Lost in Rome

You know what's really easy to do when you're in Rome? Get lost, that's what. Even though I had brought with me 2 good city guides plus a great map, we still got lost. Every day. Streets change names, none of them are straight, and plenty of them dead-end. However getting lost was part of the fun.

As one Italian told us: "When you have enough time you are never lost."

We walked to the Vatican but first we found ourselves here, Baby Jesus Pediatric Hospital, because we were lost. Strange blue cast to this picture, almost like an aura.

I don't know why the sky is such a different shade of blue here, because it was a mere 30 or 40 minutes later--when we had found our way--that I gazed up at St Peter's Basilica, next to the Vatican.

In the Vatican Museum, looking out. We found that it is possible to get a little lost here, too, especially if you aren't headed directly towards the Sistine Chapel. That's where most people are headed though, and they rush right through the Hall of maps.

Commissioned in the 1500s, there are surprisingly good detailed maps of the world. People who used maps like this probably hardly ever got lost. At least we did find our way to the Sistine, which lived up to expectations entirely. Pictured here is "Judgment Day" painted on the wall by Michelangelo years after completing the ceiling. Don't forget to look up as you leave the Vatican.