chapel, but turn off your flash and sound and those guards won't kick you out!

Raphael's School of Athens

Sistine Chapel

I love these fake curtains

And that's how it's done!