It was just the four Wagnersons with our tour guide, Marcello, who made up our group to tour the Sistine Chapel.  Whew!!!!!  We were all dreading that Pat and Bill were a part of our small group tour.  Why did we think Pat and her husband Bill were joining us?  Because Pat told us they were joining us.  “Oh your tour is with LivItaly?  Us too.  You know we have the same small group tour with LivItaly.  You know there are no more than 6 in the tour group and we’ve got the 6 of us here and the 6 of us all just fit so well.”  She also told us her life story, her husband Bill’s life story, and their future plans for travel…all in the space of about ten minutes between 6:45 and 6:55 a.m. while we were waiting across from the Vatican Museum for 7:15 a.m. to arrive when we would meet our tour guide and eventually make our entrance into the Chapel.  I think it was when our apparent new friend Pat, insisted that the six of us all go around in a circle announcing our name and some other fact about ourselves (or some sort of thing), that I officially checked out of the new blooming friendship with Pat and Bill.  In fact, I just walked away, up the hill a bit, looking for our guide who wouldn’t show himself until 7:15, because you never know, he might show up early.  Anything to get away from the endless chatter that was invading my brain.  This was all without even a cup of coffee on board yet.  Yikes!

Anyway, Marcello the guide showed up, told us it was just the four of us in his group and things got much better after that.  After he introduced himself to us, Doug told him there were two things Marcello got high marks for:  1) you speak loud enough that we can actually hear you; and 2) you speak great English.  Marcello gave us his basic rules for maneuvering through the museum and into the Sistine Chapel.  He moved fast.  There might be times where we would need to jog, is that okay with everyone?  Everyone was onboard.  We entered and for the next three hours, shared an amazing time.  We spent about 15-20 minutes in the Sistine Chapel with probably no more than 30 or so people inside the chapel with us.  It was brilliant!  Remarkable!  Fascinating!  We continued on with the tour.  After an hour and a half, we went back through the Sistine Chapel.  By now it was filled wall to wall with people, with little room to move or breathe, and no place to sit.  What a difference 90 minutes makes.  We ended our time with Marcello after touring St. Peter’s Basilica.  We said good bye and climbed into a cab, all four of us glad to have experienced the Sistine Chapel wonder.  Now, let’s get some coffee.